- 02/07/2025
While most people aspire to live more sustainably, some may be put off from switching to greener energy sources for various reasons, such as being unsure about the best options available.
A new episode of The Scotsman’s Sustainable Scotland podcast, in association with Aira, a clean energy-tech business, focuses on the benefits of air source heat pumps and looks to dispel any myths.
Nicola Mahmood, Head of Region at Aira, and Robin Parker, Mission Manager of Sustainable Future Mission, at Nesta, an innovation agency for social good, participated in the podcast.
A new episode of The Scotsman’s Sustainable Scotland podcast, in association with Aira, a clean energy-tech business, focuses on the benefits of air source heat pumps and looks to dispel any myths.
Nicola Mahmood, Head of Region at Aira, and Robin Parker, Mission Manager of Sustainable Future Mission, at Nesta, an innovation agency for social good, participated in the podcast.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hello, I'm Rosemary Gallagher and welcome to our Sustainable Scotland podcast brought to you by
00:08The Scotsman. Scotland's national newspaper since 1817, now bringing you fresh and relevant content
00:14for the 21st century. Sustainable Scotland will tell you how Scotland is doing in its efforts to
00:18be cleaner and cleaner for the next generation. In this episode of Sustainable Scotland, in
00:24partnership with clean energy company Aira, we're focusing on the benefits of heat pumps.
00:28Our guests are Nicola Mahmood, Head of Region at Aira, and Robyn Parker, Mission Manager as part of
00:36Sustainable Future Mission at Nesta. Nicola and Robyn, could you please introduce yourselves and
00:40tell us more about your roles? Of course, thank you. So I'm Nicola Mahmood, I'm the Head of Region for
00:46Aira in Scotland. Aira is a clean energy tech business. They were founded in Sweden, which as
00:54we all know is the home of heat pumps. And we're now selling across the UK, Germany and Italy.
01:00Our service to consumers is an all-inclusive service for heat pumps, and we also offer other
01:06clean energy solutions for their home. And the primary focus for us is helping customers to save
01:13money and reduce their heat and carbon emissions. And I'm Robyn. I work for Nesta, leading our work
01:19here in Scotland. So we're a charity. We describe ourselves as the UK Social Innovation Agency for
01:26Social Good. And what we do is a whole bunch of different things across different areas. We
01:30design stuff, we test stuff, and then we try to make those kind of things that we've tried out,
01:36we try to make them big by working with industry or working with government and so on. And yeah,
01:40one of the areas that we work on is decarbonising the UK's home. So yeah, one of the things we do is
01:46try and support business, industry and government with trying to get as many heat pumps into homes
01:50as possible. So in the UK, heat pumps aren't that well known as a technology. Is that the case?
01:57Can you tell me a bit more about the track record of heat pumps?
02:00Absolutely. So it is the case that they're seen as a sort of new technology in the UK,
02:06albeit they aren't actually. And they're very well used and recognised in the Nordics. I mean,
02:14as a Swedish company, our CEO was absolutely horrified when he came to the UK and realised
02:21that there was gas combustion boilers on every wall. He was completely bemused by the thing and
02:28had never really seen one before. And that's because in Sweden, 90% of the heating systems that
02:36are sold are heat pumps, right? That's the technology. The heat pump is their equivalent of
02:42the UK's gas boiler. And that's why Sweden's got some of the lowest carbon emissions in Europe,
02:48because they took themselves off of gas a very long time ago. And now they're bringing it to the
02:54UK, to Italy and to Germany, where we've got a much higher reliance on gas, but could very easily
03:01transfer over to the same sort of technology that Sweden uses. I guess from the perspective of a heat
03:08pump, it's a bit like a fridge that runs in reverse. So it basically takes heat from the air,
03:14even when it's sort of freezing temperatures. And it turns that into usable heat to heat your home.
03:23And the biggest benefit really is that the, you know, the technology itself has very few moving
03:30parts. So it's quite simple technology to maintain. And it's using air, which is free to us and just
03:38enhancing the heat there, which makes it a totally renewable source. And we would always recommend you
03:46pair it with a renewable electricity tariff, which then means that you've got zero carbon emissions coming
03:53from the heat pump in your house. It's a brilliant way to start your journey to completely decarbonising
04:00your home.
04:02And we're recording today in Scotland where it's actually sunny and warm. But as we all know,
04:06most of the year in Scotland isn't sunny and warm. So people might think, well, heat pump will heat my
04:10house in the Scottish winter. Does it heat the house in Scottish winter?
04:15It absolutely does. And we've got some customers actually who have spoken about how nice the heat is,
04:21because it's just a really nice, warm, consistent temperature. So you get that lovely, cosy feeling
04:28of it being warm in your house without that overbearing heat that you get from a gas boiler.
04:35So it doesn't go up and down in that sort of really peaky way. I think Robin's got a nice anecdote
04:41about that. But, you know, this nice, consistent heat almost feels like a warm hug. And you forget
04:49that it's cold outside. You go outside and it's almost a sort of shock to the system because you're
04:55so used to that temperature just always being that nice, consistent heat inside.
05:04Yeah, it's not the case at all.
05:07I talk about how the difference between gas boilers and the heat pumps is just the same as the difference
05:13between a boy racer and like how my driving instructor was telling me, like, drive like a chauffeur.
05:17So like your gas boiler, it kind of, it realizes that the thermostat says, make the room hotter.
05:24And it kind of goes roaring up. It drives loads of heat into your radiators. Your radiators get really
05:28hot sort of thing. And then it goes, oh, it's warm enough. And it slams to a stop and your house
05:33starts cooling down. It starts getting cold and the radiators are cold. And then it races away again.
05:38So it's just like a boy racer, like traffic light, bam, go traffic light, slam on the brake,
05:43stop sort of thing. Whereas the heat pump, it's, it knows kind of in the design, they've worked out
05:48how much heat your home is using and then making sure that they're putting into your house just the
05:54exact same amount of heat. So it's kind of, it's like a, it's like a chauffeur. It's like,
05:58it's driving smoothly away from the traffic light and then slowing down gradually predicting what's
06:03coming up sort of thing. So yeah, I think my driving instructor would like a, would like a heat pump.
06:08I love that analogy, Robin. It's a very good picture. Thank you. And Robin, from your point
06:14of view, what would you say the big benefits are for people to get a heat pump?
06:18There's a whole bunch of benefits, I think. I mean, one of them clearly is that you're no longer
06:24using gas to heat your home or you're no longer using oil if you're off the gas grid. And that's
06:30going to come with a number of benefits. Like, first of all, I guess there's the kind of the
06:33social benefits. So it means that you're no longer contributing to climate change and how we heat
06:39our homes is one of the main ways in which we add to the climate problems. It's about one in five
06:44of Scotland's climate change emissions are just from us heating our homes. And then I guess like
06:50coming at it more from kind of what it means to you, there's the kind of the cost and value side of
06:55what happens when you switch to a heat pump. So at the moment, if you're on a gas, if you're using
07:02gas to heat your home, you're very susceptible to what happens to gas prices and so on. If you're
07:08switching over to electricity, and particularly if you've got your own solar panels on the roof or
07:13something like that, then you're able to use that electricity. You're able to use either your own
07:18renewable electricity or use Scotland's renewable electricity to heat your home. So that comes along
07:23with it too. Thanks, Robin. And Nicola, could you expand on the benefits of a heat pump, please?
07:28So there are lots of benefits to having a heat pump, particularly an Aira heat pump whereby
07:35everything is under one roof from your free home energy assessment to design to installation
07:42with our very own Aira technicians. And we also include an industry-leading 15-year guarantee with
07:49our all-inclusive plan. There are also cost savings to having a heat pump, which I think are really
07:56important to highlight, particularly because there's a myth that heat pumps are more expensive
08:02than gas. And actually, with a well-designed heat pump, you can save up to £550 a year on your energy
08:09bills. More than that, though, you've actually got the opportunity to have some really good
08:15environmental benefits as well. And if you pair your heat pump with a green energy tariff,
08:21then actually you can save 100% of the carbon on your heating and hot water. If you've got really
08:28good controls with your heat pump, like the Aira intelligence, then actually it'll start to learn
08:34how you live. So that's smoothing out of all of the sort of heat, keeping it nice and consistent,
08:41making sure that your hot water is charging at the right time. So you're getting the benefit of the
08:46cheapest possible form of electricity. All of that is learned via the Aira intelligence. So actually,
08:54it can work out to be a really efficient way to heat your home. So the Scottish Government have got
08:59some really generous grants available. So if you are in a more urban area, then you could get up to
09:07£7,500 of a grant from Home Energy Scotland. And in rural areas, that actually goes up to £9,000.
09:16And then Home Energy Scotland also offer an interest free loan of £7,500, which helps to bridge the gap
09:24between the grant funding and the total cost of a heat pump. In terms of how popular in Scotland,
09:30have they taken off in Scotland? Is it something that people are now sort of switching on to in terms
09:34of the benefits? What's your experience? First of all, Nicola?
09:38It is. We've seen a really good demand. People are very curious about heat pumps. And, you know,
09:45a lot of that is to do with the policy environment that's been set up for them. So, you know, we're
09:52seeing a lot of early adopters, we're seeing people who potentially already have solar panels,
09:59or potentially an electric vehicle. So they're already on that decarbonisation journey. Seeing heat
10:06pumps as their next step in the journey to being fully decarbonised. But one of the things I think
10:14that we've still got to build on is that, you know, Scotland has a really high proportion. I know
10:20Robyn's got statistics on this that'll help. But a really high proportion of properties that are off
10:26the gas grid, and potentially either are on oil, which is a very volatile pricing sort of fuel,
10:36or they're on electric, which is just really expensive, because you're paying for every unit
10:40of heat you put in, or every unit of heat you get, you're paying a unit of electricity. Whereas with
10:46heat pumps, you're paying sort of one unit of electricity, you're getting, you know, four units
10:51of heat potentially. And, you know, the government are providing a lot of support for customers
10:58to shift to those more renewable, sustainable technologies like air source heat pumps. So
11:06we are seeing a lot of interest while those grants and loans are available.
11:11Would you say the Scottish Government is especially supportive of blowing out heat pumps in terms
11:18of its policy and what it has in place compared to some other countries?
11:20I think we've definitely been at the forefront of it. The Scottish Government have been very
11:27vocal about their net zero targets and their ambitions in that area. And they're really conscious
11:33of the resources that Scotland have got to be able to deliver on that. You know, they've
11:40put together a really generous package of loans and grants to help consumers make that transition.
11:47And the policy environment has been pretty stable and pretty clear in terms of direction.
11:57There are some things that we think we could do faster and better, and they could be clearer about it.
12:04But, you know, we await the heating buildings bill, which is what will tell us what that next step is going
12:09to look like. But we're well on the way to, you know, to a good environment to move into mass heat bump adoption.
12:19OK, sounds good. Thanks Nicola. And Robin, could you shed some light on perhaps Scotland being off-grid and why heat pumps can work so well in those kind of areas?
12:28I believe you've got some statistics that back that up. Yeah, I mean, one of the things I think is brilliant about Scotland is,
12:34it's actually the Western Isles is the place in the UK where it's easiest to find a heat pump.
12:40So one in 12 homes in the Western Isles already have a heat pump and the Orkney isn't far behind either.
12:46And I guess with I mean, when you're off gas grids, you're sort of dealing with getting oil deliveries and you're trying to work out how much space you got left in your oil tank.
12:56It's just kind of not a great kind of consumer experience and sort of thing.
13:01So, yeah, as Nicola was saying, it's often those parts of Scotland as well that have often got, you know,
13:07you can see the renewable electricity being generated up the top of the hill from sight from your own home sort of thing.
13:15So, yeah, that opportunity to have a kind of a modern, efficient experience with electric heating, which is what a heat pump gives you.
13:23It's using electricity. But as Nicola was saying it, like the efficiency it can achieve is really, really good.
13:30I guess the international comparisons is a funny thing.
13:34So like the UK is one of the places, it's quite rare in comparison to other countries in the sense that we really went full on.
13:42We're switching over to the gas for our heating. So other parts of Europe just never got to the same sort of levels where, you know,
13:49the vast majority of us are using here in the UK gas to heat our homes right now.
13:53So we start from a very different place to other parts of Europe.
13:57And we also we should talk a bit about what the kind of running costs are and how they work in terms of electricity and gas.
14:04But we have been in the position where gas has been sort of over recent years of going back sort of 20, 30 years, gas has been a cheap way to heat our homes.
14:13We've obviously seen the risks and downsides of that with the energy crisis over over recent years and where that's put energy prices.
14:21And so I guess like just I mean, there's there's always things that Scottish government could do that more because we start,
14:27we have to make such a big transition away from gas in how we heat our homes.
14:31And but right now there's there's really big support available for households in terms of switching over to a heat pump.
14:38So I invite something called the Home Energy Scotland grant and every household in Scotland can get seven and a half thousand pounds in grant.
14:46And rural homes can get even more than that, nine thousand pounds in grant towards towards a heat pump set makes a really big difference.
14:53And in addition to that, there's also support available for homes in fuel poverty and people who meet through certain qualifying benefits.
15:03So there's also the possibility that for some households, they'll be able to get a full system energy efficiency measures as well.
15:10A kind of hold change to your house and in support as well and fully paid for by the government through some of the fuel poverty schemes that the Scottish government has to.
15:19OK, thanks, Robin. I had no idea about the Western Isles. That's a very interesting statistic.
15:23And where can people find out more about the grants available? Is there somewhere they can you can direct them to that would help?
15:29So, yeah, Home Energy Scotland is kind of your your first point, of course.
15:33So there's a there's a phone line, there's a website for Home Energy Scotland.
15:37And I mean, also a really good place to start is by speaking to an installer and to someone who might install a heat pump.
15:44And that's another way that you can start and kind of start out on your heat pump journey.
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16:18So I'm back to you, Nicola. Would you say now is a good time to switch to heat pumps?
16:22Obviously, the sun's out. People might think I'll leave it for now.
16:24But what's your view on switching? When is a good time to do it?
16:28Now is absolutely the best time to do it, Rosemary.
16:32I mean, if you think about it, we're taking out your current heating and hot water source
16:38and we'll be putting in a new one.
16:40So really you want to do that while the sun's shining.
16:42The temperatures are a bit higher and the potential for disruption is minimised in terms of the heat that you require
16:52and the hot water that you require.
16:54I think, you know, the other thing that actually, or there's a couple of reasons why now is better.
17:00You know, we're in what we would consider the switch off period for your heating and hot water.
17:06Come October time, you switch your boiler back on and it doesn't work.
17:10You're then in a rush to get yourself, you know, a new heating source.
17:15So having that foresight and planning when your boiler's maybe towards its end of life
17:21and putting in your heat pump now before we have the winter switch on is definitely, you know, a good proactive option.
17:31And I think as well, you know, Robin's touched quite heavily on the government grants and loans that are available
17:37and they are, you know, really generous.
17:40But we always know that they are budget year to budget year.
17:44So there's no sort of, whilst there's no suggestion from the government that they're going to withdraw the support,
17:51it's a finite pot of money.
17:53And so from that perspective, now is always better than waiting and taking the risks.
17:58So, you know, there's lots of really good reasons why now is the best time to switch.
18:04And those are just some of them, I guess.
18:07Thanks, Nicola.
18:08And Robin, there's some myths around heat pumps in the market and probably lack of understanding.
18:13Could you explain what the reality is when it comes to heat pumps?
18:17I think there's a lot of myths around there, around about heat pumps.
18:21And I mean, awareness is also an issue.
18:24Like there's also people aren't necessarily kind of finding out about this stuff and getting to know things.
18:30But yeah, it's maybe worth us running through some of the myths, I guess, and kind of putting them to the right sort of thing.
18:37So, I mean, Nicola's already touched on one of them is that people somehow have started saying that heat pumps won't work in Scotland's climate.
18:45And again, it's just not true.
18:47And there's lots of experience from Nordic countries, which could get down to very, very cold temperatures in the winter,
18:53where a heat pump is still producing heat in people's homes.
18:57And I guess, you know, as we were saying earlier, it's not as though there aren't plenty of people, not far from enough people,
19:04but there's plenty of people in Scotland who already have a heat pump.
19:07And one of the things that Nesta did was we ran a really big survey of heat pump owners right across the UK.
19:13And the levels of satisfaction with the heating system were just the same for a heat pump, as it were, for a gas boiler sort of thing.
19:22So 80% of people said they were satisfied with their heating system.
19:27And I guess one of the other things that you sometimes hear is that kind of it won't work for all homes.
19:34And that's also something that's worth digging into.
19:36So we've got lots of really old buildings in Scotland, but a heat pump can work really well if it's designed right.
19:44If it's installed properly, it's done properly in an old building.
19:48So I'm sitting here right now in a, this is a Victorian house in the east of Scotland,
19:54and I'll be getting a heat pump installed here in the next couple of weeks sort of thing.
19:57So they can work in these buildings.
19:59There's a bunch of people with older buildings across Scotland who've already got a heat pump in it.
20:03It's working really well too.
20:05I think from Aira's perspective, we were very aware of the fact that there were lots of myths, as Robin said,
20:12around why heat pumps don't work and why they're not suitable.
20:16And actually, in terms of the offer that we make to customers, we've very specifically tried to address those concerns.
20:24So we offer a 15 year guarantee on the heat pumps.
20:27So that sort of concern about, well, if it all goes wrong, I'll not be able to find anybody.
20:33You know, it maybe won't be a particularly well designed system.
20:37We are saying to customers, well, actually, we're going to be here holding your hand for the next 15 years.
20:42So that's not something that you need to be worried about.
20:45And we also offer a guarantee on the temperature comfort.
20:51So we will say to customers, you know, we will guarantee that your home will heat to 21 degrees, even on the coldest day.
21:01So making sure then that there's that sort of comfort that actually this is going to work for your house.
21:08And it's going to be well designed because if it's not, you know, we've got 15 years of having to sort it out.
21:14And then also the efficiency. So I've heard quite a lot recently about fuel poverty and how heat pumps aren't maybe a solution for fuel poor people or properties or households in fuel poverty.
21:29And actually, you know, you're getting a really high level of efficiency with a well designed heat pump.
21:36And we'll guarantee that you'll get sort of 350 to 400 percent efficiency in comparison to a gas boiler.
21:44So in terms of running costs, your heat pump not only wouldn't cost any more than gas, but should actually be cheaper to run than gas.
21:53And so I think, you know, there's lots of there's there are lots of myths out there about why they don't work.
21:59But, you know, we're trying to address some of those myths with with the offer.
22:05The other thing is, there are some properties that they just really aren't suitable for as well.
22:10So, you know, we we appreciate they're not a silver bullet as much as I think we could install them in almost every property.
22:18And, you know, tenements and that sort of thing is there maybe not the best solution for those houses.
22:24But, you know, they will cover the majority of Scotland's housing stock.
22:31Yeah, one of the things that you will need is is you will need a bit of outdoor space where you're going to put the outdoor unit.
22:37So I've definitely come across people who are in tenements, but are in the ground floor of a tenement.
22:42So they've got they maybe own the kind of a bit of the front space or they've got a bit of the back green that is kind of their bit of the back green sort of thing,
22:50so that they can put the outdoor unit for the heat pump there.
22:53But if you're in a flat sort of halfway up a tower block or something like that and you've got a electric heating at the moment from storage heaters,
23:01then you're probably going to be looking at something else other than an air to water heat pump as the solution for your house.
23:08I guess one of the other things just on the kind of like awareness side of things.
23:12One of the things that we've helped bring together at Nesta is a website called visit a heat pump, visit a heat pump dot com.
23:19And what that does is we've got an amazing community of heat pump owners who've basically offered to be hosts and offered to be have people come over,
23:30ask them questions and see their heat pump at work, ask them, you know, how did you find an installer?
23:37And what did it what did it cost for you to get it installed?
23:40And how does it work? Does it heat your home sort of thing?
23:43So that amazing community you can access by going onto onto the website, finding someone in your local area.
23:49And some of them put on events so you can kind of go along as a group and see what's happening or you can pop them some messages with any specific questions that you have.
23:58And one of the things that a lot of our heat pump hosts get asked is about the noise from heat pumps.
24:04So there's sort of, you know, we were talking about it's kind of a technology that's been around for a long time.
24:11So if you're talking about a heat pump that was installed 20 years ago or something like that, it's a very different experience to what it is now.
24:18So people want to hear, you know, they've got preconceptions from air conditioning units or something that heat pump will be allowed.
24:25But the modern heat pumps that are being installed today are incredibly quiet.
24:29They just, you know, they run at a very, very low level.
24:33And it's also worth saying on the noise side of things that when they are, when the heat pump is working a bit harder and there's a little, there's a hum that you'll hear from the heat pump.
24:43And that's going to be in the colder winter when you're not outside.
24:47So when you're outside on a lovely sunny day, like on the day we're recording today, that heat pump will be sitting there silently.
24:54That's good to know. I was going to ask about the noise question.
24:58So that's reassuring that they aren't noisy and it's great that there's some resources there to find out more about how they work and if they're right for you.
25:04So that's really good to hear about.
25:06We've heard about the benefits to individuals and households.
25:09I suppose looking at the wider society and the environment and sustainability, what are the kind of more macro benefits you'd point out?
25:16Well, I guess, I mean, the biggest one is, is the climate change perspective here.
25:22So, you know, climate change is, is with us and it's only heading in one direction.
25:28And a big contribution to the UK's climate change emissions is, is from heating.
25:33Lots of us are setting fire to gas, fossil fuel to stay warm.
25:37And, you know, that's, that's been something that's happened over, over years and set in place through infrastructure and decisions over many years and so on.
25:45So one of the things that is a really big, important part of the next phase of the climate change transition is, is to change how we heat our homes.
25:53And that's something that heat pumps and moving to efficient modern electric heat pumps do.
26:00I guess the other side of it is in terms of what it means in terms of energy security.
26:05Um, and, um, we are now in a position in, in the UK where the UK, um, imports more gas, um, than, than we produce ourselves.
26:14So of course, like one of the main reasons we, we, you know, is, is a fantastic boon for the Scotland and the UK back in the 1970s,
26:22when we discovered North Sea gas and we discovered a cheap way, um, to, to heat our homes.
26:27But that's kind of before we understood, um, the climate change crisis.
26:31Um, and I guess in terms of energy security now, like the opportunity is to use, we've got all this fantastic renewable electricity that we've, we've built in Scotland over the last decade.
26:41We've got all this renewable electricity at our disposal, uh, which producing more than we can, we can literally use sort of thing.
26:48So the opportunity is to take that renewable electricity that we can see at the top of the hills that we can see out to see, uh, and make use of that, uh, in heating our homes.
26:56And, and exactly the same way that people are, um, making steps to, to use it with electric vehicles and so on.
27:02So like that's the kind of the next phase of the transition here in Scotland.
27:05It'll give us that security from, from using domestically produced renewable electricity to heat our homes.
27:10Okay.
27:11Thanks Robin.
27:12Some great points there.
27:13And, um, Nicola, um, could you tell me more about what Aira's doing to ease this just transition away from fossil fuels?
27:19And I've heard about your Aira Academy, which sounds very interesting.
27:22Can you tell a bit more about that and how that works and helps train people, perhaps the next generation of, uh, engineers?
27:28Yeah.
27:29So, I mean, when we launched in Scotland, um, we very much were looking for installers who had experience, but, you know, there isn't a big pool of, uh,
27:40of experienced heat pump installers to draw from that those skills don't necessarily exist right now.
27:47Um, so we're, we're retraining gas engineers to be heat pump engineers, um, at our Academy currently down in Sheffield, but with a view to get into a place where we actually have an Academy in Scotland.
28:00Um, and then, you know, we're really looking at for the future.
28:04How do we bring through those apprenticeships that allow young people to enter the, the green, the world of green skills rather than training as a more traditional gas engineer?
28:16Um, and you know, we've been working with some of the local high schools and the local college where we're based in Stirling to look at how we can move that forward.
28:25Um, and then looking at, um, how, as we're expanding, we can take current gas engineers and help them to retrain so that we're, we're providing a future-proofed, um, employment skill based rather than sort of starting from scratch.
28:44Um, but it's, but it's widely accepted that there just aren't enough skilled engineers at this point in time in installing heat pumps.
28:52And we're pretty much on a mission to change that.
28:56Well, thanks Nicola.
28:57That sounds a very good cause to get some engineers trained up in installing heat pumps.
29:01It's been really good speaking to you both today, and I've learned a lot of heat pumps and I'm sure our listeners have as well.
29:06Is there anything else you'd like to add before we draw to a close today?
29:09I would just encourage anybody who's not sure about whether a heat pump's for them to check out.
29:17They visit a heat pump, um, website and we had a customer who actually said he was hosting a heat pump party, which I quite fancy going to if I'm being honest.
29:27That sounds like a great, a great use of your time.
29:30Um, but you know, I think if you talk to customers who have, um, or homeowners that have heat pumps installed, they're, they're generally really pleased with them because they're such a, a nice way to heat your house.
29:45And so that's all I would add, you know, get, get involved and find out more about it.
29:49And have a party.
29:51And have a party, absolutely.
29:53Yeah.
29:54And I think just, just building on that as well is, um, you know, is a, as, as we were saying earlier, now's a really great time to think about it.
30:01And that might mean that, um, you're getting in touch with an installer and finding an installer who's going to come out and give you a quote and kind of give you a sense of what it might look in, in your place.
30:10But, uh, it's also just that there's a real value in kind of, um, just understanding this a bit better from the kind of point of view of like planning ahead.
30:17So it might be that you've got a few more years in the boiler that you currently have and, and kind of what the boiler is doing.
30:23Um, but kind of getting a bit of a sense of what it might involve now means that you're kind of ready for when you do the boiler does, um, break down or it does need an expensive repair.
30:32You can, you're ready to go.
30:34You've got a plan for getting a heat pumping at that point.
30:37And sort of along similar lines, it's also, um, uh, kind of, there's a couple of things that you might be doing in your life.
30:42So you might be moving house or you might be thinking about getting a, uh, a new kitchen, get a new bathroom sort of thing.
30:48And often it ties in really well because you're kind of messing around with all the plumbing stuff, uh, to get some plumbers,
30:53get some, uh, heating folk in to, uh, make a big change to your heating system, like getting a heat pump at the same time.
30:58So kind of plan ahead, even if, even if like this summer, isn't the right time for you to get a heat pump.
31:04Thank you so much to Nicola from Aira and Robin from Nesta for sharing their insight on heat pumps and their benefits.
31:10If you'd like to find out more about heat pumps, please visit arahome.com.
31:14You'd book in for your free home energy assessment there and receive a zero obligation quote.
31:19And thanks for listening to this latest episode in the Sustainable Scotland series, produced by The Squatsman.
31:24This episode is delivered in partnership with Aira.
31:27Please listen out for and enjoy more episodes of Sustainable Scotland on all your main podcast platforms.
31:32This episode is presented by me, Rosemary Gallagher, and produced by Andrew Mulligan.
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