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Per kWh gas heating is about ⅓ the cost of electric, unless you already have a heat pump. And fitting a ground source heat pump costs about £15k, so most people
by AndrewDucker 5y ago
Per kWh gas heating is about ⅓ the cost of electric, unless you already have a heat pump. And fitting a ground source heat pump costs about £15k, so most people don't have the spare cash to switch over. We need government subsidies to make it happen generally.
- makomk 5y agoAlso, the running costs of a heat pump are reasonably comparable to gas heating, so you don't even really save money by doing this. (Plus they're more complex and expensive to replace when they break, the installation process is really disruptive and not practical for everyone, etc.) On top of that, a lot of the electricity to run them is going to come from burning gas anyway in most countries. They mostly seem to have caught on in places where gas wasn't plumbed out to so many homes, there are good reserves of dispatchable renewable sources like hydropower, or both.
- adrianN 5y agoA combined cycle gas plant has an efficiency of 50-60%, pipe that electricity into a heat pump with a COP of around 3 and you're well ahead of burning the gas directly for heat.
- AndrewDucker 5y agoOnly if you've fitted each house with a heat pump. Which is expensive.
- alkonaut 5y agoEven I have trouble motivating the investment in a ground source pump in a really cold climate in Sweden. My regular air-water pump is around £4-7k and has a thermal efficiency (COP) of over 4 (so 1kw electricity is more than 4kw heat) and that’s with no digging or expensive installation. I get that there is no way Central Europe will switch to ground source, but regular heat pumps should be cheap enough to subsidize.
- fomine3 5y agoHeat pump water heating system with simple air outside unit (similar to mini-split A/C), tank, and remote control is about 300k-500k JPY in Japan including construction cost.