A GREEN tech company has received over £500,000 in government funding as 85 per cent of Somerset homes are heat pump ready.

Thermly has found that 212,589 out of 252,813 residential properties in the county could benefit from the installations.

Co-founder Gareth Robertson highlighted the scope of the opportunity in Somerset due to its environmentally aware population.

He explained: "Somerset is a very forward-thinking, green-minded part of the country and with so many eligible properties, the opportunity to future-proof homes and move us all towards more sustainable energy choices is significant."

The data, generated by Thermly Hub, the same technology behind the UK Green Building Council's housing analysis tool, shows an even broader potential impact.

Estimates suggest that if all suitable Somerset homes switched to heat pumps, the area could save over 12 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, and a total of 61.5 billion kWh in energy usage.

(Image: JackPeasePhotography - Flickr)

Mr Robertson added: "At Thermly, we want to support homeowners in making planet positive decisions, so we help them install heat pumps quickly and easily, enabling an energy efficient, low carbon way to heat homes and futureproofing them for years to come.

"As these figures show, we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions our homes release and the amount of energy we use across our lifetimes."

Thermly has also announced it secured £518,363 in funding through the UK Government’s Heat Pump Ready programme, an initiative run by the Department of Energy Security & Net Zero offering support for the development of innovative heat pump technologies.

One main aim of the programme is to support homeowners in 'distress' situations, who currently may be more likely to replace unreliable heating systems with traditional gas boilers.

Mr Robertson continued: "1.75m UK households every year are faced with an unreliable heating system and will, entirely understandably, default to a replacement gas boiler.

"We must make it easier for homeowners to consider a heat pump as a replacement for a failed - or failing - gas boiler, otherwise we will forever be in a cycle of heating our homes with unsustainable heating sources."

The Thermly initiative, launched in May, is part of a bigger programme, which resulted in 10 projects receiving a total of £5.8 million in funding, and will hopefully see an escalation in heat pump installations in homes across the country.