The French Minister of Environment, Christophe Bechu, said that his country tends to replace fuel and gas heaters in the houses with the heat pumps which can help in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Reuters reported.

Recently, the French President Emmanuel Macron announced France plans to gradually vanish its few remaining coal-fired power plants, encourage the French to stop using thermal engines for electric cars and promote heat pumps as a way to heat houses.

Bechu elaborated that the government wants to help develop a national heat pump industry noting that France has the capacity to manufacture up to 1 million units per year, rather than importing Polish or Chinese-made devices.

He pointed out that if the government managed to replace close to all of the nearly 3 million fuel heaters and about half of the 11 million gas heaters, it could reduce emissions by 55% 2030. 

“Heat pumps use electricity to draw heat from the environment, and as France relies mainly on nuclear energy to generate electricity, heat pumps would generate virtually no emissions during use”, according to Reuters 

Bechu said that France also seek to enhance the use of geothermal energy for heating houses