EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HEAT PUMPS

                         From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

        DAY  USA  WORLD   Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9    1093     4732         1185        246       82

July    22     1205     7128         1293      1120     572

Aug    12     1504     6556        1242        835     130

Sept     9     1208      6222       1136       1168       82

Oct     21     1225      6849         571        703       85

Nov    25      2304    12025        620        518      118

Dec    30      3880    14748       1224       299      465

Jan     14       4142     15512        1151        189      712              

Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398

Mar     2        1989      9490        1726       110      194

April   6          906     11787         4211       631       37

May    4         853     13667         3025     3786      59 

June   1         287    10637         2346      3205       95

 July   7          251      8440        1595        817       411

Aug    4          656    10120        1118         532      423 

Sept   1        1480    10470          703        505      235

          8        1700      9836          250        339     253

        14        1934      9001          709        281      300

        22       2228      9326          839        279      124

        29        2190      8859         643        309     108

Oct    5        1811       7495          686        285     103

          6        2102       8255         543        315       59

        12        1819        7544          201        249       37 

        19        2005      7528         401        160        80

        26        1451        7535         409       584        53

Summary:  Looks better for the USA, but let's see what it looks like tomorrow.

If you live in Hawaii, chances are you don't know anything about heat pumps.  If you live elsewhere, the odds are you similarly don't have a clue.  Read about the 1948 invention of this device.  If you saw something like this outside a home today, those are heat pumps.

In the past heat pumps were always the next generation of a device that could efficiently provide heat for the winter cold without the direct use of fossil fuels.  Well, things have changed, for heat pumps are now touted for heat and air conditioning.

An air conditioner, as you know, provides cool air.  But have you ever felt the outside of this device?  It is warm, if not hot.  

Thus, a heat pump in warm weather absorbs heat from the outside and converts it into cool air inside.  In cooler weather, the heat pump provides heat from the outside, which does not seem to make sense when it is cold there in the winter.  But temperature is a funny thing.  Read this article to understand the facts.  Another advantage is that a heat pump uses electricity and delivers three times more heat energy to a home than the electrical energy it consumes.  No fossil fuels and now no exotic ozone layer destroying / global climate change inducing gases.  

If you're still mystified, the following graphic and this explanation might work to educate you.

To summarize:

• If you live in Honolulu, you almost surely are kept comfortable with an air conditioning system.  Heating is unnecessary.  Someday, in Honolulu, we will get this cool from the ocean, as shown to the right.
• If you are from the northern part of the northern hemisphere, or southern part of the southern hemisphere, if you can afford it, you have separate air conditioning and heating systems, paying for both, and probably utilizing electricity for the former and natural gas for the latter.
• A heat pump run on electricity would be one system that does both cooling and heating.  To quote:

According to energy.gov, a heat pump can deliver as much as 3 times more heat energy to a space than the electrical energy it uses. That translates to greatly reduced energy bills for you. An average home might save as much as $1,000 per year.

If you’re using a heat pump as your sole source of heating and cooling, there’s only one system to maintain, and one system to diagnose and repair if anything goes wrong. That also lowers your total cost to operate.

Heat pumps do use electricity, but they don’t consume fossil fuels to produce heat. When you don’t have to rely on an oil or gas burning furnace, you’re doing your part to reduce the use of fossil fuels.

The bottom line is that you really can't use just a heat pump for really cold climates.  However, Congress extended the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 to include heat pumps for federal tax credits, so for this year at least, you will want to look into this option, depending on your situation. Surely worthwhile for zones 1-3.  Check with your installer for zones 4 and higher. 

If you are in a geothermal area, a different kind of heat pump should be considered.  But even if you don't and live on a large lot, especially with a pond or well, even in a state like Minnesota, maybe.  Read this.

There is that matter, though, of your local electricity being generated using fossil fuels.  Heat pumps will gain in reducing climate warming when the renewable alternatives begin to dominate over fossil fuels in electrical power plants.

The obvious question is, should you use a heat pump with a PV panel on your roof?  The short answer is yes.  But this is more complicated than that.  Ask your dealer, for battery storage and that geo-option are factors worthy of possible integration into the mix.  Tax incentives would certainly help.

To close, something totally different from a heat pump.  A skin illusionist from Serbia:

I should mention one more thing.  The Dow Jones reached an all-time peak of 35,893 yesterday, and ended at 35,781, the highest ever.  The market is down today.

One weather item is that Typhoon Malou will strengthen to 105 MPH tomorrow, but is far to the east of Japan and not expected to cause any problems.

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