Start from where you are
Somebody weighing up a heat pump, somebody about to sign for one, somebody who sells them and somebody who fits them all want different things from the same subject. Pick the one that sounds like you.
I am considering it
Thinking about it, not committed to anything
Work out whether a heat pump or solar panels would suit your house, and what needs doing to it first.
- 1 Should I get a heat pump? What changes in a house that gets a heat pump, the conditions it needs to work well, and how to tell early on whether yours is a good candidate. 8 min read
- 2 What to sort out before a heat pump The things worth doing before you spend anything, because each one makes the machine you end up buying smaller, cheaper, or better matched to the house. Most of them cost nothing. 7 min read
- 3 The Boiler Upgrade Scheme The grant that pays part of the cost of replacing a boiler with a heat pump in England and Wales. What it is worth, who can have it, and what the April 2026 rule changes opened up. 7 min read
- 4 Should I get solar panels? What a roof will realistically generate, why the direction matters less than you think, and why the same panels are worth more to some households than others. 7 min read
- 5 What to sort out before solar Less needs doing than for a heat pump, and one thing people expect to have to do turns out not to matter at all. What is worth checking before you get anyone out. 7 min read
I intend to buy
Ready to get quotes, or holding one already
Read a quotation properly, and compare two that have arrived in completely different shapes.
- 1 What a good quote looks like A quotation should show its working. What ought to be in one, what the gaps usually mean, and the handful of numbers that matter more than the price. 6 min read
- 2 Questions to ask before you sign Eleven questions, what a good answer sounds like, and what a bad one tells you. Print it, take it to the appointment. 4 min read
- 3 Comparing quotes that look nothing alike Quotations for the same house rarely arrive in the same shape. A method for putting them side by side, and what a big difference in price usually turns out to be. 5 min read
I am selling
You sell heat pumps or solar to householders
Customers now turn up with their own figures and a list of questions. This is what they have been told to ask.
- 1 What customers now expect to hear Householders are arriving with their own figures and a list of questions. This is what they have been told to ask, why, and how to be the quote that survives the comparison. 5 min read
- 2 Answering the hard questions honestly Six questions that come up in almost every appointment, with an honest answer to each and what tends to get said instead. 6 min read
I am installing
You are doing the work
What the customer wants from you on the day, and what to leave behind so nobody has to ring you in three years.
- 1 What the customer wants from you on site They are not judging your pipework, because they cannot. They are judging half a dozen other things, and those decide whether you get the review and the neighbour's job. 5 min read
- 2 What to leave behind The documents and settings that decide whether anybody has to ring you in three years, and whether the next engineer can work out what you did. 5 min read
I want to learn more
You want the method and the sources behind it
The published methods behind every figure on a quotation, with the arithmetic worked through.
This is where the standards, the formulae and the sources live. The other four sections are written without them.
- 1 What MCS certification covers The Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certifies small renewable energy products and the companies that install them. It is worth understanding what the badge is evidence of before treating it as a guarantee. 5 min read
- 2 How a heat pump heats a house A heat pump moves heat instead of making it, which is why it can deliver more heat than the electricity it consumes. What that means for your radiators and for the way the house is heated. 7 min read
- 3 Sizing a heat pump: heat loss and design temperatures The Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) requires a heat pump to be sized from a room-by-room heat loss calculation. This is what that calculation contains, why the standard insists on it, and how to read one. 8 min read
- 4 Flow temperature, radiators, and the Heat Emitter Guide The temperature a heat pump has to produce is set by the radiators it is connected to, and that temperature governs the running cost. This is how the two are related and how the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) measures the relationship. 7 min read
- 5 How the output of a solar PV system is estimated Every solar quotation under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) contains a figure for annual generation, and every one of them is arrived at the same way. This guide sets out the method and the data behind it, and how to check the figure on a quotation. 7 min read
- 6 Self-consumption, export, and batteries What a solar system is worth depends far more on how much of its output the house uses than on how much it generates. The Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) publishes tables for working that out, and this is how to read them for your household. 7 min read