What do you believe is the single most important factor driving up the cost of living in Nigeria?

Cold climate countries are making significant efforts to transition from fossil fuels, such as oil and gas, to sustainable heating sources, such as heat pumps or district heating to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But fossil-fuel-based heat demand is expected to increase over the next few decades due to population growth.

Most strategies focus on technology and economic incentives. This hampers the transition in some countries such as the UK where uptake remains very low (at less than 5%, so gas heating remains the norm.

The green transition could be sped up by better understanding what motivates people to change their heating systems at home and what obstacles stand in their way.

For our study, published in June, of people's willingness to adopt sustainable heating technologies, we interviewed 70 households in two relatively deprived areas (Aspley and Clifton) of Nottingham, England.

Our findings reveal the low public awareness of these more sustainable technologies and a lack of willingness to adopt them. It also shows the crucial need to win over consumers to ensure a successful green transition. Only around 39% of participants were aware of sustainable heating systems—most of them knew about heat pumps (61%), with only 17% aware of district heating, and 17% aware of both.

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