Norway’s heat pump revolution | Climate politics
Daily Politics from the New Statesman
The New Statesman
4.4 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 2 November 2021
⏱️ 19 minutes
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Summary
In the final part of our special series on the politics of climate change, Anoosh Chakelian and Environment and Sustainability Editor Philippa Nuttall speak to former Norwegian energy minister Tony C. Tiller.
They discuss Norway’s success in rolling out heat pumps. With around 60% of homes fitted with them, Norway has the most successful roll out in Europe; so what can the UK learn from this success as heat pumps form a major part of the UK’s Heat and Buildings strategy.
They also talk about why Norwegians are worried about whether they might important the UKs high cost of energy
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Anouche and I'm Philip. And in this special series of the New Statesman |
| 0:11.1 | podcast, we're looking at the politics of climate change and in the run-up to |
| 0:14.8 | COP26, ask whether enough is being done to make a difference. |
| 0:30.1 | So today we're looking at the lesson the UK can learn from other countries when it comes to |
| 0:37.2 | changing the way we use energy in our homes, in particular the switch from gas to heat pumps to |
| 0:42.2 | heat our homes. In 2019, the UK sold just 1.3 heat pumps to every thousand households, |
| 0:48.4 | but at the other end of the scale Norway sold 40 to every thousand and currently has 60% of |
| 0:53.9 | homes warmed using heat pumps. So how can the UK catch up with that? We're delighted to be |
| 0:59.7 | joined by Tony Tiller, the state secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in Norway, |
| 1:04.3 | to tell us what he learned from that experience because at the moment the UK is second only to hungry |
| 1:10.0 | at the bottom of the table when it comes to heat pumps. So thanks so much for joining us, |
| 1:14.3 | Tony. And first of all, could you tell us sort of how Norway became such a leader in this technology? |
| 1:20.0 | And was it a bumpy road together? Thank you Anouche for having me. I think there are several reasons |
| 1:25.5 | why we have such a high penetration of heat pumps in Norway. I think first of all listeners in the UK |
| 1:31.4 | need to know that the Norwegian energy sector, our power system is almost entirely based on |
| 1:37.9 | renewable hydroelectric power. So Norwegians are used to having electricity as their source for |
| 1:45.2 | heating, unlike in the UK where I understand historically you've been more dependent on gas for |
| 1:50.5 | heating. So it makes very much economic sense in your household then to install a heat pump because |
| 1:57.9 | it saves you a lot of money because they're much more efficient than say a traditional flat panel |
| 2:03.9 | electric oven that you might have seen in houses. I can use myself and my own household as an |
| 2:09.4 | example. I live in a detached house, quite new house in fact, but after a couple years we decided |
| 2:14.4 | that it made economic sense to invest in a heat pump, have it installed and then it saves you money |
... |
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