The Government has launched a review of heat pumps over concerns that they might be too noisy.
According to The Sunday Telegraph:
In the latest setback to Whitehall ambitions to install 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has raised concerns about the noise impact for communities.
Heat pumps, which are positioned outside a home, tend to emit a constant hum of between 40 and 60 decibels, about the same as a fridge or dishwasher.
Even though individually that is below the level usually considered annoying, there are fears that the cumulative impact of many heat pumps in a residential area could tip over into disturbance.
Defra is so concerned about the impact of noise on human health that it is currently working on a £6 million noise-mapping project and is gathering information on every road, railway and urban area in the country.
At the House of Lords science and technology committee hearing this week, Rebecca Pow, minister for environmental quality and resilience, said Defra had raised the issue of noisy heat pumps with the Department for Business and Trade.
“Whilst Defra is responsible for protecting the environment, an awful lot of the levers are in other departments,” she told peers.
“We highlight the issues to them, and a good example of that would be heat pumps and the business department.
“We’ve highlighted the issue of noise, so now they’ve commissioned a piece of work and research into the impacts of the noise.”
Heat pumps work by pumping compressed air from outside into people’s homes to raise the temperature indoors.
But sound experts say that the whir of the fan, hum of the motor, and buzz of the air conditioner condenser unit can all cause disturbance, which can get worse in frosty weather.
The units can also cause noisy vibrations.
Mike Foster, chief executive of the Energy and Utilities Alliance, which represents the utilities industry, called for trials to find out the impact of multiple heat pumps.
“We are aware of the concerns around noise emitted from heat pumps,” he said.
“If the Government really cared about consumers they would order a large-scale trial, with every home having a heat pump fitted, to test the cumulative noise levels of mass heat pump installations.
“Instead, they seem to be putting a Whitehall target for ripping out boilers for heat pumps as their priority. The interest of the consumer comes second best.”
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero told The Telegraph it was aware of noise issues. It expects the review to be completed by the summer.
The review will consider whether better design can reduce the volume and if they need to be positioned in a way that suppresses noise or minimises the sound impact.
