CHELTENHAM: Eco-friendly heating materials could benefit from government efforts to raise the proportion of the nation's power derived from renewable resources said building materials analyst AMA Research.

Ground source heat pumps are one of the technologies it expects to grow as a result.

"The government's target of 15%of energy to be derived from renewables by 2020 assumes significant growth of ground and air source heat pumps in order to meet this commitment," the analyst said.

Meanwhile, biomass boilers are also predicted to see an increase in usage in terms of volume.

AMA Research notes that the technology is not new - it has been in use for two decades or more on the continent.