The England football team may have crashed out of the World Cup prematurely, but we can still take comfort in being one of the best rugby union teams of the past 10 years, with a World Cup title and another appearance in the final. Ben Cohen MBE was one of the key players in the successful 2003 Rugby World Cup campaign and remains England’s 3rd highest try scorer of all time. But not a lot of people know that he is also keen on self-suffiency for his family home, and is considering installing solar panels at the 17 acre site of his rural home sometime in the future.

Cohen was particularly impressed to hear about the Therma V, LG’s new air to water pump, as it promises energy-efficiency. Having done his own research into the benefits, he expects return on investment after three to four years.

ACS Renewable Solutions Ltd will fit two Therma Vs in Cohen’s Northampton farmhouse and adjoining converted barn.  Both will supply underfloor heating and domestic hot water while at the same time significantly reduce his family’s carbon footprint.

Therma V has shown to be up to four times more efficient than conventional systems. “I have small twin daughters and since they were born, the energy bills have soared,” says Cohen.  “Also, we are fairly remote here and I would rather have our own source of energy on site, so we aren’t dependent on any outside supplier.”

Cohen adds that his neighbour had recently fitted a heat pump and was pleased with the results.   It was this that started him thinking that a similar pump could be the answer to his high energy bills.  However, it was not until he began to talk to LG on a trip to Fulham Football Club (the former team of his uncle, England world cup winner, George Cohen), that the idea took hold.

“I decided to do my own research into the options and could see that the Therma V was one of the most advanced and efficient on the market.  I was also reassured by the LG name, knowing that this meant the technology had a good backing,” he says.

Designed for use both in new homes and renovations, Therma V works by using inverter heat pump technology to extract warmth from outside air. This renewable source is highly efficient to the point that the co-efficient of performance (COP), which is used to measure the amount of heat generated against the amount of electricity used to power the system, measures a COP of 4.1. This means the Therma V system produces 4kw of heating energy for every 1kw.