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You'd really want to replace the gas heating with heat pump systems rather than resistive heating elements. Resistive heating is ~100% efficient at converting e

You'd really want to replace the gas heating with heat pump systems rather than resistive heating elements. Resistive heating is ~100% efficient at converting electricity into heat, but a heat pump can do a trick to get above 100% efficiency by not actually trying to convert electricity directly into heat, but instead to move heat around so it stays on one side of a loop. Heat pumps are efficient down to 25f (-4c) [https://www.moncriefair.com/blog/at-what-temperature-does-a-heat-pump-stop-being-effective/ https://www.moncriefair.com/blog/at-what-temperature-does-a-...], so many parts of Europe would be just fine with heat pumps, though it wouldn't be the most practical in the coldest parts.

dzhiurgis 5y ago
Some heat pumps are useable at -20C and are widely sold around north. In fact Lithuania subsidises if you replace coal furnace with heat pump. It’s kinda replacing home scale geothermal installs too.
- Tostino 5y ago
  That's great to hear, appreciate you letting me know there are options that do work at low temps!
deleted 5y ago
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fulafel 5y ago
In nordic countries heat pumps (and good insulation) are more common for heating than gas. To echo the sibling comment, cold weather air heat pumps work, they get efficiency over resistive heating down to about -25 or -30C, and are widely used in colder climates. There are also ground and water heat pumps that exploit the higher ground/water temperature in the winter. There are also utility scale versions of these used in district heating plants.
mortehu 5y ago
Yes, but you can build tens of millions of resistance heaters much faster than tens of millions of heat pumps. They're also trivial to install. I was trying to propose something possible, not something ideal.
- Tostino 5y ago
  It is simply not possible with the state of the grid and the electric generation capacity available, you'd have blackouts/brownouts and not enough electricity to actually keep people warm due to the higher power requirements. Now, you'd still have that problem with heat pumps, because our grid is simply under-sized for it, but just not quite to the same extent.

dzhiurgis 5y ago

Some heat pumps are useable at -20C and are widely sold around north. In fact Lithuania subsidises if you replace coal furnace with heat pump. It’s kinda replacing home scale geothermal installs too.

Tostino 5y ago
That's great to hear, appreciate you letting me know there are options that do work at low temps!

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

fulafel 5y ago

In nordic countries heat pumps (and good insulation) are more common for heating than gas. To echo the sibling comment, cold weather air heat pumps work, they get efficiency over resistive heating down to about -25 or -30C, and are widely used in colder climates. There are also ground and water heat pumps that exploit the higher ground/water temperature in the winter. There are also utility scale versions of these used in district heating plants.

mortehu 5y ago

Yes, but you can build tens of millions of resistance heaters much faster than tens of millions of heat pumps. They're also trivial to install. I was trying to propose something possible, not something ideal.

Tostino 5y ago
It is simply not possible with the state of the grid and the electric generation capacity available, you'd have blackouts/brownouts and not enough electricity to actually keep people warm due to the higher power requirements. Now, you'd still have that problem with heat pumps, because our grid is simply under-sized for it, but just not quite to the same extent.