4 ms·
The trouble is that the electricity demand is always topped-up by gas-fired generators. It's always there at the margin. Things like nuclear and renewables usua
by HPsquared 4y ago
The trouble is that the electricity demand is always topped-up by gas-fired generators. It's always there at the margin. Things like nuclear and renewables usually run at 100% of their ability, their generation is not affected by demand.
Therefore any increase in electrical demand is made up by turning up the gas-fired generators an equal amount.
So if a heat pump has a COP of 3, and the additional electricity consumed is generated from gas with, say, 33% efficiency (from the gas burner to the house electrical meter), there would be zero net change in overall gas consumption by converting from a gas boiler.
This is especially the case in winter, which is when most heating demand is, and the gas generators are definitely going to be running and making up that marginal generation.
- iso1631 4y agoMy understanding from the Technology Connections youtube channel is a heatpump has a typical COP of about 3.5 and a gas power plant about 45% from plant to home, making it more efficient to use the gas to generate electricity to run the heat pump than to burn the gas directly for heat.
- mnw21cam 4y agoPlus you can also use the waste heat from the power plant to heat some more homes.
- nayuki 4y agoHe made several excellent videos explaining residential heat pumps: [2021-02-28] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J52mDjZzto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J52mDjZzto "Heat Pumps: the Future of Home Heating" (35m14s) [2021-04-01] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zrx-b2sLUs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zrx-b2sLUs "Ground Source / Geothermal Heat Pumps and Other Info" (28m03s) [2022-03-26] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFEHFsO-XSI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFEHFsO-XSI "Why Heat Pumps are Immensely Important Right Now" (21m02s) [2022-04-13] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43XKfuptnik https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43XKfuptnik "Heat Pumps are Not Hard: Here's what it will take to start pumping" (46m32s)
- nickspicer1993 4y agoThe idea to moving everything to heat pumps right now isn't so that you immediately reduce carbon emissions, but that everything works off of electricity and the grid so that as offshore wind, onshore wind, solar and Hinkley Point C come online it can start to replace fossil fuel energy. Same with EVs. If you stick with gas boilers there is really no exit strategy for getting off fossil fuels.