Ground source heat pumps could be installed in 320,000 British homes over the next decade, providing households with heating and hot water from underground, according to a report.
The renewable technology stores energy under homes until it is ready to be used, offering a greener way to heat and light buildings, says the Environment Agency (EA), which carried out the study.
If successful, the pumps could power more than one million British properties and provide a third of all
home energy.
The number of
ground source heat pumps in the country is already on the rise, doubling last year from 4,000 to 8,000 - the majority of which are large enough to provide a household with all of its heat and water.
Tony Grayling, head of climate change and sustainable development at the Environment Agency said: "Ground source heating is a rapidly growing technology that has the potential to produce at least 30 per cent of the country's renewable heat needs, but it needs financial support in order to grow."
In addition to residential properties, the EA believes that between 11 and 40 per cent of commercial buildings - such as shops and offices - could be fuelled by ground source heat pumps.
Although the pumps are not entirely carbon neutral, as they require electricity to work, they create between three to four times the amount of energy that they consume, making them energy efficient and possibly a method of reducing bills.
They are not all about heating, however, as they can double up as coolers in high temperatures.
Last month, Brian Charlton, business manager for IT for sustainability at Siemens, speaking at Green IT Expo 2009, suggested that calculating energy use was especially difficult for businesses.
He said that methods which controlled energy consumption and drove down costs - which could include the installation of ground source heat pumps - would be welcomed.
