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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/27/swedish-spotify-of-heat-pumps-aira-hopes-to-reach-more-uk-homes>
"Britain’s plan to wean homes off fossil fuels has had a tepid start, but
despite its lukewarm beginning, the market for heat pumps is hotting up.
The Swedish clean energy company Aira is leading a new wave of companies
preparing to harness the growing interest in low-carbon home heating, and is
positioning itself as the “Spotify of heat pumps”.
The company’s chief executive, Martin Lewerth, believes its subscription
service could soon help 5m households across Europe – including 1m in the UK –
turn their back on gas boilers for good.
Aira hopes to counter the nagging concerns that have hampered Britain’s take-up
of heat pumps by offering an end-to-end subscription service. For a monthly
payment and no upfront charge, its engineers will install and then service the
kit.
“The number one hurdle for many consumers is the high upfront costs of buying
and installing a heat pump. So we’re removing that,” he said. “We don’t want to
help affluent households only – we want to make heat pumps available to many
households across Europe.”
Aira was founded last year in Stockholm with the backing of the Swedish impact
investor Vargas, but it has its sights set on European countries where the heat
pump market is preparing to grow at pace. It began a pilot scheme in Italy
earlier this year, and plans to launch in Germany as well as the UK.
As part of this plan, it will invest £300m in the next three years in a series
of academies across the UK, which it predicts will produce an 8,000-strong army
of skilled installers to fit the heat pumps, manufactured at its factory in
Poland. Its first two UK academies will be based in Sheffield and London.
This workforce will underpin Aira’s commitment to complete each installation
within 30 days of order, and provide a 10-year service guarantee that
households will enjoy 20C comfort on even the coldest day of the year."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
