Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I got a heat pump and my energy bill went up

heatpumped.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–156 of 156 posts

Re: I got a heat pump and my energy bill went up

#151

Post by oliwarner »

physicsguy wrote: post #144
oliwarner wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the efficiency of a gas power plant is only 20-60%. I'm all for electrification but unless my sums are wonky, a percentage of gas that was used to create electricity for heat pumps would have been better off burnt in a boiler. Over half the UKs power came from gas this last week. We need to turn back to nuclear until we've figured out grid level storage.

Why not just stay with nuclear, realistically? Don’t need to reengineer the entire grid then…

Our existing grid won't handle the 150A homes we'll need when everyone has heat pumps and a pair of EVs charging on the driveway.

Storage allows demand-shifting to localities, lessens the burden directly on central stations and stabilises costs. Getting people to buy their own storage also helps but it's hecking costly and much more economical at scale.

Re: I got a heat pump and my energy bill went up

#152

Post by oliwarner »

oliwarner wrote: post #151
physicsguy wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just stay with nuclear, realistically? Don’t need to reengineer the entire grid then…

Our existing grid won't handle the 150A homes we'll need when everyone has heat pumps and a pair of EVs charging on the driveway. Storage allows demand-shifting to localities, lessens the burden directly on central stations and stabilises costs. Getting people to buy their own storage also helps but it's hecking costly and much more economical at scale.

DNOs in the UK decline lots of supply fuse upgrades and higher-rate domestic solar installations because local infrastructure capacity issues.

This stuff all needs a bit of an upgrade anyway, but we can defer that if design houses/developments to smooth their own load spikes.

Re: I got a heat pump and my energy bill went up

#153

Post by TMWNN »

barrettondricka wrote: post #105
TMWNN wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>(No @example.com) The example.{com,org,net} domain was created for this purpose, of a valid but not real domain.

> The example.{com,org,net} domain was created for this purpose, of a valid but not real domain. No it wasn't. IANA is hosting example.com and paying for the traffic. example.com is a writing convention to provide safe examples in documentation. The reason example.com exists, is to make sure documentation writers can use a domain, make it obvious it is an example, and make sure nothing bad comes up with a user happen…

Thank you for the clarification. That said, the example (pun unintended) I replied to is in the context of email, not HTTP.

Re: I got a heat pump and my energy bill went up

#154

Post by [deleted] »

TMWNN wrote: post #153
barrettondricka wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The example.{com,org,net} domain was created for this purpose, of a valid but not real domain. No it wasn't. IANA is hosting example.com and paying for the traffic. example.com is a writing convention to provide safe examples in documentation. The reason example.com exists, is to make sure documentation writers can use a domain, make it obvious it is an example, and make sure nothing bad comes up with a user happen…

Thank you for the clarification. That said, the example (pun unintended) I replied to is in the context of email, not HTTP.

[deleted]

Re: I got a heat pump and my energy bill went up

#155

Post by sagarm »

metalman wrote: post #148
sagarm wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even at a COP of 2, a heat pump powered by a 60% efficient gas power plant will use less gas at the power plant than gas heat.

60%? is a very optimistic number, and even if granted, does nit address the horrible reliabilty problems with heat pumps, which change the economics considerably. Heat pumps are noisy, and physicaly intrusive uggly wall lumps inside, and create a clutter outside. Well built passive solar creates a living environment that needs no heat source, is orders of magnitude more reliable in all conditions, while bieng invisib…

You realize that heat pumps are just ACs that can just run in reverse? Most American households already have central air. They'd just swap to a reversible AC ("heat pump") when they need to replace their AC.

Mini-splits are commonly used for retrofits because they're much cheaper than installing or repairing leaky ducting. Incorrectly sized or leaky ducts lead to poor efficiency, comfort, and air quality, regardless of heat source.

"Well built passive solar" is all well and good for the tiny percentage of Americans that get newly built passive homes. The rest of us need solutions as well. The idea that building a new home is more economical than $1000 per ton of capacity for heat pumps off Amazon is hardly worth addressing.

Re: I got a heat pump and my energy bill went up

#156

Post by ssuds »

NotAnOtter wrote: post #76
ssuds wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi there. Author of this post. The content gate is on by default for all of my newsletter content, but I figured out a way to turn it off. You should be able to read the full article now without putting in an email.

I appreciate it. The article is really well thought out, it looks like it took some real research & effort. Bookmarked the domain.

I am glad to hear you found it helpful! It did take a bunch of research and effort and it means a lot to know that it shows through.
Post reply on HN