Some people will argue that there has not been sufficient research and design in environmentally friendly domestic solutions. That, they will say, is why something like solar assisted heat pumps are not seen on every home.
If you know roughly how heat pumps work you will know that they take advantage of environmental ambient temperatures to to gather home heating in a very efficient manner. It is not unusual to see a heat pump rated as five hundred percent efficient - this means that every unit of electrical energy can be turned into five units of heat energy.
However it still takes energy to raise the temperature of any cold substance (air or water for example). And we all know there is another way to get heat from the environment - the sun.
Okay so this is the big idea - combine the hydro heat pumps with solar and get even more benefit! It is common sense really - higher starting temperatures means less work for the heat pump.
These days there are some fairly high tech solar heating panels that can be integrated into the roofs of homes so they look like a roof rather than a panel. The sceptics may be right in asking why this fairly obvious technology is not further advanced and a standard installation in all new homes.