The whole circle represents the total amount of heating and hot water used in the building. The blue sector is the measure of your Carbon Footprint. The blue field indicates energy consumed by the heat pump, the red indicates additional energy which could be used during peak loads and the green indicates free energy. You can save this much energy

GSHP manufacturers are keen to talk about COP, (Coefficient Of Performance). COP is the ratio between the energy, ie. electricity, put into the heat pump in order to make the electric motor driving the heat pump work, and the amount of heat extracted from the ground and pumped into your heating system as shown below.

Typically, modern heat pumps have COP ratios of between 3 (as above) and 5, i.e. for every Kilowatt of electrical energy put into the system, 3 to 5 Kilowatts of heat energy are put into your heating network.

Hence the energy saving claims for heat pumps in general.

Warning

The calculation of COP ratios is considerably influenced by the choice of temperatures for the heat conducting medium entering and leaving the heat pump.

Manufacturers are naturally adept at choosing entry/exit temperatures to give the highest COP for their product. 

The general rule is, the smaller the difference between collector and output temperature the higher will be the COP, conversely the greater the difference, the lower the COP

Should you wish to make choices based on COP figures, make sure that you are comparing like for like, i.e the comparison is for the same temperature range.

SUMMARY OF GROUND SOURCE HEAT PUMP ADVANTAGES

Efficiency - for every unit of electricity the ground source pump uses, it generates between 3 and 5 units of heat energy.

Low operating costs - a geothermal system can cut heating costs by up to 60% per year in some cases.

Environmentally friendly - a ground source heat pump can reduce your CO2 output by up to 2 tonnes a year. It can also be made carbon neutral if you buy green electricity, or generate your own.

Comfort - you are guaranteed a constant supply of reliable heat all year round. It can also be used in reverse during hot weather to cool buildings.

Safety - a ground source heat pump is very safe to have in your house. It does not require any combustible components. It is entirely electrically operated so there is no risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, no flame or bad smells.

Flexibility - geothermal energy has many applications from under floor heating and cooling, to heating a swimming pool and also for domestic hot water.

Quiet - a ground source heat pump is very quiet and discrete.

Consistency - as the temperature of the ground is the same almost all year round, you will always be guaranteed a constant flow of hot water.

Lifespan - a ground source heat pump's life span of about 30 years is about twice as long as a conventional boiler.

Carbon Footprint Reduction - Your house will have a lower carbon Footprint because yoou have extracted energy from the ground rather than from consumable fossil fuel  

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