You might not have glued yourself to a landmark in the recent Extinction Rebellion protests,

but one day many of us will have to do something even more radical: rip out our gas boilers.
The government’s official advisers on climate change say almost all homes — 85% of which
currently use gas — need low-carbon heating by 2050.

Britain has to make that switch to cut net carbon emissions to zero in 30 years’ time. Only
then, if other nations follow suit, will we have a 50% chance of avoiding a dangerous 1.5C
global temperature rise, according to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC).

The chancellor has proposed a ban on gas boilers in all new-build homes from 2025, but the
far bigger challenge is how to wean 24m existing homes off their gas heating. So, if you need
a new boiler, what are the greenest options?

Electric heating
When most of our electricity was still generated from coal or gas, it emitted almost 2½ times more carbon
(500 grams per kilowatt-hour, or kWh) than gas boilers (210g per kWh). Now that wind, water and solar
energy have been added to the grid, that has dropped to 230g per kWh — on a par with gas boilers. This
figure will continue to fall, making electric heating increasingly green.

Yet it is still far more costly to run, at an average of 14p per kWh, as opposed to 4p for gas. That’s why
current rules contradict the committee’s proposals: energy performance certificates (EPCs), which you
need before you can let or sell your home, rate electric heating as much worse than gas combi boilers.
“The EPC system is lagging behind reality,” says John Palmer, managing director of Enhabit, an energy-
efficiency consultancy (enhabit.uk.com). A review of these building regulations is due this year.

In well-insulated homes that need little heating, electric boilers can be the most cost-effective replacement.
They’re about the same price as the gas equivalent, but are less powerful. An electric combi boiler, which
instantly heats mains water for taps and central heating, would suit a one-bedroom flat; for anything
bigger, you’d need to add a cylinder and perhaps a second boiler.

As the added demand could melt your wiring, an electrician should assess your home first. You may need
thicker cables from the electric boiler to the fuse board and possibly to the mains, at a cost of up to £2,000,
says Chris Keri-Nagy, director of Gastrax plumbing and heating. He was recently asked to fit electric
boilers with cylinders in eight flats in Croydon, only to find that the mains cabling in the street could not
cope with the extra load. “There is not enough cabling in the grid to handle everyone having an electric
boiler or charging an electric car,” he says.

Heat pumps
By reversing the process that cools a fridge, a heat pump extracts thermal energy from the air or ground
and multiplies that to heat homes. It needs 1kWh of electricity to produce up to 2.5kWh of heat, so has less
than half the emissions of a gas boiler for about the same running cost.

Despite this, Britain fits only 20,000 heat pumps a year, compared with 240,000 in France. In order for
every home to have one, UK electricity generation would have to treble, experts say.

Heat pumps typically cost between £7,000 and £9,000; Mitsubishi Ecodan, Samsung and Daikin are the
leading brands. The government’s renewable heat incentive (RHI) aims to pay you back the excess cost
above that of a gas boiler in the space of seven years.

“Most houses can’t do a one-for-one replacement,” Palmer says. Heat pumps work best when heating
water to 40C-50C: enough for a shower, but not for central heating, which has to run at about 70C in icy
weather. To make a heat pump efficient in a period home, Palmer says you could:
● Fit draughtproofing, double glazing and better insulation, so you need less heating.
● Install bigger radiators, for example by upgrading from single to double panels. The larger the surface,
the more heat it will emit — making up for the low water temperature.
● Switch to underfloor heating. This creates one giant radiator, ideal for heat pumps. If you are
refurbishing your ground floor, you could combine underfloor heating and a heat pump downstairs with
bigger radiators upstairs.
● Get a hybrid system, using a heat pump as much as possible, backed up by existing boilers for when it’s
really cold.

Retrofitting an existing house along these lines costs about £26,000 on average, according to the CCC.

Hydrogen boilers
Hydrogen is the most common chemical element and gives off only water vapour when burnt. It made up
half of the “town gas” used in Britain until the 1970s, when it was replaced by natural gas from the North
Sea. Now government-funded research is again seeking ways to pipe hydrogen to our homes.

A full conversion would require boilers and cookers to be replaced. But one hydrogen boiler is already
available that can be fitted without changing your hob or pipework: the Viessman Vitovalor. It uses a
catalyst to split hydrogen off natural gas from the mains supply. It then burns this using “cold combustion”
to produce electricity and heat — shaving £700-£900 off annual fuel bills for a three- to five-bedroom
house, according to Patrick Wheeler, director of VitoEnergy, its biggest installer (vitoenergy.co.uk).

The catch? “It’s a lot more than a gas boiler,” he says. It starts at £13,500; it doesn’t benefit from the RHI;
and, since the feed-in tariff scheme closed last month, you can no longer claim about £600 a year for
generating green energy.

The size of an American fridge-freezer (110cm wide), the Vitovalor is usually fitted in a garage or utility
room. Wheeler recommends them for family homes, not single flats. “But it would be ideal as a small
shared heat network between three flats.”

Tried and tested by Good Housekeeping: energy-efficient appliances

Tumble dryer
Miele TWF505WP
A+++
£1,099; johnlewis.com
This dryer is sleek, quiet and easy to use, and produced impressive results when drying both cottons and
synthetics. It caused little to no shrinkage and left the laundry completely dry. Power consumption on this
model is also low, even for longer cycles.
86/100

Washing machine
Samsung WW10M86DQOO
A+++
£1,249; johnlewis.com
With a large 10kg capacity and an innovative smaller door for adding last-minute socks, this machine
made loading and unloading laundry a breeze. It has a host of intuitive features and scored well across
many of our tests. We were also impressed by some fantastic stain-removal results, and it scored top marks
for quietness.
83/100

Dishwasher
Miele G6620SC
A+++
£949 (currently on sale for £825); currys.co.uk
This dishwasher performed brilliantly — almost all dishes came out clean and dry, and it fits all 14 place
settings, which is a rarity with dishwashers. It’s reasonably energy-efficient, especially when using the eco
programme, and is very quiet. We liked the user-friendly control interface and programme selection.
93/100

Fridge-freezer
Miele KFN 29233 D bb
A+++
£1,419; ao.com
A spacious model that offers a 70/30 split, with plenty of shelf levels to customise the space as needed. It
also has an attractive and unusual blackboard finish, so you can get creative and write shopping lists on it
using the supplied chalk pen. During testing, it regulated its fridge and freezer temperatures well, even
when doors were left open, and energy consumption was low.
90/100

Kettle
Prestige 1.7L Eco Kettle
£50; prestige.co.uk
Definitely a kettle worth considering for its low cost and good performance. It’s lightweight and boils
water quickly, both at its minimum capacity and its maximum — so you won’t be waiting around for your
morning brew. The design also stands out for energy-saving features such as the ability to boil water for a
single cup and the illuminated gauge, so you can easily see how much water is in the kettle prior to topping
up.
90/100

goodhousekeeping.co.uk/institute

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