By installing a heat pump in his house in the hills of Oslo, Oyvind Solstad killed three birds with one stone, improving his comfort, finances and climate footprint.

Heat pumps can’t take the cold? Nordics debunk the myth::By installing a heat pump in his house in the hills of Oslo, Oyvind Solstad killed three birds with one stone, improving his comfort, finances and climate footprint.

  • NightAuthor@lemmy.worldEnglish
    214·
    1 year ago

    Makes sense to me that they could theoretically work all the way down to near 0 kelvin, just depends on their efficiency. Just so long as there is heat to be had…

    Also, not sure energy star really means much.

    • applebusch@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      1 year ago

      They theoretically could, but the coefficient of performance would go below 1 long before you get close to zero Kelvin. That means it would cost more energy to pump the heat than is pumped, so you’d be better off using an electric heater.

      • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        6·
        1 year ago

        Not to mention, you’d need a material to pump. R-32 which I believe is the most common at the moment, has a freezing temp of -132, meaning it would be useless at temps near 1K.

      • NightAuthor@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        1 year ago

        Ah yes… that’s a very good point. I’m not about to learn a bunch of chemistry and physics and stuff… but I’d be interested in reading about this theoretical optimization if electricity was free, there was no gravity, friction was 0, etc etc etc.