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With roughly 360,000 heat pumps currently installed across the UK, the country remains a long way off the government’s target of installing 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028, as laid out in the Energy Security Bill. But where do people currently stand on their journey toward using heat pumps? What barriers are holding back wider adoption, and how do these challenges vary across society? Most importantly, what can be done to overcome them?
Nesta’s new audience research helps to answer these questions by providing a segmentation of UK households based on demographic data, their housing situation and attitudes towards heat pumps. Ranging from “eco, high-earning Gen x-ers” — of whom 3% say they already have a heat pump — to “social tenants on tight budgets”, the report identifies the biggest heat pump enablers and barriers for each group to help them adopt the new technology.
And help is urgently needed: As Climate Barometer data shows, public knowledge of heat pumps remains limited, with only 37% of Britons knowing what a heat pump looks like, 22% saying they can describe how a heat pump works, and just 17% having heard mostly good things about them. Alongside this, 1 in 5 Britons have heard and agree with the statement that “heating technologies to replace gas boilers are untested and unreliable”, compared to only 1 in 10 who have heard the argument and disagree with it.
But for heat pumps to become a widely adopted source of heating over the next couple of decades in the UK, it will require more than fixing their image problems. Those who would already consider switching to a heat pump need to be supported to do so practically, and those who are currently unable to or hesitant about installing them need safe assurances that heat pumps will actually improve their comfort and help lower their energy bills over time.
New data from the spring 2026 wave of the DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker shows that 1 in 10 owner occupiers have already installed solar panels on their home and a further 57% say they would definitely or probably do so in the next few years. This presents an increase from 52% who said the same in spring 2025 but is still slightly below peak values in spring 2023.
When asked about the main reasons for considering solar, those who were likely to install them listed cutting electricity bills (83%), the renewable nature of the technology (72%) and reduced dependence on the electricity grid (51%).
Among owner occupiers who were unlikely to install solar panels, the main reasons for not considering the technology were the installation being too expensive (55%) and the payback taking too long (53%).
When asked what would encourage them to consider getting solar, 3 in 4 owner-occupiers named better financial support for installation (75%), followed by a guarantee scheme to cover any faults or damage (50%) and better financial incentives to sell excess electricity back to the grid (44%). These three incentives remain unchanged as top 3 since spring 2024, emphasising that the high outlay cost remains the largest barrier for those eligible to install solar on their homes.
New data from the spring 2026 wave of the DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker shows owner-occupiers are now more likely to say they already have or are likely to install a heat pump when they next need to change their heating system or boiler.
26% now say they have either already installed an air source heat pump or are very or fairly likely to install one when their heating system next needs upgrading. This is up 6 percentage points from the winter 2021 baseline and equals the previous peak from spring 2025. Change appears to be largely driven by fewer people saying they don’t know enough about the heating technology, now at 21%, which equals values in spring and summer 2025 but is down from 39% in winter 2021.
The share of owner-occupiers who say they are likely to install a ground source heat pump is lower, though an uptick from summer and winter 2025 is also observable here: 17% say they either already have or are very or fairly likely to install the technology next time their heating system needs upgrading, close to the highest point of 18% from spring 2025.
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