Comment on Oxford study proves heat pumps triumph over fossil fuels in the cold
psycho_driver@lemmy.world 1 year ago
A/C guy who’s the son of an A/C guy here. Heat pumps lose efficiency the colder it gets. I wouldn’t bother with one if you’re in a northern climate. Lower midwest, you might be able to save money with a heat pump over natural gas, but it will depend heavily on the cost of the respective energy. For me, in the central US, we have great prices on gas and somewhat crappy prices on electricity (vs most surrounding regions) and it’s definitely cheaper for me to stick with gas heat.
Your information is outdated. It is even clearly mentioned in the one-sentence summary in the OP:
Oxford study proves heat pumps triumph over fossil fuels in the cold::Published Monday in the scientific journal Joule, the research found that heat pumps are two to three times more efficient than their oil and gas counterparts, specifically in temperatures ranging from 10 C to -20 C.
That doesn’t say anything about gas prices.
And the naysayers don’t actually run calculations to see what their true costs might be, they already decided gas is king. A couple of good ol boy type HVAC folks that all say “just get a furnace” is all they need to know, reality be damned.
This is the correct take for a conventional heat pump. However, there are relatively new geothermal heat pumps that can heat down to -30°C (-22°F) and are much more efficient.
Geothermal heat pumps are amazing and are the cheapest and most efficient way to heat homes in Sweden.
Thankfully heatpunlsbhave gotten better since your father’s day. And natural gas is only going to keep getting more expensive. For a price of equipment that will last you 15-25 years it’s becoming harder to justify gas heating.
For new builds ground source heat pumps should become more standard, they cost more, but they’ll save a lot in the long run.
But its all irrelevant because the most effective way to keep warm is to continue with global warming. Soon we wont have a cold season to worry about. 😜
I know you’re joking but the reality is we’ll probably get worse cold weather alongside the warmer weather - the weather will be more extreme at either end.
Scary, isn’t it?
Yet there are still people out there denying it.
Continue? You can’t stop it even if you wanted to, unless you pervert the natural climate cycles somehow. We are exiting a cold period and it has nothing whatsoever to do with using gas or come farts.
You mean this natural cycle?
[After setting your car on fire] Listen, your car’s temperature has changed before.
Oh fuck! Are you a climate change denier?! Are you joking, too? or do you still believe this is a natural change?
The climate changes. There’s no denying it. No it isn’t caused by cow farts so everyone needs to? eat bugs instead, and no it isn’t caused by driving your car so you must become a serf and be bound to your lords 15 minute plantation.
If you’re on propane, it’s more likely to be cheaper.
But yeah, this study wasn’t looking at cost per therm but just raw COP, which is a pointless metric. It doesn’t even compare the number of watts of heat from burning natural gas in a furnace vs in a modern power plant that supplies a heat pump. Although since we don’t have a carbon tax, that’s only a theoretically interesting comparison.
Heat pumps work fine for most people in the north. Mitsubishi’s cold climate heat pumps supply 85% of their rated heat at -13F. Buffalo is a city known for its winters, and the last time Buffalo’s lowest temperature was below that was 1982. They’re just going to be a more expensive option for most people.
Well, some people don’t put money higher than the ability of humanity to survive.
So the cost is less relevant than the pollution.
If you posted that earlier today you would have gotten a spanking for saying anything critical about heat pumps. Or people just don’t like me in particular. Hard to tell.
Maybe your information was just not factual?
Ditto. At least with gas I’m not paying Alabama Power’s rates.
My father in law went to a heat pump instead of propane this year. No natural gas where he lives.
But he also dropped 20k on a solar system to power it.
How long would the return on cost savings take for it to pay itself off?
atempuser23@lemmy.world 1 year ago
So this is exactly what the article is about and up to -4 f heat pumps are more efficient.
If your the son of an hvac guy maybe your information is based on older installed units. I had a heat pump installed in my fathers home in the northeast ( non coastal) and I was shocked it ran well all year. I had heard the some rumor that you had.
Technology advanced and facts change.