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One thing that I think gets lost in the shuffle of air conditioning discourse: AC units are generally heat pumps and they generally have smaller temperature di
by RC_ITR 3y ago
One thing that I think gets lost in the shuffle of air conditioning discourse:
AC units are generally heat pumps and they generally have smaller temperature differentials to overcome (i.e. heating a house to room temperature while it is snowing is a much bigger job than cooling a house to room temperature on all but the hottest of days).
This means, generally, AC is more energy efficient than direct heating like a furnace. The narrative about 'AC is going to destroy the world via emissions' is mostly because the already developed places have cooler climates than emerging places.
- lupyro 3y agoLiving in Arizona, this is always a surprising fact to remember since the electric bill is highest in the summer. On one hand I understand heating has way bigger temperature differentials to overcome but heat is so easy to make. Most machines and technology create heat as a waste or byproduct so it always feels like purposely creating heat should be so easy.
- megaman821 3y agoAlso, a person in Arizona is going to use much less energy than a person living in Minnesota. Not to mention the energy used in Arizona is going to come from lower carbon sources than in Minnesota. It just breaks people expectations that a big, complicated machine uses less energy than simply setting something on fire.
- sumtechguy 3y agothey are more efficient long term. short term though it is 'it is cold in here turn up the heat' the time it takes a heat pump to make that happen is much longer than say a natural gas system. the NG system uses more energy though to do it in a shorter amount of time. but it happens perception wise faster.
- RC_ITR 3y agoMy reasoning is that everyone in the US had parents who knew you'd die if you didn't heat your house, but in most cases, AC is a comfort thing, so AC was treated as the luxury and heat as the normal.