As we warm ourselves in the afterglow of Ethical Investment Week, happy in the knowledge that we are better and more ethical people for our involvement, I came to wondering what kind of ethical investments might be best for the home.

With these in mind I’d like to highlight the current work being one on Heat Pumps. Because it’s an investment for the home, and if you are in the mind of investing ethically, a heat pump would be a pretty good choice.

This is why:

• There are two sorts of heat pumps; an air pump, and a ground pump. They work like a fridge. Apart from the other way round. They make the ground/air colder and pump that heat into your house. On average they work at an efficiency of 250-300% however, so they’re quite a lot more efficient than a fridge. (That is it puts out 2.5-3 times the amount of energy put in)
• Common costs for installation are high to start, but they add that value onto the house and save significant amounts of money on oil, electricity and solid heating bills.
• It doesn’t need to be warm outside to work. Because the surface area covered is large, given that heat is absorbed through coils, the latent heat in the ground is absorbed. You don’t need to have a hot spring in your back garden for it to work.
• Maintenance costs are pretty low. Most systems come with a three year warranty. A check by a professional every three to five years should be sufficient.
• Should you produce too much energy for your own use, you can sell it back to the National Grid.

At the very worst, that is the most inefficient working system against the least polluting fossil fuel, gas, the heat pump system saves 400kg of CO2 emissions per year.

So there you have it. My number one recommendation for an ethical home investment; the Heat Pump. Please, please visit the very good energy saving trust website for more information (link below) and see if this is the kind of ethical investment you might consider.

(http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generating-energy/Choosing-a-renewable-technology/Ground-source-heat-pumps#maintenance)

Posted by Guest Energizer Sean McArdell