HC Deb 01 July 2002 vol 388 c128W
Mr. Gareth Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action she is taking to encourage the development of interseasonal heat transfer technology in the UK. [62551]

Mr. Wilson

Ground source heat pumps (GSHP) are a proven and reliable technology that can be commercially attractive in certain situations. DTI helped fund the establishment of a UK heat pump network in 1999 to promote the technology. The Government now encourages the development of this technology through the Carbon Trust's "Action Energy" programme, which is supported by DEFRA, the Scottish Energy Efficiency Office, the National Assembly for Wales and Invest Northern Ireland. The Carbon Trust currently supports the following GSHP activities:

  1. (i) a new study to monitor the performance of domestic GSHP systems on three sites;
  2. (ii) a proposed new study of a GSHP system in a single commercial building;
  3. (iii) two small part-funded R&D projects;
  4. (iv) the UK Heat Pump Network.