Warmth pumps cannot take the chilly? Nordics debunk the parable

By putting in a warmth pump in his home within the hills of Oslo, Oyvind Solstad killed three birds with one stone, enhancing his consolation, funds and local weather footprint.

“After I researched this, I learn {that a} heat pump can generate the warmth equal of three to 4 occasions the quantity of electrical energy you place into it,” mentioned the 56-year-old communications adviser for a railway firm.

“So simply that truth made a lightweight bulb go off above my head, considering ‘This must be intelligent’.”

Tons of of 1000’s of Norwegians have had the identical vibrant concept, together with Crown Prince Haakon who has had heat pumps put in at his official residence.

Norway is among the many international locations with essentially the most warmth pumps per capita, together with neighboring Finland and Sweden.

The Worldwide Vitality Company (IEA) considers the expertise as instrumental in combating climate change as electric vehicles, since heating options generate some 4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per 12 months, representing eight p.c of world emissions.

The truth that Nordic international locations, recognized for his or her harsh winters, are among the many largest customers disproves the often-held assumption that the expertise doesn’t work when the temperature plummets.

The parable has fueled resistance throughout continental Europe.

“There are quite a lot of false myths on the market about warmth pumps. Some oil and gasoline producing international locations comparable to Russia, some folks, some sectors, some companies do not wish to see this transition,” defined Caroline Haglund Stignor, a researcher at RISE Analysis Institutes of Sweden.

“Sure, warmth pumps work in cold climates. Sure, warmth pumps work in previous buildings.”

To warmth a house, warmth pumps extract out of doors warmth—which exists even in chilly climate—and inject it indoors.

Early fashions didn’t embrace defrosting methods or variable pace compressors, which these days allow them to run extra effectively in a wider vary of temperatures.

Whereas their effectivity declines considerably in chilly climate, they’re nonetheless extra environment friendly and greener than different choices, specialists say.

“It is a mature expertise that works, confirmed to maintain tens of millions of properties heat each winter. However it’s a steady growth to make it even higher,” Stignor mentioned.

Based on a examine by the impartial group Regulatory Help Undertaking (RAP), air supply cold-climate warmth pumps could be as much as twice as environment friendly as electrical heating when out of doors temperatures fall to -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit).

In France, warmth pump detractors additionally argue they result in larger electrical energy consumption, do not work nicely in all situations, comparable to poorly insulated properties, and require expensive set up.

Oil and gasoline furnaces stay common in lots of international locations.

In Germany, coalition companions this 12 months lastly reached an settlement to ban fossil-based heating as of 2045.

The state now subsidizes warmth pumps, which in 2022 have been utilized in simply three p.c of properties, and gross sales are starting to take off.

Financial savings

Opposite to many European international locations, Norway has virtually no district heating, and banned oil furnaces in January 2020.

To maintain heat throughout its chilly winters, the nation depends totally on its ample and clear electrical energy, because of its huge hydropower assets.

By producing about three to 5 kWh of thermal power for each kWh of electrical energy consumed, warmth pumps are devices for power effectivity—a key facet of the struggle in opposition to local weather change—and likewise enable customers to make main financial savings.

After changing his electrical radiator with an air-to-air warmth pump two years in the past, Solstad noticed his electrical energy payments shrink.

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“Within the first 4 months, our consumption decreased by 20 p.c in comparison with the earlier 12 months regardless that we purchased an electrical automotive within the meantime,” he mentioned.

Whereas his preliminary funding could seem expensive, at round 2,500 euros ($2,630) together with set up, he thinks it would pay for itself “in just some years”.

As an added bonus, his warmth pump works as an air conditioner in summer time.

When electrical energy costs went by the roof final 12 months throughout the energy crisis introduced on by the battle in Ukraine, gross sales of warmth pumps hit a document excessive in Norway, leaping by 25 p.c.

The pattern continued within the first half of this 12 months.

“Norwegians have understood that they will anticipate larger electrical energy costs within the coming years in comparison with the previous,” defined Rolf Iver Mytting Hagemoen, head of the Norwegian Warmth Pump Affiliation (NOVAP).

“And energy efficiency is an more and more sizzling situation,” he mentioned.

© 2023 AFP