Why Heat Pumps Are the Future, and How Your Home Could Use One
The highly efficient devices are the darlings of the environmental movement. Here’s why.
I am so mad I didn't do the research prior to replacing my system 2 years ago.
I was just reading an article on heat pumps in Norway; in 2004, only 4% of households had a heat pump. In 2023 that number had risen to over 40%, which probably equates to almost all homes that aren't apartments.
Heat pumps have become very efficient, and as a bonus you get an airconditioner, too.
Afaik they became less efficient. Because we banned some gasses.
I might be a bit confused, but aren't all air conditioners heat pumps? What other mechanism is there?
They are, but are designed to only cool the building. "Heat pump" in this context typically means a device built using the same mechanisms as and AC unit, but capable of both heating and cooling. The big advantage they have is that they're able to move more heat than they consume, making them an incredibly energy-efficient means of providing heating.
That makes it clearer, thank you. But is this new technology? I always assumed it was the norm. It's possible I'm misremembering, but when I visited Japan over 20 years ago, every house had an AC that could both heat and cool (a necessity since the houses were basically uninsulated and could get quite chilly in the winter.)
TIL America's future is the technology from a decade ago 😂
Cold weather heat pumps have only become commercially available in the US in the past few years. Warm-weather ones have been used in some parts of the country for a long time.
Crazy to think they're so far behind modern countries
Yeah I found this article weird too. I'm in Canada and have had heat pumps for decades. The only likely reason for the US not having them is too little electric generation and too much oil and gas lobbying.
