A big favourite with the green crowd are air source heat pumps. The concept behind an air source heat pump is simple to grasp however the technology behind them is devilishly complicated!

Firstly, air source heat pumps can extract heat for domestic purposes from outside air at temperatures which would seem completely devoid of any heat to me and you. But to an air source heat pump, any temperature above absolute zero is a source of un-tapped energy waiting to be harnessed and transferred to your domestic heating system.

You see, heat is energy and what energy results in are vibrations. The more a particle vibrates the more energy it has and therefore the more heat is has. The reason why boiling water is so volatile is because the molecules that make up that water are being heated and are vibrating like crazy. When water boils we can see the result of these vibrations but when that water cools to below boiling we see water that appears to be still. In reality those water particles are still vibration but we don’t have the vision to be able to see that.

In actual fact everything vibrates, from the chair you’re sat on to the food you eat. It is only when a substance’s temperature reaches absolute zero that it stops vibrating. So using this theory it becomes perfectly reasonable to think that heat energy is available from air temperatures below freezing.

Of course, the heat energy available within the air gets less as the air cools so the efficiency of an air source heat pump is reduced but modern air source heat pumps are known to extract usable heat for domestic heating from temperatures as low as -12 degrees. So for the green crowd, air source heat pumps are an excellent addition to any green homes domestic heating system.

As with anything involving water (or I should say liquids) and electricity you need to hire a professional plumber to do this job for you. Always ensure that the company you hire are fully trained and no what they're doing. It will save you money in the long run!