“Heat pumps are just electric heating.”

An electric resistance heater turns 1 unit of electricity into 1 unit of heat. A heat pump uses that same unit of electricity to move 2–3 units of renewable heat out of the air, water or ground, delivering 3–4 units of heat in total.

That is why the EU counts the ambient heat that heat pumps capture as renewable energy. A heat pump is best understood as a technology for accessing the heat that already surrounds us. Electricity is the lever, not the source.