• If Santa warms his workshop with heat pumps instead of gas, he would cut the workshop's annual heating energy demand from 320 gigawatt-hours to just 73 gigawatt-hours
• In Arctic conditions and the live-work space of his 37 million cubic-metres workshop, Santa would need to install heat pumps with power equivalent to around 12,500 residential-scale heat pumps
• Total clean electricity demand for the North Pole operation equals the annual usage of roughly 55,000 UK households

As families prepare for the festive season, new analysis from the innovation foundation Nesta reveals that Santa Claus could be reducing his energy use while leading by example on the clean energy transition in the North Pole.

If Santa’s massive workshop in Finnish Lapland swapped traditional gas heating for low-carbon technology, he would require 78% less energy to keep his elves warm this year, Nesta estimates.

Santa’s workshop would have to be vast - roughly three times the size of the world's largest building - to accommodate a workforce of elves meeting the toy-building needs for 2 billion children. It would also need to allow for ventilation sucking in around 19 million cubic meters of freezing -30°C air regularly which would need to be heated up quickly. Luckily heat pumps are highly efficient forms of heating, typically producing three to four units of heat for every unit of electricity they consume - which is three to five times less energy compared with a gas boiler.

While a gas-powered workshop would consume 320 GWh of fuel for heating, industrial-scale heat pumps would meet the same demand with just 72 GWh of electricity. When combined with the 150 GWh needed to run lighting and toy conveyor belts, Santa’s total clean electricity demand reaches 222 GWh - which is roughly equivalent to the annual electricity usage of 55,000 UK households, around the number of homes in Cambridge.

Santa would likely seek to install state-of-the-art industrial heat pumps to meet his needs for the live-work space of his workshop, likely drawing power from the ground. He could also follow in the footsteps of Finland’s capital Helsinki, where the world’s largest heat pump is set to start providing heat to around 30,000 homes from the end of 2026. Whatever approach Santa takes, the massive heating needs of the workshop would mean that, by way of comparison, it would need power equivalent to 12,500 units of the standard residential air-source heat pumps installed in semi-detached homes in the UK.

Martina Kavan, Analyst for Sustainable Future at Nesta, said:

“When it comes to cutting energy use for heating, even in the freezing Arctic Santa would be aware that gas boilers are skating on thin ice. Just as Santa will have phased out coal for powering the workshop, keeping it solely for his lists for naughty children, he could take the next step by showing that it’s time to switch to clean heating, too. By using heat pumps to warm his workshop of busy elves, Santa would be hugely reducing his energy usage and pivoting fully to festive green electricity over dreary fossil fuels.

“For anyone keen to follow Santa’s sustainable example, they can check out getaheatpump.org.uk or look to make checking out a real heat pump through visitaheatpump.org.uk one of their New Year’s Resolutions. Nesta has reached out to Santa to see if he would like to become a host as part of our Visit a Heat Pump project.”

Notes to editors

• Santa’s workshop's size was calculated based on the global toy demand for 2 billion children worldwide, assuming an average toy size of 5 litres and a standard 27% "Cube Utilization Rate" for industrial warehouses, the total facility volume reaches 37 million meters cubed - roughly three times the size of the world's largest building.
• To maintain a 18°C indoor temperature against a -30°C Arctic exterior, the model accounts for losing 6-8 MW through the walls and the massive energy required to instantly heat 18.5 million cubic meters of fresh air every hour. This peak demand is partially offset by 14 MW of waste heat generated by "Naughty or Nice" data servers and LED lighting, leaving a 50 MW gap to be met by external heating.
• The 78% energy saving was derived by comparing a 320 GWh gas requirement against a 72 GWh heat pump demand over 8 months, based on a Seasonal Coefficient of Performance (SCOP) of 4.0 achieved by using several large-scale industrial ground-source heat pumps. To meet the 50 MW peak using standard UK residential heat pumps (which see capacity drop to 4 kW in extreme cold), Santa would need to install 12,500 units.
• The final consumption figure of 222 GWh accounts for heating (72 GWh), data center processing (50 GWh), and workshop operations like lighting and conveyor belts (100 GWh). This combined annual demand is equivalent to the electricity usage of approximately 55,000 UK households, or a city the size of Blackpool or Norwich.
• For more information on the analysis or to speak to one of the experts involved, please contact Kieran Lowe, Media Manager, on 020 7438 2576 or [email protected]. Spokespeople are available for broadcast interviews.

About Nesta

We are Nesta. The UK’s innovation agency for social good. We design, test and scale solutions to society’s biggest problems. Our three missions are to give every child a fair start, help people live healthy lives and create a sustainable future where the economy works for both people and the planet.

For over 20 years, we have worked to support, encourage and inspire innovation.

We work in three roles: as an innovation partner working with frontline organisations to design and test new solutions, as a venture builder supporting new and early-stage businesses and as a system shaper creating the conditions for innovation. Harnessing the rigour of science and the creativity of design, we work relentlessly to change millions of lives for the better.

Find out more at nesta.org.uk.