Interesting. I agree that actual comparative numerical results from a disinterested 3rd party would be fab and I've whinged about their absence before.

I think the EST's study is a step in the right direction for the UK.

If the UK gov would pull its finger out so that most HP installations didn't require planning permission the entire market would be livelier with more numbers to compare. I for one would be replacing my gas band-D gas combi with an ASHP and publishing my CoP figures.

Rgds

Damon

Yes I had seen it before, probably from Jim's link. Trouble is that it is European data and not from the UK, where we fit what ever is on special offer and not what is needed. We tend to be gullible mugs here and believe what we are told (I once asked for a quote for a ST system and it started at £14,000 and reduced in price to £4,500). We have a habit of justifying the benefits after the purchase, so lets take an air source heating system installed for £8,000 as opposed to a new gas boiler for £2,500. That is a difference of £5,500, which buys a lot of gas or offsets a lot of CO2, depending on persuasion. It would also buy a lot of insulation. It could even be invested at 5% , giving around £275/pa, allowing you to switch to a '100% green electricity supplier', probably doing more long term good.
Not against heat pumps, but it is an immature market in the UK and we all know the costs of being 'early adopters'.
The really interesting things though is car purchase, we willingly go and buy a car knowing that the instant we sign for it that it has dropped in value by around 30%. There does come a time when we have to replace things though, the MacKay 'Stuff' that is high in embodied energy/CO2, and that cannot be avoided.
Very few people sit down and work out the figures like Damon does, and I think he is just about to break even on CO2 (difference between new gas and ASHP) if I have understood the figures right. Really must get my data logging sorted out and see what I am using now that 'the summer' is here for another 5 days.
Boils down to 'greening the grid', we can only do so much at home with efficiency, the rest is up to the power generators investing in a low emissions future. This is happening slowly as it cannot happen quickly.
Having been collected grid frequency and demand capacity for the last week, it seems that we slightly over produce (as expected), if we could utilise this better through demand management and storage, there is a few percent to be gained, but that is all, nothing like the 80% reduction in CO2 that is demanded of them. Food for thought there, even if it does only echo what MacKay claims.