The Cool Thing About Heat Pumps

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / June 15, 2023 / Trane Technologies

Foto: Accesswire

Heat pumps are having a moment. With increasing calls to reduce dependency on fossil-fuels and accelerate the use of clean technologies, the electric heat pump is getting a renewed boost in the portfolio of existing low-carbon technology. In 2022, Americans installed 4 million heat pumps, beating out fossil-fuel powered gas furnaces for the first time. The European Heat Pump Association reported a 38% spike in heat pumps sales in 2022 compared to the year before. Technology trades have been featuring heat pumps as an efficient, electric alternative to fossil-fuel systems. There was even a panel on heat pumps at South by Southwest this year.

It's also left a lot of people wondering why this technology isn't more widely used - and what makes heat pumps a significantly more efficient way to heat and cool buildings.

According to the International Energy Agency, in 2022 electric heat pumps met only 10% of heating needs in buildings globally. But they are capable of supplying more than 90% of global space and water heating at a lower CO2 emissions level when compared to condensing gas boiler technology.

While the public profile of heat pumps may be getting renewed interest, the technology has been used since the 1950s, with significant performance improvements along the way.

Moving and removing heat - naturally

Don't let the name fool you - heat pumps don't actually create heat. They get their name from the process of extracting and exchanging existing heat from one place to another.

Here's a simple explanation of how they work:

When it's cold outside and you want to heat your home, an electric heat pump pulls heat from the outside air and transforms it into a gas where it is compressed and heated to the desired indoor temperature. A fan is used to disperse the heat into your home.

Conversely, when it's hot outside and you want to cool your home, the process reverses, pulling heat from indoors and transferring it outside, lowering the temperature of your home - in essence, cooling it.

Beyond homes, heat pumps can be used in much larger applications, like commercial and industrial spaces where they can heat and cool the air. Even more advanced systems can also heat and cool water for other uses, like bathroom showers or manufacturing processes requiring chilling or hot water.

While most heat pumps transfer heat from the air, like the example above, there are geothermal-heat pumps that draw heat from the ground, and water-source pumps that pull heat from nearby water sources, including processes like wastewater management.