Even Though It Is Summer,

I keep finding articles about heat pumps,

photograph Aitchison/In pictures via Getty Images, and the more I read about them, the more unsuitable they seem for the UK, homes needing huge radiators and more to make them work, and in this article it appears the gas used in them is a total disaster for the environment, so much so that the EU is looking to phase out HFCs, a type of f-gas or fluorinated gas which are used in air conditioning and refrigerants as a replacement for CFCs, which were devastating the ozone layer. While HFCs do not harm the ozone layers like their predecessor, they do have a significant impact on global warming, with trifluoromethane having 11,700 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide. Due to its role in aggravating climate change, the EU originally vowed to slash the quota of gas allowed for industry to almost a third of 2015 levels by 2024, experts have warned that a ban on these gases could hamstring the rollout of heat pumps in the UK and EU. 

photograph Andrew Aitchison/Getty Images, in plain speak, Martyn Cooper, commercial manager at the UK’s Federation of Environmental Trade Associations, which represents heating and cooling companies, including the heat-pump industry, told the Telegraph: “The bottom line is there wouldn’t be enough f-gases to service existing equipment in the market, be they heat pumps or not, it would potentially impact on the rollout of heat pumps because there wouldn’t be enough f-gases to go in them now, potentially you have one environmental regulation, f-gas regulation, impinging on the move to net zero.” but here is the thing I do not understand, if this gas is so ultra harmful to the environment, why on earth are we using it?