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It’s a question of temperature difference. Cooling a house from 40° to 20° uses approximately the same energy as heating it from 0° to 20°. But it gets much col
by krallja 5y ago
It’s a question of temperature difference. Cooling a house from 40° to 20° uses approximately the same energy as heating it from 0° to 20°. But it gets much colder than 0° C in Finland, while it is very rare to have temperatures above 45° C anywhere in the world.
- rhn_mk1 5y agoIt's not just that. To make something colder using a heat pump, you must heat up something else by the equivalent amount. Actually more, because of losses. Whereas making something warmer can be done without a heat pump, by releasing stored chemical energy, at nearly no losses.
- jasonwatkinspdx 5y agoDuctless heat pumps are more efficient at heating than alternatives, but there's a floor on how low of an ambient temperature they can handle.
- pfdietz 5y agoHeating something with chemical energy by combustion (for example) has a large second law loss -- there's a large increase in entropy in combustion, and in transmitting the high grade heat to the low temperature of the building being heated. Because of these avoidable entropy sources, it's possible to be smarter, for example to use a gas-fired heat pump to achieve a COP of > 1.
- namibj 5y agoYeah, a simple absorbtion refrigerator (gas fired) is already way better than a gas oven. The plumbing is just more expensive than works often be worth it, and the nice low-temperature systems run on what's essentially an ammonia destiller.
- codebje 5y agoHow much does construction affect the efficiency?