Can UK eliminate emissions from residential heating by deploying heat pumps as fast as Finland?
Replacing gas heating with heat pumps would reduce 90% of UK’s direct greenhouse gas emissions from the residential sector. Here we look at whether such a replacement would be feasible if the UK would adopt heat pumps as fast as one of the leaders in this technology, Finland.
Early history of wind power in Germany and the UK
Before its fast expansion in the 2000s, wind power in the UK developed slower than in Germany. Why did this lag occur? While many early studies argued that it was due to a wrong selection of policy instruments, more careful look suggest that other factors may have played a role.
Does wind power grow faster in Germany or the UK?
In 2001-2014, wind power in the UK followed exactly the same trajectory as wind power in Germany in 1994-2007. Both paths are accurately predicted by the technology diffusion theory and do not show differences that would require additional socio-political explanations. What does require explanation is why the exponential growth of wind power was triggered in Germany and not in the UK in the early- or mid-1990s.