Can heat pumps cool down your home and how do they compare to air conditioning units?

By Liam Gilliver Published on 26/05/2026 - 7:00 GMT+2 Share Comments Share Facebook Twitter Flipboard Send Reddit Linkedin Messenger Telegram VK Bluesky Threads Whatsapp

Europe consumes huge amounts of electricity and generates tonnes of CO2 through cooling. Could heat pumps save us during the next heatwave?

Climate experts warn that intense heat in May is becoming the “new normal” as large swathes of Europe continue to swelter under unusually high temperatures.

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Following a balmy Pentecost weekend, cities across the Mediterranean basin and beyond are bracing for more scorching temperatures. In Spain, weather forecasts predict Seville will reach highs of 39°C this week, while Bilbao braces for temperatures of 37°C on Wednesday (27 May) and Thursday (28 May).

In Germany, maximum temperatures will hit 32°C in Stuttgart today (Tuesday, 26 May), while Düsseldorf and Bonn will face a balmy 31°C. Even the UK is expected to face its hottest May day on record, with forecasts of up to 35°C in southern England.

The heat boom comes after a major report released on 20 May by the UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC), which warned that air conditioning (AC) will soon be “unavoidable” to protect citizens from unbearable summer heat, particularly in care homes, hospitals and schools.

But, as heat pump sales soar across Europe – which is the best and most environmentally friendly way to cool down your home?

Heat pumps gain ground in Europe

Heat pumps are often considered as a heating technology, which work by transferring heat from outside air, ground or water into a home rather than generating it.

Sales of the green tech are on the rise, after a slump in 2023 and 2024, with Scandinavia remaining the biggest market. The spike in popularity is partly due to the war on Iran spiking the price of oil and gas.

According to the European Heat Pump Association, residential heat pump sales increased by 25 per cent in the first quarter of 2026 in France, Germany and Poland, on average.

Sales of heat pumps in the UK also rose more than 50 per cent in the first three weeks of March compared to the same period the month before, according to energy firm Octopus Energy, following the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Which type of heat pump can cool your home?

Instead of heating water in radiators or underfloor pipes, air-to-air heat pumps work by warming the air inside the building. These specific types of air-to-air heat pumps consist of an outdoor unit that is connected to one, or multiple, indoor fans.

Unlike air-to-water or ground-sourced heat pumps, air-to-air models can also remove heat from inside your home to outside, in a very similar process to standard AC units.

Air-to-air heat pumps are often cheaper than other models – with prices ranging from £1,900 (€2,200) for one room and around £3,700 (€4,287) for a three-bedroom semi-detached house in the UK. However, government grants for air-to-air heat pumps tend to be considerably lower than those for other models.

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The biggest downside is that most air-to-air systems don’t provide hot water, so you’ll need another way of heating water for showers, baths and cleaning. This could still be done in a low-carbon way, for example using solar water heating, but it incurs additional costs.

Still, air-to-air heat pumps are something to consider for smaller homes and flats due to their smaller size – or for those limited by planning restrictions.

Is a heat pump better for the planet than air conditioning?

While AC effectively reduces heat mortality during heatwaves, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that “space cooling” – which is mostly AC units and fans — consumed around seven per cent of the world’s electricity in 2022.

During the early summer heatwaves of 2025, France – where air conditioning ownership is low – recorded an evening electricity peak that was 25 per cent above the off-season average due to AC units.

AC units, which are often powered by fossil fuels, generated around one billion tonnes of CO2 in 2022. Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) and hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) refrigerants used in air conditioning also trap thousands of times more heat in the atmosphere than CO2, driving global warming.

But as climate change continues to bake the planet, experts warn that the number of AC units is expected to soar. Today, there are around two billion AC units in the world, but the IEA projects that this could almost triple to more than 5.5 billion by 2050.

Air-to-air heat pumps are not immune to environmental damage when it comes to their cooling function. Both AC and air-to-air heat pumps add heat into the outdoors, raising the outside temperature and thus increasing the demand for more indoor cooling.

Replacing an already-efficient AC with an air-to-air heat pump will therefore have little effect on emissions: the biggest gains come from ditching combustion-based heating.

How to stop heat from entering your house

Of course, the most eco-friendly way of cooling your house is to prevent heat from entering it in the first place.

“You should first consider passive cooling methods like window shades and improved ventilation to minimise energy use,” advises the UK’s Energy Saving Trust.

Covering windows with blackout blinds, and only opening windows when the outside air is cooler (such as at nighttime) will help reduce the need for extractive cooling.

Make sure your heating is turned off, switch off lights and electrical equipment that aren’t in use and consider cooking at cooler times of the day if possible.

In the UK, where air conditioning units are not common, and infrastructure isn’t designed to deal with intense heat, the government advises visiting public buildings such as local libraries or supermarkets to cool down, as long as you can travel safely.

When temperatures get too hot, hundreds of public buildings in Spain open their doors for members of the public, thanks to its extensive network of climate shelters. These shelters provide cooling and water for huge groups of people to help protect those vulnerable to intense heat. More are popping up all over Europe, particularly in big cities.

Heat is often trapped in cities due to being absorbed into asphalt and concrete, which is known as the urban heat island effect. By 2050, heatwaves will affect more than 3.5 billion people worldwide, with half of them living in urban centres.

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