1y ago

Oxford study proves heat pumps triumph over fossil fuels in the cold

www.nationalobserver.com 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.

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.

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Oxford study proves heat pumps triumph over fossil fuels in the cold

www.nationalobserver.com /2023/09/11/news/oxford-study-proves-heat-pumps-triumph-over-fossil-fuels-cold

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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- Your information is outdated.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.
- 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.
  https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/heat-pump-faq-1.6824634
  
  .
- Thankfully heat pumps have 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 climate 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.
  
  Dont know what happened, but i can't see this comment thread anymore. Maybe it's been deleted.
  Whatever happened, you are absolutely full of shit.
  Maybe you should try listening to scientists instead of talking about cow farts. There is an insurmoutable amount of information and proof that the climate has warmed drastically in the last 20-100 years and it doesn't follow any recorded pattern of warming and cooling since the dawn of humanity ~200000 years ago.
  https://xkcd.com/1732/
  Heres a nice image showing the data in simple terms.
  You xan continue to dwny it all you want, but any rational person will ignore you.
  Incidentally, dont pay attention to mass media, i hear a claim i look at the facts and draw my own conclusions. You should do the same.
- If you're on propane, it's more likely to be cheaper. Particularly over the course of an entire heating season, because they're more efficient in fall and spring than the coldest part of winter.
  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 right now.
- Well, some people don't put money higher than the ability of humanity to survive.
  So the cost is less relevant than the pollution.
- 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?
- Ditto. At least with gas I'm not paying Alabama Power's rates.
- 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?

178 comments