The Government was today accused of a 'wasteful and baffling' move to pay 20,000 poorer households to install new gas boilers only a decade before they are expected to be phased out.
The 'energy company obligation', which uses money raised from surcharges on energy bills to pay for efficiency measures such as insulation in fuel poor homes, could see them get new central heating systems with gas boilers.
Documents from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy revealed details of the scheme over the period of 2022 to 2026, which is only nine years before new gas boilers are set to be banned from 2035.
It comes as the Government is set to reveal how it will shift away from carbon-polluting technology, amid claims households could receive grants worth thousands of pounds to install clean alternatives such as heat pumps.
But one sustainability expert told MailOnline that the biggest problem that needs to be fixed are 'the shocking losses in the generation and transmission of energy in the UK, where two-thirds of energy is currently wasted'.
Homes account for around 14 per cent of the UK's climate pollution, with the vast majority getting their heating and hot water from fossil fuel gas boilers which produce carbon dioxide.
The Government has been accused of 'wasteful and baffling' moves to pay poorer households to install new gas boilers
This graphic from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy shows the breakdown of fuel poor properties
Ground source heat pumps (left) use pipes buried in the garden to extract heat from the ground, which can then heat radiators. Air source heat pumps (right), which absorb heat from the outside air, can still extract heat when it is as cold as -15C
Ground source heat pumps circulate a mixture of water and antifreeze around a ground loop pipe. Heat from the ground is absorbed into the fluid and then passes through a heat exchanger, and running costs will depend on the size of the home
Air source heat pumps absorb heat from the outside air at low temperature into a fluid to heat your house and hot water. They extract renewable heat from the environment, meaning the heat output is greater than the electricity input
Cutting the pollution from households is a key part of the UK's efforts to meet its legal climate goals to reduce greenhouse gases to zero overall by 2050.
Experts also warn that gas boilers expose families to air pollution, and with gas prices on the rise, could be a more expensive option than running a heat pump, although the clean technology is currently far more costly to install.