Air conditioning
Cool in summer, efficient heat the rest of the year — from the same units.
Modern air conditioning does both jobs. It cools the house through the warm months, and the same units run in reverse to heat rooms efficiently when it's cold. And in summer, when your solar is producing most, it can run on power you're already making.
Fixed price · No same-day signature · Hertfordshire
What it actually does
One system, two jobs — cooling and heating
An air conditioning unit moves heat rather than making it. In summer it takes warmth out of the room and pushes it outside, so the house stays comfortable through a hot spell. In winter the same unit works the other way round — pulling warmth from the outside air and bringing it in.
Because it moves heat instead of burning fuel to create it, running it for heating can be more efficient than a plug-in heater or, in some homes, electric heating. It won't suit every room or replace every system — but where it fits, it earns its keep across the whole year, not just July.
(wall unit, Hertfordshire home)
Why it pairs with solar
You need it most when your panels make the most
The hottest days — when you'd run the cooling — are also the days your panels produce the most. That overlap is what makes air conditioning and solar sit together well.
Cooling on your own power
Bright summer days give you the most generation. Run the cooling then and much of it can come straight from the roof.
Uses power you'd otherwise export
Spare midday generation that would go back to the grid cheaply can cool the house instead — more of what you make, used at home.
Sized from real usage
We look at your half-hourly data and the rooms you'd actually use it in, so the system matches the home — not a rule of thumb.
The honest bit
Straight about summer, and about the rest of the year
In a British summer you won't run the cooling every day — some years you'll want it more than others. We won't build the case on a heatwave that might not come. What makes air conditioning worth it for many homes is that it isn't only for summer: the same units give you efficient heating through the colder months too.
In winter your panels make far less, so the heating side mostly runs on grid power. We'll set that out plainly in your figures — what the cooling could draw from solar in summer, and what the heating is likely to cost across the year — so you're deciding on the whole picture, not the sunny half of it.
If a unit only makes sense on the assumption of a long, hot summer, that's worth questioning. We'd rather it stack up on the year as a whole.
How we do it
Done properly, and itemised in full
You see exactly what you're paying for — the units, the fitting and the electrical work, not a single vague price.
- A free analysis of your real data before anything is quoted
- A survey with the founder to work out the right rooms and unit sizes
- Quality units specified to suit the home, for cooling and efficient heating
- A fixed, itemised quote that doesn't move once issued
- Tidy installation and safe electrical work, done to the standard we'd want at home
- Monitoring where it helps, plus an annual review so it keeps performing
Start with your own numbers
See what air conditioning would really do for your home
A free analysis of your half-hourly data shows how the cooling and heating would sit against your usage and your solar — before you commit to anything.
Get your free analysis