Mitsubishi Ecodan reduces heating costs and carbon

A family has returned from a holiday funded from savings in heating costs thanks to a Mitsubishi Electric system which uses renewable energy from the outdoor air.

The Ecodan air source heat pump has lowered the costs to heat the 3-bedroomed home near Chipping Norton and enabled the Pearce family to pay for their holiday in Spain and also repay all outstanding bills with their electricity supplier.

Just two years ago, the tenants of West Oxfordshire social landlord Cottsway Housing Association had accumulated a GBP1,000 electricity bill with their supplier Southern Electric due to increasing fuel prices.

The couple then had the heating system installed by Cottsway to replace the old electric storage heaters and solid fuel open fire in the lounge and simply left the standing order as it was.

18 months later, they have repaid the outstanding amount to Southern Electric and saved enough in credit to fund their dream holiday to Spain.

Before the Ecodan system was installed, the Pearce's mid-terraced home spent GBP1,137 a year on household electricity bills and solid fuel.

The house is not on the gas network and the storage heaters and coal fire gave the property a carbon footprint of nine tonnes of CO2 a year.

With the new system, costs have been slashed to GBP384 for the heating and the carbon footprint of the home has been reduced by 65 per cent to just 3.2 tonnes.

The Ecodan air source heat pump is designed and manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric and operates on a small amount of electricity.

The system works a bit like a refrigerator in reverse, taking latent heat out of the air and using it to warm the house and provide hot water.

It works effectively in temperatures below -15C.

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