Green Homes Grant: Maximising Your Home’s Energy-Efficiency

Launched in September 2020, the Green Homes Grant is a government scheme aiming to help homeowners in England improve their home’s energy-efficiency. In this guide we’ll explore:

• How to apply for a Green Homes Grant
• What measures you can get assistance with
• Which UFH System is right for you
• The best insulation to use
• Choosing the right heating controls
• How to plan your project with Warmup

What is the Green Homes Grant and How Do I Apply?

The Green Homes Grant is a financial grant offered by the government to assist in covering the costs of installing specific heating improvements in your property, to create a greener, low carbon-based energy network. The grants take the form of vouchers that will cover up to two thirds of the total cost of the work, including materials and labour costs, to a maximum value of £5,000, or £10,000 for lower-income households. You can only apply for a grant if you are a homeowner or landlord and your property is in England.

All work must be successfully completed by March 31st 2022 and your installer must be a Trustmark registered, Green Home Grant tradesman. Find out if you’re eligible for a Green Homes Grant.

You can apply for the Green Homes Grant here

If you’d like to become a Green Homes Grant registered installer, register here

What Heating Improvements Can I Get Installed?

The grant is broken down into two vouchers, one that covers ‘Primary Measures’ and the other ‘Secondary Measures’.

Primary Measures focus on assisting with cost of installing new insulation and low carbon heat sources, such as:

• Insulation for walls
• Underfloor insulation
• Air and ground source heat pumps
• Solar thermal heating systems
• Biomass Boilers

Secondary Measure vouchers are to be used for supplementary improvements such as:

• Double/ triple glazing
• Draught proofing
• Heating controls including Smart thermostats, zone controls and delayed start thermostats

You may only apply for a Secondary Measure voucher if you have applied for a Primary Measure voucher and the value of this voucher is capped at the value of the first. For instance, if you receive a £1,000 grant for underfloor insulation, you will receive a maximum of £1,000 for heating controls.

The cost of underfloor heating and its installation is covered by the Green Homes Grant when installed alongside a low carbon heat source such as a heat pump.

Specifying Warmup Heating Solutions Using the Green Homes Grant

If you’re considering applying for a grant to help improve your home’s energy-efficiency this winter, Warmup’s wide range of heating systems, insulation products and award-winning heating controls offer a great foundation for your upcoming project.

Underfloor heating is a much more energy-efficient heating solution for your home compared to standard central heating. Floor heaters use radiant heat technology to gently warm the people and objects in a room directly, whereas radiators just heat the air of the room which can escape easily – thereby creating substantial energy wastage. UFH systems also run at lower temperatures than central heating systems, whilst still maintaining the same level of warmth, so they require less energy to reach optimal comfort levels. Using a Smart Thermostat with your floor heater offers even greater energy-efficiency, allowing precise heat control and automatic heat scheduling.

The increased efficiency of Warmup floor heating systems results in significant long-term cost savings, and actually helps your heat pump run at it’s most efficient, so you can expect dramatically lower heating bills for your home.

You can use your grant to help with the cost of installing one of our radiant floor heaters when installed alongside a new heat pump; our floor and wall insulation is fully compatible with the scheme and will help reduce heat loss; and our collection of thermostats can be purchased using the Secondary Measure voucher.

The Best Underfloor Heating Systems to Use with Heat Pumps

Heat pumps convert energy derived from the natural environment into sustainable energy for your home and are at their most efficient when running at lower temperatures. Because water underfloor heating uses lower temperatures than traditional central heating systems, our hydronic underfloor heaters are the ideal heating system to use with ground and air-source heat pumps.

Our Total-16 System is perfect for home renovation projects. With a system depth of just 16mm, it will have a negligible impact on floor heights and offers a ‘dry’ installation with no screeding required. The Econna Joisted Floor System is another great low-profile heater that has been specifically designed for joisted and battened floors.

Thinking of using this scheme to undertake a more thorough home-improvement project? Our Clypso System is a popular water underfloor heater for floating screeded floors. Heat pump- compatible floor heating systems will dramatically increase the energy-efficiency of your home whilst reducing your heating costs. You can also use Warmup UFH Systems with other Green Homes Grant-approved primary heating measures including biomass boilers and solar thermal heating systems.

Selecting Floor and Wall Insulation to Reduce Heat Loss

As we’ve previously explored, the Green Homes Grant will assist in covering some of the costs of installing new insulation in your home and Warmup offer a range of insulation products to help keep the warmth in and the cold air out.

Our Insulation Boards can be used for both solid wall insulation and solid floor insulation. Solid wall insulation can be installed onto the surface of your walls, as opposed to cavity wall insulation which is fitted in to a void in the wall. Likewise, solid floor insulation is for use with solid subfloors, as opposed to suspended floor insulation which utilises voids beneath the floor. Warmup Insulation Boards improve the heat-up times of radiant electric and water floor heaters and wall heating systems and efficiently conduct the heat produced from the system across the floor or wall’s surface.

If you’re looking for suspended floor insulation to use with traditional timber joisted subfloors, many of our wet underfloor heating systems come with accompanying high-quality insulation constructed from PIR Foam that can be fitted into the void beneath the subfloor.

Completing Your Application with Energy-Saving Heating Controls

Once you have specified your primary heating measures using your first voucher, you can use the next ‘Secondary Measure’ voucher to help purchase and install new heating controls.

Our range of Smart Thermostats improve the energy-efficiency of your heating system, providing you with a fully optimised heating experience with intuitive control and automatic heat functionality. Using a Warmup Smart Thermostat alongside our MyHeating and AutoSwitch Smartphone apps could save you up to £378 a year on your energy bills.

You can also consider installing new zone controls or an intelligent delayed start thermostat such as our 3iE Energy Monitoring Thermostat or Tempo Programmable Thermostat, both of which will provide accurate control and increased efficiency for your zoned floor heating system.

Plan Your Project with Our Online Quoting and Commissioning Tool

Our interactive online hydronic quote tool makes planning your Green Homes Grant-assisted refurbishment project a hassle-free experience.

Use it today to map out your home heating improvements and find the perfect UFH system to accompany your new heat pump, with Smart heating controls and insulation included. The quoting tool is easy to use and offers clear pricing so you can start drafting your budget with confidence.

Only Warmup’s Pro Hydro tool helps you spec and commission the right system to use with a heat pump whilst also ensuring the correct heat output levels, as well as providing you with a full commissioning log and bill of materials.