Educational Resource
Eco-Friendly Heating & Cooling
Reducing your home's carbon footprint starts with how you heat and cool. Here's how hydronics — paired with the right energy source — beats every alternative.
Reducing your home's carbon footprint starts with how you heat and cool. Here's how hydronics — paired with the right energy source — beats every alternative.
Heating and cooling typically account for 40% of a home's annual energy use. Choosing a low-carbon system is the single biggest decarbonisation lever most homeowners have.
The greenest hydronic system today is a heat pump driven by solar PV — operationally near zero-emissions, with a 30+ year design life.
Direct electric resistance: 0.7 kg CO2/kWh (AU grid avg). Gas boiler: 0.21 kg/kWh. Air-source heat pump (COP 4.0): 0.18 kg/kWh. Geothermal heat pump (COP 5.0): 0.14 kg/kWh. Solar-thermal + heat pump backup: <0.05 kg/kWh.
Pair any heat pump with rooftop solar PV and you can reach near-zero operational carbon.
Air-source or geothermal heat pump driven by solar PV — operationally near zero-emissions, with a 30+ year design life. Solar thermal heating is also excellent. Gas boilers are about 60% lower carbon than direct electric on the AU grid mix; heat pumps are about 75% lower than gas.
Yes — Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs) apply to heat pumps and solar thermal under the Australian Renewable Energy Target. State-level rebates also apply (Victoria's VEU, NSW's Energy Savings Scheme). Typical savings $1,000–$3,000 off install. We handle the paperwork.
Yes — solar thermal collectors paired with a wood/pellet hydronic burner and a thermal store can provide year-round heating fully off-grid. We've done this for cabin and rural builds.