32 ms·

Does Europe have cold countries? According to some quick Googling, the average winter temperature in Norway is still warmer than in Iowa (a not-particularly-col

Does Europe have cold countries? According to some quick Googling, the average winter temperature in Norway is still warmer than in Iowa (a not-particularly-cold state). (FWIW I think heat pumps are interesting, I drive an electric car, etc--I'm not speaking from some reflexively anti-electrification ideological position)

rsynnott 4y ago
Northern Scandinavia gets pretty cold. Various parts of Europe also have exceptional extremely cold weather; the average isn't _really_ what you want to think about when it comes to heating systems (well, it matters, in that it's relevant to the cost structure, but you really want your system to be able to deal with the reasonable edge-case weather).
- throwaway894345 4y ago
  Yeah, it's a crude metric for sure, but we have to make sure we're making a good comparison before claiming "If there was going to be a problem, there would already have been a problem." Notably, some Googling indicates that heat pumps aren't effective below -13F which can be the high temperature in Iowa (never mind colder states) for week on end. Are heat pumps common in parts of Scandinavia that get this cold (or colder)?
magicalhippo 4y ago
From what I can see Des Moines[1] and Oslo[2] are fairly comparable, and here in Oslo it's quite common to have air to air heat pumps. Mind you, Oslo is quite south in Norway, it's much colder further north. [1]: https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=dmx https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=dmx (annual) [2]: https://seklima.met.no/months/max(air_temperature https://seklima.met.no/months/max(air_temperature P1M),mean(air_temperature P1M),min(air_temperature P1M)/recurring_period/SN18700/nb/2003-01-01T00:00:00+01:00;2023-01-31T23:59:59+01:00
- throwaway894345 4y ago
  Oslo seems to have mean winter temps about ~10 degrees warmer (~23 degrees in DSM on average vs ~32 degrees in Oslo). It's a little hard to compare those tools (at least I didn't find a good way to get precise mean data on the Oslo side). And I suspect that Norway is one of the coldest countries in Europe while Iowa is not a particularly code state in the US.

rsynnott 4y ago

Northern Scandinavia gets pretty cold. Various parts of Europe also have exceptional extremely cold weather; the average isn't _really_ what you want to think about when it comes to heating systems (well, it matters, in that it's relevant to the cost structure, but you really want your system to be able to deal with the reasonable edge-case weather).

throwaway894345 4y ago
Yeah, it's a crude metric for sure, but we have to make sure we're making a good comparison before claiming "If there was going to be a problem, there would already have been a problem." Notably, some Googling indicates that heat pumps aren't effective below -13F which can be the high temperature in Iowa (never mind colder states) for week on end. Are heat pumps common in parts of Scandinavia that get this cold (or colder)?

magicalhippo 4y ago

From what I can see Des Moines[1] and Oslo[2] are fairly comparable, and here in Oslo it's quite common to have air to air heat pumps. Mind you, Oslo is quite south in Norway, it's much colder further north. [1]: https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=dmx https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=dmx (annual) [2]: https://seklima.met.no/months/max(air_temperature https://seklima.met.no/months/max(air_temperature P1M),mean(air_temperature P1M),min(air_temperature P1M)/recurring_period/SN18700/nb/2003-01-01T00:00:00+01:00;2023-01-31T23:59:59+01:00

throwaway894345 4y ago
Oslo seems to have mean winter temps about ~10 degrees warmer (~23 degrees in DSM on average vs ~32 degrees in Oslo). It's a little hard to compare those tools (at least I didn't find a good way to get precise mean data on the Oslo side). And I suspect that Norway is one of the coldest countries in Europe while Iowa is not a particularly code state in the US.