Fewer than half of people asked knew anything about heat pumps despite the electric heating systems forming a key part of national climate action plans, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has found.
The bar for knowledge was low, with people assessed for basic information about heat pumps, such as simply knowing they were routinely installed in new homes.
Just 44 per cent could offer any information, said Shane Timmons of the ESRI’s Behavioural Research Unit.
His research is one of a package of studies by the ESRI into barriers to home retrofits and whether alternatives exist.
“A lot of people are not really aware of what heat pumps are,” he said, after putting more than 1,000 people through exercises to gauge their attitudes to switching from fossil fuel heating systems.
Prof John Curtis studied what he termed the “hassle factor” in people’s willingness to retrofit.
The study found 26 per cent intended to retrofit but 23 per cent had no interest in doing so as they did not want any disruption.
A further 30 per cent said they were thinking about it but would be swayed by what it entailed.
Another 21 per cent had already done energy renovation work on their homes but not necessarily a full retrofit or heat pump installation.
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Curtis said those figures would not support the Government target of retrofitting 500,000 existing homes to at least Ber B2 standard by 2030.
Just 107,000 were retrofitted up to the end of last month although there had been a uptick in recent times.
“If we keep going at that rate, we will get there by 2040,” he said. However, he said there was no certainty recent year-on-year increases would be maintained.
He said the question of how to convince people who had ruled out retrofitting had to be addressed.
“A quarter of households are not going to move,” he said. “The grant scheme, as good and all as it is, is not going to work for all.”
Senior research officer Muireann Lynch said that based on recent trends just 50,000 would be installed in existing homes by 2030 instead of the 400,000 target.
The studies all raised the question of whether alternative low-carbon, low-disruption heating solutions could be used as an interim solution.
Timmons found people were “unfamiliar with but receptive to” using biofuels such HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil).
HVO could replace some or all of their kerosene use, reducing their emissions with little disruption apart from possibly needing to update their oil tank.
However, he said there were concerns around the sourcing of HVO and it carried a risk that households who switch to it would never opt for retrofitting.