Technology

59427 readers

4177 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

746

Oxford study proves heat pumps triumph over fossil fuels in the cold (www.nationalobserver.com)

submitted 1 year ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

176 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Oxford study proves heat pumps triumph over fossil fuels in the cold::Published Monday in the scientific journal Joule, the research found that heat pumps are two to three times more efficient than their oil and gas counterparts, specifically in temperatures ranging from 10 C to -20 C.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] tony@lemmy.hoyle.me.uk 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That’s still in territory where gas boilers are more cost efficient that a heat pump.. a heat pump has overall lower running costs than a gas boiler

You just contradicted yourself.. what did you mean here?

Electricity is 3x the cost of gas, so unless the heat pump has the COP of 3 or above it is more expensive to run. Once you factor in the high cost of installation people aren't installing these things to save money.

[–] marsokod@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not a contradiction if you put my whole sentence. When it is really cold, a heat pump will be more expensive than a gas boiler. But over a full winter (hence "overall"), the period where it is more efficient make up for it, especially since that when it is bad, it is not that bad.

But you are right to mention the high cost of heat pumps. I would not advise anyone to get a heat pump with a goal of saving money, the return on investment is slow and rather small.

[–] pedalmore@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I don't agree with generalizing that ROI is slow and small. There are too many variables here specific to each market, location, and home. Someone with an old propane or oil boiler that is already planning to buy a new AC will absolutely see massive ROI going with a heat pump. In the US, federal standards will make furnaces more expensive (condensing only soon) and heat pump costs can be heavily subsidized. I bought a new HP that was cheaper than my neighbors new AC/furnace after incentives, and my running costs will be lower.