Some of you have pointed out that Technology Connections also has a video on electric heat pumps! Alec actually has two, the first of which you can watch here: th-cam.com/video/7J52mDjZzto/w-d-xo.html His videos go much more in-depth about how heat pump technology actually works. Our goal was more to explain the connection between two separate climate stories: the booming need for home cooling, and the opportunity that presents to drastically cut our heating emissions. Both stories have a lot more to them than what we could get into in this video, which we hope is just a starting point!
"So you want a video about heat pumps? Well, through the magic of making two of them..." The crossover I never knew I needed, glad to see y'all watch Alec too!! Keep it classy!
One good point that Alec made is that the additional cost to turn a "one-way" air conditioner into a heat pump is fairly small, and that it'd be a good policy decision to require new air conditioners to also act as heat pumps. Even if they aren't efficient enough on the coldest days and need a backup, they can still be a more efficient way to generate heat for a lot of the year, especially if it comes almost "for free" with your AC.
Glad you guys have pointed people towards Technology Connections for a more in depth look at the science behind them. I appreciate that your video had a different goal, pome people seem to be missing that. May be an idea for future videos to point viewers to other TH-cam content for more in-depth look at topics you bring attention to. Either way, always good to have more people know about potential environmental solutions right now
Big swing and a miss here by not talking about the efficiency differences between heat pumps vs. traditional furnaces/electric heaters. The reason heat pumps are better is they’re not generating heat, simply moving it from the outside in. That can create efficiencies of up to 500% when compared to traditional heating.
It goes even further when you have a ground or water source that’s insulated from the ambient temperature and you can put entire towns or districts under one source which scales better than single home ones. The Texas blackout would've been a fraction of what it was if a good portion of them had a heat pump.
I was about to comment the same thing, the efficiency of heat pumps is much much higher than traditional solutions (which at best have e coefficient of 1)
Came here to comment the same thing. Would have made more sense vs political stuff about subsidies and the like. Not everyone with access to the internet is from the US
As a refrigeration engineer, I was really waiting for the mention of COP (Coefficient Of Performance). As you said, a heat pump can easily reach 400-500% efficiency while a gaz heating reach around 80-85% efficiency.
There are high temperature industrial heat pumps that use butane as the working fluid with a COP of 2.2 and can produce 125C to 150C low temperature process steam.
As a Dutch BIM Engineer specialising in HVAC and plumbing, there has been a grand total of one residential project I've worked on in the past two years that has _not_ featured a heat pump for every apartment. I feel the decision to show the Netherlands as an example of countries that have already embraced the technology is quite correct.
I've used space heaters for years while having a heat pump, because I assumed it's an air con and meant for cooling therefore should be inefficient as a heater. The lack of public knowledge on the topic is quite a problem
@@michaelshtutman669 Most of the newbuilds I've been involved in haven't had a heat pump as a wall-mounted alternative to an AC unit (ACs are pretty rare here in the Netherlands anyway), but actually as an alternative to the central heating unit, so they provide heat for both the underfloor heating or radiators in each room, as well as hot water from the tap. It's honestly quite impressive that we can do that just by extracting a bit of heat from the ground or the air.
As an Australian I was so confused, this is something I've had nearly my whole life (I'm 24) and I have never once heard it called a "heat pump". It's just an air conditioner.
Same 😂. I was like, maybe it’s me cause English is not my first language. I was waiting for the revolutionary thing until I realised it was just an air conditioner 🤷♂️
It blows my mind how I just realised, since I'm not a native English speaker, what a heat pump is and that literally every country in Europe has had them for decades.
@Steven Strain You can see them everywhere around offices and apartments they're not as popular as traditional means of cooling and heating but we didn't forget about it.
Every southern state in the US has them two. They are normally referred to as mini-splits, not heat pumps, by HVAC techs. This "tech" is nothing new. Its very unlikely that northern climates where temps can reach below 40 will switch to mini-splits when ducted systems keep homes much warmer.
They use Apple's definition of "Revolutionary™" Pretty much everyone living between the tropic of cancer & tropic of capricorn consider it as an almost necessity if they can afford it and been using it for decades.
Yes I have one in Spain from 10 years ago. They are called split AC units that also can heat. The funy thing I also have water radiators with a gas burning heater. They house was sold with both sistems.
Carefull with the electricity bills if you want to heat and cold your house with these all year around. At lesst in Spain electricity is much more e pensive than gas as per "heat created". Even though the heat pump is much more efficient as a system it is more expensive to feed.
This is one of the weakest videos I've seen Vox put out. Graphics don't clearly explain how heat pumps also can work to cool buildings, no explanation of why or how they are more energy efficient. I'm very pro-heat pump so it's disappointing to see such a wasted opportunity.
It also makes the mistake of talking about air conditioning as something people need in order to feel "comfortable", which is really frustrating. Even places that were previously mild climates are experiencing deadly heatwaves now. People in my own city died this summer due to extreme heat and lack of air conditioning. To talk about air conditioning in terms of "comfort" feels insulting and disrespectful.
@@joshdu9278 would be even more revolutionary if you knew what you were talking about. A heat pump is an air conditioner but with a reversing valve in it.
For anyone wondering how a heat pump works in the winter it's all about the refrigerant. So like that ductless mini split in his room uses 410 A refrigerant which boils at -55 F. When refrigerant boils it's going through a phase change and starts pulling energy from it's surroundings to turn into a gas, even if it's like 32 F below it can still draw that heat.
@@XLR84000 What is this "national healthcare", "public transit not just in the downtown of major cities", and "more efficient energy policies" you speak of?
You guys normally do a great job of explaining the tech or subject up front. However an absurdly low effort was shown here exposing exactly how air conditioners and more importantly heat pumps actually work and their benefits / downsides for both. I barely gathered much from today’s video.
I thought I was the only one 😂 I have no idea what they're trying to say, too much information but not so informative 😂 reading the comments make so much more sense.
A "two-way air conditioner" using a heat pump is called a reverse cycle air conditioner because it literally reverses the heat pump the other way when you want to change from hot air flow to cold air flow and vice versa.
So does that mean you are constantly being blown on by warm humid air, like someone breathing down your neck? Who TF would want to put that in their house?
@@ericcarabetta1161 no, it is not like that. The only thing that it is reversed it is the cycle of fluid inside the heat exchangers. Therefore, in one case the heat is transferred from the inside of you house to the outside and when the cycle is on reverse, the opposite happens. But the air flow from inside and outside of your house is not mixed.
for those on the fence, I went from a electric baseboard heat at 18 KW in total for my home, to two heat pumps (one each floor) and only consume 6KW in heating now. Same temperature, same comfort, less consumption.
Electric baseboard is HORRIBLY inefficient. You can go for oil containing baseboard, which helps, but yes, a heat pump is going to be better. Living in a development with minimal gas presence, a lot of people here are switching to a central heat pump actually, rather than a minisplit. But gas is still far more effective and far cheaper. You can talk about how gas is subsidized, but the end result is it IS cheaper. You can't tell people they need to martyr themselves for climate change. When the government enacts the change, I'll change. Not before. I won't bet on a change that isn't here yet. And meanwhile, your production of electricity is likely gas based anyway. Even LA, located in a prime area for hydro, is only 6.2% hydro. 50% of Los Angele's power is natural gas. Now, if the base is replaced with Nuclear, you can get that down, but California seems firm on powering themselves with hopes and dreams, and not reality. Unfortunately, hopes and dreams don't provide a stable power base. Wind and solar provide a nice bump. But you need a strong basal layer and a function that can act as a rapid change for when demand spikes and drops. Nuclear can only provide basal. Hydro can also respond to demand. But at the moment, there is no foreseeable way to remove fossil fuels from the grid.
@@nehankaranch2149 Well about 91% of Vox viewers are from US. And I can guarantee that almost 100% would be from the West. ( I include Australia,NZ ) in that toom
Here in my country the usual sunny day temperature is like 35 degree celcius and we are used it. I am the kind of guy who can withstand heat so we are pretty okay with normal fans, in fact only my dad uses it very much. After hearing that roads melted in UK when temperature reached 32 degree celcius, I was hella shocked. How can the average temperature of a day in my country melt roads in the other? Most people in my country are known to withstand heat, though heat waves heat my country's capital upto 50 degrees, which happens every year, or atleast 45 degrees. By the way by all the temperature degrees I mentioned I use the Celcius system.
@@amanda3050 Though he'll probably be flabbergasted at the "revolutionary" tag Vox gave them. Like, they've been around for years and most countries already use them.
During summer months, yes it is just a common AC. The real difference is in the winter months when the unit swaps out and is transferring heat from outside air to bring inside instead of needing a furnace to heat the house. This is I think what they were trying to get at, but may have did an inadequate job of since it was a climate piece and not a natural resources piece. We have a heat pump and live in a climate where in the winter time it gets below 0 (both *F & *C) and when it does, the heat pump takes a back seat to our electric furnace. It is also a weird sensation as the house will be warm, but the air from the register is at best luke warm in the winter. We have gotten used to it, but I can see a lot of HVAC techs needing to explain that the air will never be hot because you are trying to warm the house with cold outside air.
A heat pump is reversible. You can pump the heat to outside ..air conditioning, or pump the heat indoors .. heating. We have them for 30 to 40 years in canada
@@realneonbluegamer No, a large portion of them are one way. A lot of new models have features that work like a heat pump, but many people aren't using new models.
The new idea is that it's an A.C. that works in reverse. It's not really "new" though, they just haven't become mainstream despite being better because everyone already has a furnace. They aren't rare though, a lot of people do have them.
What's shown in the video are mainly air-air heatpumps. They have a maximum efficiency of 300%. Water-air or water-water heatpumps is where it's at, with efficiencies of 400-600% (COP). Those heatpumps are connected to ground(water) springs where more heat can be extracted in winter and stored in summer. The heatpump is connected to your central heating system, providing low-temperature heating. Ofcourse houses need to be ready for low-temperature heating with sufficiënt insultation and efficiënt floor-heating. It's currently the most common way of heating for new buildings in the Netherlands (shown in the video), as we're moving away from natural gas.
I stayed in a house in Maui that was built in 1970. Terrible insulation or none at all. But that Fujitsu heat pump had that place at 63 degrees when it was 105 outside. Truly impressive
we got a heat pump installed last winter and we’re loving it so far. we got one because it seemed like the perfect fit for our need, didn’t even know about their positive impact. i hope people start using them more and more.
*Vox:* “Look at this video we just made!” *A certain Midwesterner who likes niche technology and the color brown who made a video about the exact same thing:* “Am I a joke to you”
Maybe take a look at how Denmark is heating their houses. Something called “fjernvarme”. It is really effective, and around 80 or so percent of homes in Denmark use it. It’s sort of the same as electrical stations, that have several houses connected, but for heat, and the smart thing is, that big buildings that produce a lot of heat, like a server farm, can Connect to the grid and use their heat to heat up houses.
This video made zero sense. Is a heat pump more efficient than an AC? Is the benefit of heat pumps simply that you can use them in both situations because you won't need furnaces? If most of the world is getting hotter, won't take also lead to milder winters leading to lower heating costs? You can survive in most of India without heaters because it is a generally warm country and the winters are mild. So in that sense, giving people the option to both heat and cool, won't it lead to more people using it just for the sake of it? Thereby increasing carbon emissions? NOT TO MENTION THAT YOUR FURNACES ARE 100's of times MORE ROBUST than any heat pump device that will NEVER last more than a few years, much less decades, leading to more and more production of devices so your argument that you're future proofing your home doesn't hold water either. What was even this video? Are you people all right in the end? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE VIDEO PLEASE EXPLAIN.
we use this type of AC for decades here in Brazil, in my house I have 3 units and I'm going to buy one more, and this AC it's so much common, like almost every store and middle class family has one of those
@@andre-cmyk sim, é que nos EUA eles usam ar-condicionado central a gás, tu mexe no termostato e escolhe a temperatura, mas no resto do mundo é ar-condicionado elétrico que nem esse que aparece no vídeo, que sinceramente é muito melhor e bem mais simples de usar no
pois é, eu esperando apresentarem algo super revolucionário, e os caras mostram o ar condicionado que eu tenho em casa. me senti super ecologicamente correto agora hahaha
I just had these installed at my house in Death Valley, where it gets to be over 120°F in the summertime...curious to see how this coming season goes in terms of comfort -- and electric bills!
Yooo wonderhussy what a pleasant surprise. Yeah solar would be a great idea to offset consumption and provide backup power if the power goes out in the area.
In every single house in the middle east there is this "heat pump " that you call , it's just an ordinary air conditioner why call it a heat pump. Noting that you don't need to warm your room in the winter in the middle east but everyone has this "heat pump" and everyone uses it in australia , India , Asia, Northern Africa so I'm so surprised that Americans are just realising that there is something called a "heat pump" (it's just an air conditioner)
Didn't realize they were so important for the climate. I've had them in my home since we moved and we also have solar panels for electricity and water heating.
It still surprises me that heat pumps are so rare in the US. In New Zealand, and other Commonwealth Countries, we call the AC/Heat Pump combo the AC, and we just assume that you get one with the other. Then I heard that in the US, where AC is really common, but heat pumps aren't, and it made no sense to me at all, considering you already had the mechanics installed to make it possible.
This video made zero sense. Is a heat pump more efficient than an AC? Is the benefit of heat pumps simply that you can use them in both situations because you won't need furnaces? If most of the world is getting hotter, won't take also lead to milder winters leading to lower heating costs? You can survive in most of India without heaters because it is a generally warm country and the winters are mild. So in that sense, giving people the option to both heat and cool, won't it lead to more people using it just for the sake of it? Thereby increasing carbon emissions? NOT TO MENTION THAT YOUR FURNACES ARE 100's of times MORE ROBUST than any heat pump device that will NEVER last more than a few years, much less decades, leading to more and more production of devices so your argument that you're future proofing your home doesn't hold water either. What was even this video? Are you people all right in the end? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE VIDEO PLEASE EXPLAIN.
@@Chad.Commenter an ac is a heat pump, can either pump heat out in order to cool or pump it in to warm. It's much more efficient at heating than directly heating via heating element or natural gas. If you're interested, there is a video by the channel "technology connections" that does a much better job of explaining.
@@straightasarainbow5344 It's more that most installed AC in the US doesn't have the ability to reverse the direction of the regigerant - ie the condenser becomes the evaporator and the evaporator becomes the condenser.
Heat Pumps have been the norm here in Aotearoa New Zealand for 15-20 years now. They definitely have benefits over traditional heaters - but you need to point out that they’re pretty inefficient if your home isn’t well insulated. Wall insulation and double glazing work to keep the warm or cold air in and dramatically reduce the energy required by the Heat Pump to be effective. So yes while it’s great other places are catching up, being aware of the best situations for them is the best way to address climate and energy concerns.
@@MateusHokari a properly isolated traditionally heated place can easily be more efficient than a badly isolated heat pumped place. OP is not exhagerating. Double glazing and properly isolating your roof can especially make a huge difference!
I am not sure what "double glazing" means - is it just that window has two layers of glass? Cause if thats it, its nothing new. Heck, the windows in my vintage apartment that are 100 years old have two layers of glass (but in this case they are basically double windows - you open one, and there is second behind it). And the two glass sheets integrated in one frame has beed the standard here for decades, I would say that probably since 1950's. Nowadays the optimal cost/performance window will have 3 sheets of glass, and if you really want to have extreme heat efficiency without regard for the cost, you can get a window with 4 layers of glass. Are there really places in the world, where a window just has one layer of glass and thats it? Sounds very XIX century...
This video made zero sense. Is a heat pump more efficient than an AC? Is the benefit of heat pumps simply that you can use them in both situations because you won't need furnaces? If most of the world is getting hotter, won't take also lead to milder winters leading to lower heating costs? You can survive in most of India without heaters because it is a generally warm country and the winters are mild. So in that sense, giving people the option to both heat and cool, won't it lead to more people using it just for the sake of it? Thereby increasing carbon emissions? NOT TO MENTION THAT YOUR FURNACES ARE 100's of times MORE ROBUST than any heat pump device that will NEVER last more than a few years, much less decades, leading to more and more production of devices so your argument that you're future proofing your home doesn't hold water either. What was even this video? Are you people all right in the end? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE VIDEO PLEASE EXPLAIN.
This video made zero sense. Is a heat pump more efficient than an AC? Is the benefit of heat pumps simply that you can use them in both situations because you won't need furnaces? If most of the world is getting hotter, won't take also lead to milder winters leading to lower heating costs? You can survive in most of India without heaters because it is a generally warm country and the winters are mild. So in that sense, giving people the option to both heat and cool, won't it lead to more people using it just for the sake of it? Thereby increasing carbon emissions? NOT TO MENTION THAT YOUR FURNACES ARE 100's of times MORE ROBUST than any heat pump device that will NEVER last more than a few years, much less decades, leading to more and more production of devices so your argument that you're future proofing your home doesn't hold water either. What was even this video? Are you people all right in the end? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE VIDEO PLEASE EXPLAIN.
Exactly. It's as if someone with little knowledge on the subject or it's history just learned it exists, decided this was a new thing about to be big, and made a video.
Im honestly surprised people didnt know about this, I live in Sweden and we have used one since like 2010 or something like that. We have only had to fix it once during those 11 years, although we dont use it often as we heat our home in other ways aswell, cooling system works perfectly btw
I live in the US and every house in my neighborhood, built in the 1970’s, has these. A lot of older homes do rely on gas powered heating as well as some newer ones who want to keep electric bills low and just love the aesthetic of the gas stove. However, the pump is definitely very common here. I would add though, that even with the benefits of having this type of cooling over gas methods, having ceiling fans throughout your home makes a huge difference. If you can keep air circulation wherever you happen to be, your need for very low temp settings is greatly reduced and ceiling fans take waaaay less energy to run.
@@TwoPlusTwoEqualsFive32 I live in America and our house has had a heat pump since 1982. I think it's the northeastern US that is behind and still using heating oil
Thanks for watching! This is the fourth of five videos we're putting out this week and next about climate coverage. You can watch the previous one (about the indigenous practice that could help save our forests) here: th-cam.com/video/0o6ezu_h6iE/w-d-xo.html
So sad you omitted the efficiency numbers in the video. The heat pump, or called reverse cycle air conditioner in some parts of the world, usually has a coefficient of performance (COP) at about 300%. So you use 1 unit of energy to move 3 times of the heat indoor. About the same for cooling as well.
I installed a small heat pump in my office in the summer of 2020, anticipating work-from-home to continue for quite a while. It allowed me to ditch the room heater (an electric oil-filled radiator, somewhat efficient since al the heat was generated directly in the room) and I didn't need to buy a window air conditioner. What's not mentioned here is just how quiet these are in operation - it's not like a cheap motel air conditioner that's rattling on in the background for hours on end but instead there's a whisper quiet fan blowing cold (or warm) air into the room with minimal fuss. The other issue touched on is efficiency - the SEER rating of a heat pump can be 18 with some units well above 20. Window air conditioners can have SEER ratings as low as 10 for the cheap ones to 15+ for the better units.
I have one in a very good insulated A frame camper. Excellent in the summer, not so good when temperatures are 40* or below. I just try to keep the temperature around 60* inside in the winter. Yes I can warm it up higher, it’s comfy for me. I have been in Texas at 20* for a week.
As a cheer building engineer located in Canada I can guarantee swapping furnaces in Canada is hard to do with heat pumps. Especially in places where you have a lot of days below freezing point. But a lot of the world can adopt it.
Heat pumps can still extract heat from the air below 0 degrees. Mine can still heat my home at -20 C. Some can heat at -27C. Water freezing doesn't mean there is no heat that can be extracted from the air.
@@alexviau6950 one of my Building we had one and on -27 days or below we would struggle. The way we fixed it is by not removing boilers in the building and use them to supplement as cost was not an issue being environmentally cautious was the priority. I have worked with other clients where budget is tight it’s hard to recommend both a boiler and heat Pump.
@@Thebreakdownshow1 well for tougher climates you just need the heat pump that uses other source of heat than external air. Like the ground source - not so deep underground you can expect pretty stable +4C even in harsh winters. This is sometimes called as 'shallow geothermal' energy.
@@Thebreakdownshow1 bro all you need is a 98% gas furnace with an evap coil and heat pump, set temperature parameters to say -5 and thus locking out the heat pump and using gas furnace only
It's all relative ig. In countries like India, we have temperatures in winters upto 35°C. And in Summers upto 49°C on average. Here a 35-36° is considered a very pleasant temperature.
@@thebestevertherewas Sure. I just wanted to point out that Buenos aires does require AC, specially because of the combination of high temperatures and humidity
Aircon serviceman is the job of the future. Expect a huge under-supply in the specialists. BTW: Greetings from Europe, where heat pumps are popular. So weird to see Americans discover them just now, lol.
I do HVAC in USA. Heat Pumps been around for years now. Most popular unit we sell. Heat pumps don't heat near as good as Gas or Wood though. When the temperature drops below 32 it pulls very little heat out of the air to warm your house. Not very effective when super cold
I've done my part to replace every non-heat pump condenser unit with heat pump units at every senior living and apartment communities I have worked for the last 5 years. I am shock that this is just now coming to light after my 12 years of knowing about them. As long as you have two stage heating (use of electric coils) your golden.
Why were they inspired by that channel? I agree it's a good channel, but heat pumps are 200 years old. Also, whatever they were inspired by, this is a much crappier video than Vox usually puts out.
It's interesting how different people call it. We Vietnamese call it the "cooling machine" in our language and we learned to call it "air conditioner" in English classes. Then, going to the West, I've only heard people calling it the "heat pump." So confusing...
Viet here, I thought about the same thing when I was young. After working in the industry for awhile, you can classify them like so: heat pump (has reversing valve that transfer the hot gas in or outdoor to extract or remove heat; air condition - cool only. In addition, in the trade we have evaporative cooling (water), cooler, chiller to achieve different aspect of air conditioning.
Hey man, if you come to Australia, it's an air conditioner (edit: a 'reverse cycle air con', as in it can also heat). I guess if you go to a country that's generally cold, it might be called a heat pump. I know an english guy who still calls it a heat pump.
This video made zero sense. Is a heat pump more efficient than an AC? Is the benefit of heat pumps simply that you can use them in both situations because you won't need furnaces? If most of the world is getting hotter, won't take also lead to milder winters leading to lower heating costs? You can survive in most of India without heaters because it is a generally warm country and the winters are mild. So in that sense, giving people the option to both heat and cool, won't it lead to more people using it just for the sake of it? Thereby increasing carbon emissions? NOT TO MENTION THAT YOUR FURNACES ARE 100's of times MORE ROBUST than any heat pump device that will NEVER last more than a few years, much less decades, leading to more and more production of devices so your argument that you're future proofing your home doesn't hold water either. What was even this video? Are you people all right in the end? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE VIDEO PLEASE EXPLAIN.
It is just like any other AC you see, but has like 3 valves that flip the freon (or whatever brand name) around. Very old tech, just has more moving parts and is not practical in most areas in USA Either it is too cold to use in the winter; or you don't get a winter and you don't need the heating aspect of it.
Many house in US still using gas or oil to heating a house instead of A.C. unit that can do both way and using pure electric. Those heating method created emission at each household unlike the electric than can use electricity from green source like wind or solar.
Here in coastal BC, Canada, folks this past summer started buying air conditioners at a truly unprecedented rate. Air conditioners were never a thing here until recently. Lots of elderly people died of heatstroke, and a few died in forest fires that ate small towns.
“Heat Pump” is NOT one of the worst names of all time. It explains exactly what it does: a heat pump moves heat energy from one place to another. Sometimes it’s pumping heat out of your home, sometimes it’s pumping heat into your home.
Just to be clear, we do have them in the US. My home, my parents, my in-laws all have heat pumps... nothing new. I too was like "ummm?!" We just colloquially refer to it as "AC", maybe that's some of the confusion by the author of this video.
I'm in the US (New England area) and my apartment only got a heat pump maybe 6 years ago? We only learned about it because my town was pushing for a bulk discount. I'm sure it depends on where you live as to whether or not it's popular. (PS. it was advertised as a "heat pump".)
@@chewbaccazulu5908 Perhaps, I am in the Southeastern US, maybe they are just more popular/common here. My house was built in 1989 and when we moved in (2008) we replaced the existing heatpump system as it hadn't been properly maintained and was having issues. The one we replaced was original to the house in '89. They are definitely marketed as "heat pumps" but everyone I know just calls it "AC" or just "the air". Like we just switched it over to heating mode and I asked my wife this morning, "Did you ever hear the air come on last night".
They are popular in areas in USA where it gets kinda cold, but not too cold. And you need the cooling air as well. If it gets too cold, heat pumps just don't work. And if you live in a hot place that never gets cold, why have a pricey heat pump? Just get a one way heat pump (a normal AC) and save yourself tons of money.
@@MoonLiteNite Makes sense... and as a side note, when we purchased we made sure the house was all electric because the prices seem to be more stable, plus in hindsight, it's "greener" all that has to happen is the utility switch to clean energy and I'm automatically green, and they are slowly working on it, in my area at least. No more coal burning and they are phasing out natural gas for solar/nuclear. But some houses still have gas (propane) heating as a backup, we have a (wood burning) fireplace that we've used twice when we've lost power in winter but other than that its comfortable in the summer and winter no issues. Right now it's in heating mode but has yet to switch on as we have quite good insulation and new windows.
Fun fact: heat pumps are some of the rare things that are 200% or more efficient. Ie it does 2x+ more heating/cooling energy transfer than the electricity consumed by the unit.
Another fun fact: It is overall system efficiency that matters. The comparison that counts is the quantity of heat delivered to the target living area for each kilowatt-hour of electricity consumed. A portable oil-filled electric space heater (no fan) or -- for that matter -- conventional electric baseboard radiator -- is 100% efficient. That means that every kilowatt-hour of electricity is converted to 3,412.14 BTUs of heat -- or, if you prefer, 3,600 kilojoules. It isn't possible to be more efficient than that.
@@thomasstambaugh5181 Actually yes you can with a heat pump for one simple reason you are not using the electricity to generate the heat, but instead merely using it to move the heat that already exists. You still need to use some energy to work against the entropy gradient like this but it is less than is needed to generate the same amount of heat. Thus how the COP is greater than 1 typically around 4-5 that is to say that while 1 kilowatt hour can only generate around 3,600 kilojoules it can be used to move 14,400-18,000 kilojoules of the heat already present outside into the living space. And yes even what we think of as cold air still has a lot of heat as even during cold conditions earths surface temperatures are relatively warm remember 0 C is already 273 K in absolute terms so there is still a lot of energy to play with there.
@@seraphina985 : Sorry, but I fear you miss the point. The COP of the heat pump is not the same as overall efficiency of the system that delivers that heat. In a split-cycle system like we're discussing, the heat pump is NOT moving heat "already present outside into the living space". It is instead moving it from the heatpump into a heat exchanger located in the same outside enclosure as the heatpump itself, where the heat is transferred to the transfer fluid. More heat is lost through the wall of the flexible lines that connect the exterior inverter to the wall unit. Another heat exchanger in the wall unit has to then transfer the heat to the room air. NONE of those components is 100% efficent. As a thought experiment, consider a system that had no wall unit connected to it, and that merely circulated the transfer fluid in a large loop. That system would still have a COP of 400% at the heat pump -- and would deliver ZERO useful space heat. The metric that matters is the energy delivered to the interior heating space divided by the total energy consumed by the system (and measured at the meter). That metric cannot be greater than 100%.
@@thomasstambaugh5181 you're completely wrong. You're not measuring efficiency correctly. You absolutely can provide 7 kW of heating using 1 kW of energy. It's not free energy, it's not breaking the laws of thermodynamics. You're mixing up available energy with total energy. Enough understanding to have confused yourself, but not enough to understand.
HVAC/R technician here, the one downside inherent with air-to-air heat pumps is that as the outdoor temperature drops, they're SEER rating falls off a cliff. The colder it is outside the less effective they are.
The great thing about heat pumps is there will always be places where heat is needed through the summer. If you have a water heater, clothes drier or a swimming pool, the heat you draw out from your house can go to those places instead. In the winter you can draw heat from your fridge/freezers instead of having the rear element heating a small section of wall in your kitchen. Store heat from an oven when it's no longer in use etc etc. If you have a robust enough system, you can move around your temperature differences to wherever you need them most around your home before you need to throw it in the ground or into the atmosphere. I always imagine how it could be utilised in leisure centres, where a closed loop system could be used to draw heat out of a gymnasium using air-conditioning and the excess heat being used to supplement the heating of the leisure pool or spa area.
Air conditioning is a non-negotiable in Australia! 🥵 Usually people have the split-system aircon for both heating and cooling since city temperatures range from 0° to 45°C 😂
Exactly, either pumping heat energy in or out of your house. Moving heat is more efficient than using an heating element (and also allows for cooling). The difference between 'heat pump' and 'a/c' is that it doesn't have to be a conventional airconditioner, but instead if you source heat from ground (water) into the floor/radiators (water) it's more efficient and much more comfortable.
I think you guys kinda missed telling everyone how incredibly efficient these things are. They are almost 4-5 times times as efficient as regular electric heaters. Saying that if you put in 1000W it will give you 3-5000W of heating power back, because of how it takes the heat from the outside air and "pumps" it to the inside
The problem is really that the 4-5 times factor only works out in relatively mild climates. The efficiency for heating goes way down if it is really cold outside to the degree that it will use only maybe half the energy compared to an electric heater or it will stop working completely. If the electric power comes from natural sources such as gas this combines the overall efficiency to be less than heating directly with gas. That is of course since the transformation of gas to electric power only comes with a 30-40% efficiency. So you end up with 2 x 30% = 60% or if it is so cold that the heat pump stops working you end up with only 30% (backup electric heating) In most countries this will not be the case for alot of days in the winter but that depends onf where you live. Combine this with a really high upfront installation cost and cheap gas prizes, high electric energy prizes and you see why it is not common yet in europe for example.
There are tiny things that seems surprisingly influential in this. Growing up in Shanghai China I'm more than used to those 'AC units' that basically ACs and heats within the same electric device. And now I'm in NYC, and increasingly a combined heating-cooling unit is very popular, whether it's a central, ductless mini-split (which is the most popular in Asia, Africa, Southern Europe where cooling is needed, as well as even Latin America, but kinda rare compared to others in America), or even through the wall (PTAC) units which for the AC part work very similar to a window unit. And for actual window or even portable units you can now buy ones that have a heating function. However what's kind of noticeable is that at least in most large rental complexes, it's actually still popular, even for the newly built buildings, to use electric AC AND hot-water based heating in the winter (which is usually based off natural gas), IN THOSE SYSTEMS that definitely CAN have a inversible heat pump, and hence use electric heat pump for both cooling and heating. And it seems to me that, a primary reason is that the rental market in NYC has an unspoken 'standard' on utility bills: tenants pay for AC while landlords pay for heating. And using the same electric heat pump would make that separation a lot more difficult. But that separation seems like a must, as especially when we are talking about large apartment complexes owned by corporations as landlords, they're neither willing to start taking the risk and start covering tenants' AC bills, nor are they willing to let the tenants pay for heating during the NYC's brutal winters. Even though either way they can adjust their rent so that essentially on average both parties are paying the same price.
@@worldchangingvideos6253 The problem is, it's rare. And enabling a major appliance to be more eco friendly usually is far from enough of a reason to implement such a big change
@@NJRoadfan That's just co-op city though. Most NYC apartment doesn't. And neither does most other places' apartment. NYC is kinda unique from my experience to have landlord cover for heating cost. (Which is not mandated by law from what I know, but it has just become industrial standard).
@@davidfreeman3083 It's common in older apartment buildings in NJ too. Many older buildings had a central heating system with a boiler in the basement. It would be impossible to individually bill people for heating in that case, so they just tack it on the rent. The same for water in many buildings as well.
I can tell you we have lots of heat pumps in New Brunswick Canada. We had several weeks in the 95f to 110f (or 35c to 42c). In the winter, some days will be often be colder than -35f or -35c so we still require an alternative heating source for some days but that is only for about 1 month at the most in the year.
Mechanical engineer here - the target market for air source heat pumps are climates zones with relatively mild winters (i.e. the entire sun belt of the US). The nominal efficiency or COP of a heat pump can be as high as 4.0. This means 4 units of heat out for every unit of energy in. Compare that to a boiler or furnace that burns at 80% efficiency (COP = 0.8) and you see that heat pumps can be 5x as energy efficient. The problem with heat pumps is the derating of performance when it gets truly cold outside. It becomes difficult for the outdoor unit to extract heat from the air when it gets below 20F outside. Manufacturers have made improvements in this area and many manufacturers certify performance at very cold outside temperatures. Mitsubishi calls it "hyper heat." Other less conventional heat exchangers mentioned in the video such as "ground-source" or "water source" perform better in seriously cold weather. Overall, I definitely see us moving away from fossil fuel furnaces and boilers in the coming years. Heat pumps are not a new technology and it is a great option for any new construction or renovation in the Sun belt or West Cost. I enjoyed those maps showing the projected cooling need over time.
Great starter video. Here’s the challenge and maybe a good follow on video: if heating is electrified we would create a new winter peak demand, massively increasing the need for energy storage. New technologies might be necessary to avoid this unintended consequence. Also, there is a significant difference between natural gas costs and electricity costs, which is not made up with increased efficiency. How to get heat pump adoption without increasing heating costs is a major challenge. On the edge of the conversation is green natural gas and hydrogen for heating. There is an opportunity to use the existing natural gas infrastructure to deliver natural gas produced from renewable excess capacity. This field is fertile ground for revolutionary highly impactful solutions.
One of the thing that it's now as efficient in heating as traditional sources. How much money do you need to keep you house warm when outside is -15 Celsius (5°F)?
In India when most families think of an AC, we think of a Window AC or Top AC (what you would call Heat Pumps). Indians call American ACs "Centralised AC"
I work in the HVAC industry for 12 years. And back the Heat Pumps were limited to only warmer climates and if used in cold climates they needed a means to boost their heating capability. Now, there are full high-rise luxury apartments in NYC going up with full VRF Heat Pump condenser farms. The technology clearly has gotten better in the past 12 years of me being in this career.
Yeah but americans didn't know about them until now. And now that they do, they are the "hot new trend", and naturally at somepoint they'll say they invented it.
This video made zero sense. Is a heat pump more efficient than an AC? Is the benefit of heat pumps simply that you can use them in both situations because you won't need furnaces? If most of the world is getting hotter, won't take also lead to milder winters leading to lower heating costs? You can survive in most of India without heaters because it is a generally warm country and the winters are mild. So in that sense, giving people the option to both heat and cool, won't it lead to more people using it just for the sake of it? Thereby increasing carbon emissions? NOT TO MENTION THAT YOUR FURNACES ARE 100's of times MORE ROBUST than any heat pump device that will NEVER last more than a few years, much less decades, leading to more and more production of devices so your argument that you're future proofing your home doesn't hold water either. What was even this video? Are you people all right in the end? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE VIDEO PLEASE EXPLAIN.
We have had these for decades in New Zealand! We also call it a reverse cycle air conditioner. In fact, right now I'm sitting under my Fujitsu Nocria 7.5kw heatpump, it's 10 degrees outside, but a nice 21 inside.
Here in Australia (well, Victoria at least) we call them Reverse Cycle Air Conditioners. Indicating that if you reverse the cycle, they make you warm instead of cold.
Lol, I was so interested only to realize after the video that literally every AC unit in my country has been a "heat pump" for decades. Some homes also have wood/gas furnaces but a "heat pump" is the default here and it's not expensive at all. My country is not incredible but jeez does the US have some major evolution to do especially as the world's biggest economy.
Yeah this is pretty common in Spain too. They're called inverters here, since you 'invert' flow of heat when changing modes. *shrug* US discovering 21st century I guess. ;)
I expected China has a higher demand for cooling as their entire city has air conditioning for literally every single room instead of just a singular air conditioning system.
@@x64emulator that Phenomenon predated China’s recent economic Modernization. It’s not exactly the air conditioning alone that is hitting up the cities.
Usually you’ll be expecting each bedroom and living room to have each air-conditioning of their own. But you definitely see Chinese households being a little bit reluctant on the usage of heating or cooling facilities due to High energy consumption. You definitely observe the creation of different types of related home appliances that almost achieve similar purpose at much lower energy consumption
Just replaced my 30 year old heat pump with a newer model, absolutely love it. Most heat pumps have electric coils in the air handler as backup for those super cold days and to preheat the air, also for emergency heat should your compressor or condenser go out.
I see you're just regurgitating what you saw in the newest Kurgzgesagt video in order to sound smart, but you forgot the part where they mention that heating residential homes produces more emissions than all cars combined.
Please, do explain how it consumes less energy..... It is it the SAME thing as a normal 1 way heat pump (AC system). It has a few extra valves and a relay timer. It by no means use LESS energy to cool the same BTU.
i just moved into an apartment that has one of these. They are amazing!. im still waiting for the summer though to see how cool they keep the rooms but im sure it works just as well as a window ac
I have never heard of a heat pump, that's a reverse cycle air conditioner to me. I also didn't realise there are parts of the world that don't need both heating and cooling.
Here in Ontario Canada electricity cost 3x gas. The answer can't be raising the price of gas, (although I get it) it has to be electrical heating priced at a lower rate so that it can be implemented economically.
In Maryland we have used a whole house heat pump since 1982. My house in Texas also used a heat pump. In Azerbaijan, we have the wall heat pumps. Didn’t know they weren’t popular
I live north of Seattle and was so happy to have ductless heat pumps in my house during the heat wave. Our first year in this house I was told by the propane guy it might last a month during winter and at $450 to refill, I wasn't going to spend that on heating. I almost exclusively used my wood stove. The next year we got heat pumps installed. They are the way to go.
I'm amazed that the efficiency comparison was left out in this video. Heat pumps are ~4 times as efficient as traditional AC or heaters. That means reducing energy usage to 25% of today's methods. It also tends to use cleaner power to run, meaning and even better save for the climate
This video made zero sense. Is a heat pump more efficient than an AC? Is the benefit of heat pumps simply that you can use them in both situations because you won't need furnaces? If most of the world is getting hotter, won't take also lead to milder winters leading to lower heating costs? You can survive in most of India without heaters because it is a generally warm country and the winters are mild. So in that sense, giving people the option to both heat and cool, won't it lead to more people using it just for the sake of it? Thereby increasing carbon emissions? NOT TO MENTION THAT YOUR FURNACES ARE 100's of times MORE ROBUST than any heat pump device that will NEVER last more than a few years, much less decades, leading to more and more production of devices so your argument that you're future proofing your home doesn't hold water either. What was even this video? Are you people all right in the end? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE VIDEO PLEASE EXPLAIN.
@@alaric_ LOL these aren’t new here they just don’t make much financial sense because fossil fuel prices are kept so low here. Once natural gas becomes more expensive in the US they will become more popular.
Thanks for promoting heat pump (or what industry called two way AC), this product has been in market for such a long time but due to pre war building limitations like places in EU applications has been limited. These high historical valued buildings still using radiator (with boilers) due to existing pipelines which are difficult to replace. Hence, Air To water came in place to replace boilers. You may explore how industry has evolved.
The heat pumps work really well to both heat and cool. In Nova Scotia, Canada they are being installed in homes and businesses with incentives from our government. TH-cam is giving tons of ads about installing them. They work. They are easy to use. if you are thinking about getting one. Do it.
The problem is here in the Midwest US, I can get a furnace for my whole house for half the cost of an efficient heat pump (that maintains its efficiency in below freezing temps) for my 300sqft finished attic.
“Revolutionary device” 😂. This is just Americans discovering electric kettles all over again. We’ve had heat pumps (and electric kettles) in New Zealand for decades.
Thanks Hitachi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for my expensive inverter ACs lol. Using 5 big inverter ACs in Philippines and only paying less than $100 a month for almost 24/7 @24c cooling in 33-35c ambient temp. It pays to invest in really good air conditioners.
A key point is missing here: HVAC contractors are the key. Most of them in places with reasonably cold winters aren't comfortable with heat pumps, therefore they seldom even offer them. If a consumer proposes them, they are likely to be talked out of it by a reluctant HVAC contractor. The best solution for this is indeed policy: pay the HVAC manufacturers to stop making one way air conditioners and only make two way heat pumps. A heat pump and an AC are the same piece of equipment, the heat pump just has a few extra parts. The wholesale cost difference between them is about $300-500. This would cost about $10 billion over 7 years, pocket change at the federal level. Then everyone gets a heat pump and gets used to the technology, even if it is paired with a furnace (which is likely for the next 5 years at a minimum.) At the next replacement heat pumps won't be a foreign concept.
![[TH] 2024 PMGC League | Survival Stage วันที่ 1 | PUBG MOBILE Global Championship](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/FVFT-PFwU80/mqdefault.jpg)
Some of you have pointed out that Technology Connections also has a video on electric heat pumps! Alec actually has two, the first of which you can watch here: th-cam.com/video/7J52mDjZzto/w-d-xo.html
His videos go much more in-depth about how heat pump technology actually works. Our goal was more to explain the connection between two separate climate stories: the booming need for home cooling, and the opportunity that presents to drastically cut our heating emissions. Both stories have a lot more to them than what we could get into in this video, which we hope is just a starting point!
"So you want a video about heat pumps? Well, through the magic of making two of them..."
The crossover I never knew I needed, glad to see y'all watch Alec too!! Keep it classy!
One good point that Alec made is that the additional cost to turn a "one-way" air conditioner into a heat pump is fairly small, and that it'd be a good policy decision to require new air conditioners to also act as heat pumps. Even if they aren't efficient enough on the coldest days and need a backup, they can still be a more efficient way to generate heat for a lot of the year, especially if it comes almost "for free" with your AC.
It's a good point that bears repeating!
Y'know, if you guys went into a little more detail with your videos, we wouldn't be mad.
Glad you guys have pointed people towards Technology Connections for a more in depth look at the science behind them. I appreciate that your video had a different goal, pome people seem to be missing that. May be an idea for future videos to point viewers to other TH-cam content for more in-depth look at topics you bring attention to. Either way, always good to have more people know about potential environmental solutions right now
Big swing and a miss here by not talking about the efficiency differences between heat pumps vs. traditional furnaces/electric heaters. The reason heat pumps are better is they’re not generating heat, simply moving it from the outside in. That can create efficiencies of up to 500% when compared to traditional heating.
It goes even further when you have a ground or water source that’s insulated from the ambient temperature and you can put entire towns or districts under one source which scales better than single home ones. The Texas blackout would've been a fraction of what it was if a good portion of them had a heat pump.
I was about to comment the same thing, the efficiency of heat pumps is much much higher than traditional solutions (which at best have e coefficient of 1)
That's what I thought the video would have been about. Big miss here.
Came here to comment the same thing. Would have made more sense vs political stuff about subsidies and the like. Not everyone with access to the internet is from the US
As a refrigeration engineer, I was really waiting for the mention of COP (Coefficient Of Performance). As you said, a heat pump can easily reach 400-500% efficiency while a gaz heating reach around 80-85% efficiency.
Heat pumps don't just heat/cool homes. We have an entire series on the different types and how they work
please throw in the link
Nerd
Nice
There are high temperature industrial heat pumps that use butane as the working fluid with a COP of 2.2 and can produce 125C to 150C low temperature process steam.
The engineering mindset is a hundred Times more knoweldgable than vox, don't listen to what they say on Vox
As a Dutch BIM Engineer specialising in HVAC and plumbing, there has been a grand total of one residential project I've worked on in the past two years that has _not_ featured a heat pump for every apartment. I feel the decision to show the Netherlands as an example of countries that have already embraced the technology is quite correct.
I've used space heaters for years while having a heat pump, because I assumed it's an air con and meant for cooling therefore should be inefficient as a heater. The lack of public knowledge on the topic is quite a problem
@@michaelshtutman669 Most of the newbuilds I've been involved in haven't had a heat pump as a wall-mounted alternative to an AC unit (ACs are pretty rare here in the Netherlands anyway), but actually as an alternative to the central heating unit, so they provide heat for both the underfloor heating or radiators in each room, as well as hot water from the tap. It's honestly quite impressive that we can do that just by extracting a bit of heat from the ground or the air.
@@rjfaber1991 can systems like that also send cool water to the radiators while still making hot tap water?
@@Bbonno yes, there are models that can do that, but that seems kind of inefficient...
Absolutely love dutch urban planning. Class society of forward thinkers.
As an Australian I was so confused, this is something I've had nearly my whole life (I'm 24) and I have never once heard it called a "heat pump". It's just an air conditioner.
Same 😂. I was like, maybe it’s me cause English is not my first language. I was waiting for the revolutionary thing until I realised it was just an air conditioner 🤷♂️
It’s mostly an American term. We call it reverse cycle air conditioner in Australia.
Same!
It is a very confusing name since it does both.
Engineers call it heat pump
It blows my mind how I just realised, since I'm not a native English speaker, what a heat pump is and that literally every country in Europe has had them for decades.
@Steven Strain You can see them everywhere around offices and apartments they're not as popular as traditional means of cooling and heating but we didn't forget about it.
Your response changes some stuff
Yep, New Zealand’s been using them for decades too
Yepp, I heat my house with 2 units. I never thought of it as something super revolutionary so this video was quite a surprise
Every southern state in the US has them two. They are normally referred to as mini-splits, not heat pumps, by HVAC techs. This "tech" is nothing new. Its very unlikely that northern climates where temps can reach below 40 will switch to mini-splits when ducted systems keep homes much warmer.
"Revolutionary"
We have had these for decades in nearly every Australian home.
They use Apple's definition of "Revolutionary™"
Pretty much everyone living between the tropic of cancer & tropic of capricorn consider it as an almost necessity if they can afford it and been using it for decades.
Bruh, when I saw him move the camera I was l like. "bro... that's an airconditioner."
Yes I have one in Spain from 10 years ago. They are called split AC units that also can heat. The funy thing I also have water radiators with a gas burning heater. They house was sold with both sistems.
Carefull with the electricity bills if you want to heat and cold your house with these all year around. At lesst in Spain electricity is much more e pensive than gas as per "heat created". Even though the heat pump is much more efficient as a system it is more expensive to feed.
They confused everything. The first refrigerator built in 1834 was a heat pump. In the video it seems like they try to give it a different meaning.
It's interesting to learn about these connections in technology
I bet they got inspired by technology connections
I feel i need to learn more about heat transfer and refrigerants before i can truly understand the connection here....
If they made a heat pump dishwasher, how much soap would it use?
@@Dunnyedd As much as it says on the box. But only if you also fill the pre-wash basin.
I need my automatic toaster...
This is one of the weakest videos I've seen Vox put out. Graphics don't clearly explain how heat pumps also can work to cool buildings, no explanation of why or how they are more energy efficient.
I'm very pro-heat pump so it's disappointing to see such a wasted opportunity.
yeah, poor visual and audio quality. I just found this heat-pump thing and don't clearly see the issue they're talking about.
I thought it was only me. It was really difficult to understand the main idea behind the need for heat pumps
They stole the idea from technology connections
Yeah this video was over before it started. Don't feel like I learned much.
It also makes the mistake of talking about air conditioning as something people need in order to feel "comfortable", which is really frustrating. Even places that were previously mild climates are experiencing deadly heatwaves now. People in my own city died this summer due to extreme heat and lack of air conditioning. To talk about air conditioning in terms of "comfort" feels insulting and disrespectful.
I can't believe he called a heat pump 'revolutionary' in 2021.
Revolutionary: involving or causing a complete or dramatic change. It would be revolutionary if everyone buys a heat pump instead of air conditioner
@@joshdu9278 that's fair, I just come from somewhere where heatpumps are commonplace so it seemed strange to me
@@joshdu9278 would be even more revolutionary if you knew what you were talking about. A heat pump is an air conditioner but with a reversing valve in it.
@@joshdu9278 Where I live we call "Heat pumps" Air cons, they've been around as long as I can remember, it's not a new technology.
Not until you hear and see how noisy the AC system in US are.
For anyone wondering how a heat pump works in the winter it's all about the refrigerant. So like that ductless mini split in his room uses 410 A refrigerant which boils at -55 F. When refrigerant boils it's going through a phase change and starts pulling energy from it's surroundings to turn into a gas, even if it's like 32 F below it can still draw that heat.
This has been a thing in every moderately advanced country except the US for literally decades.
Right? I was so confused about the "revolutionary new device"... I am literally looking at my "AC unit" that can both heat and cool my apartment.
@@GaviLazan It amazes me how the US seems so disconnected from the rest of the planet in some areas.
@@XLR84000 What is this "national healthcare", "public transit not just in the downtown of major cities", and "more efficient energy policies" you speak of?
Here in Brazil literally everyone I know has at least one of those at home, it's interesting to see americans finding it revolutionary xD
I'm from a 3rd world poor country and most people have been using that for sooo long 😅😅
You guys normally do a great job of explaining the tech or subject up front. However an absurdly low effort was shown here exposing exactly how air conditioners and more importantly heat pumps actually work and their benefits / downsides for both. I barely gathered much from today’s video.
Yeah, I had to search for other videos for heat pumps.
Yeah. This video felt very tabloid-y. Not a lot of number crunching or science on display.
I thought I was the only one 😂 I have no idea what they're trying to say, too much information but not so informative 😂 reading the comments make so much more sense.
Their diagram showing how they worked is almost completely wrong 🤣
A "two-way air conditioner" using a heat pump is called a reverse cycle air conditioner because it literally reverses the heat pump the other way when you want to change from hot air flow to cold air flow and vice versa.
So does that mean you are constantly being blown on by warm humid air, like someone breathing down your neck? Who TF would want to put that in their house?
@@ericcarabetta1161 no
@@ericcarabetta1161 no, it is not like that. The only thing that it is reversed it is the cycle of fluid inside the heat exchangers. Therefore, in one case the heat is transferred from the inside of you house to the outside and when the cycle is on reverse, the opposite happens. But the air flow from inside and outside of your house is not mixed.
@@ericcarabetta1161 it still dries the air even when heating.
So its not a heater at all it's just a general air conditioner
“With a revolutionary device called a heat pump” nah Vox I’m out after that one 😂
for those on the fence, I went from a electric baseboard heat at 18 KW in total for my home, to two heat pumps (one each floor) and only consume 6KW in heating now. Same temperature, same comfort, less consumption.
Electric baseboard is HORRIBLY inefficient. You can go for oil containing baseboard, which helps, but yes, a heat pump is going to be better. Living in a development with minimal gas presence, a lot of people here are switching to a central heat pump actually, rather than a minisplit. But gas is still far more effective and far cheaper. You can talk about how gas is subsidized, but the end result is it IS cheaper. You can't tell people they need to martyr themselves for climate change. When the government enacts the change, I'll change. Not before. I won't bet on a change that isn't here yet. And meanwhile, your production of electricity is likely gas based anyway. Even LA, located in a prime area for hydro, is only 6.2% hydro. 50% of Los Angele's power is natural gas. Now, if the base is replaced with Nuclear, you can get that down, but California seems firm on powering themselves with hopes and dreams, and not reality. Unfortunately, hopes and dreams don't provide a stable power base. Wind and solar provide a nice bump. But you need a strong basal layer and a function that can act as a rapid change for when demand spikes and drops. Nuclear can only provide basal. Hydro can also respond to demand. But at the moment, there is no foreseeable way to remove fossil fuels from the grid.
Again, Vox needs to do just a little more research on what other countries are doing, and how other countries cope with temperature extremes.
Vox isn't about research, and the people who watch vox have one mindset. : usa worst country in the world
@@nehankaranch2149 the US is very behind in most factors in the developed world.
@@nehankaranch2149 Well about 91% of Vox viewers are from US.
And I can guarantee that almost 100% would be from the West.
( I include Australia,NZ ) in that toom
Here in my country the usual sunny day temperature is like 35 degree celcius and we are used it. I am the kind of guy who can withstand heat so we are pretty okay with normal fans, in fact only my dad uses it very much. After hearing that roads melted in UK when temperature reached 32 degree celcius, I was hella shocked. How can the average temperature of a day in my country melt roads in the other? Most people in my country are known to withstand heat, though heat waves heat my country's capital upto 50 degrees, which happens every year, or atleast 45 degrees.
By the way by all the temperature degrees I mentioned I use the Celcius system.
@@thebestevertherewas Yeah but go to any video on the middle east made by them and the comments would be full of anti-US dudes.
Here comes Technology Connections...
He'll be so happy!
happy to see this comment. I love that guy
IEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
Time to explain the heat cycle :D
@@amanda3050 Though he'll probably be flabbergasted at the "revolutionary" tag Vox gave them. Like, they've been around for years and most countries already use them.
A heat pump is basically what we call an A.C? I don't get what is the new idea here.
During summer months, yes it is just a common AC. The real difference is in the winter months when the unit swaps out and is transferring heat from outside air to bring inside instead of needing a furnace to heat the house. This is I think what they were trying to get at, but may have did an inadequate job of since it was a climate piece and not a natural resources piece.
We have a heat pump and live in a climate where in the winter time it gets below 0 (both *F & *C) and when it does, the heat pump takes a back seat to our electric furnace. It is also a weird sensation as the house will be warm, but the air from the register is at best luke warm in the winter. We have gotten used to it, but I can see a lot of HVAC techs needing to explain that the air will never be hot because you are trying to warm the house with cold outside air.
A heat pump is reversible. You can pump the heat to outside ..air conditioning, or pump the heat indoors .. heating. We have them for 30 to 40 years in canada
@@realneonbluegamer No, a large portion of them are one way. A lot of new models have features that work like a heat pump, but many people aren't using new models.
The new idea is that it's an A.C. that works in reverse. It's not really "new" though, they just haven't become mainstream despite being better because everyone already has a furnace. They aren't rare though, a lot of people do have them.
What's shown in the video are mainly air-air heatpumps. They have a maximum efficiency of 300%. Water-air or water-water heatpumps is where it's at, with efficiencies of 400-600% (COP). Those heatpumps are connected to ground(water) springs where more heat can be extracted in winter and stored in summer. The heatpump is connected to your central heating system, providing low-temperature heating. Ofcourse houses need to be ready for low-temperature heating with sufficiënt insultation and efficiënt floor-heating. It's currently the most common way of heating for new buildings in the Netherlands (shown in the video), as we're moving away from natural gas.
I stayed in a house in Maui that was built in 1970. Terrible insulation or none at all. But that Fujitsu heat pump had that place at 63 degrees when it was 105 outside. Truly impressive
we got a heat pump installed last winter and we’re loving it so far. we got one because it seemed like the perfect fit for our need, didn’t even know about their positive impact. i hope people start using them more and more.
Where are you located? How your electric bill has being impacted since the change?
*Vox:* “Look at this video we just made!”
*A certain Midwesterner who likes niche technology and the color brown who made a video about the exact same thing:* “Am I a joke to you”
I was really hoping they’d interview him for this!
Technology Connections represent!
Next video from Vox is about dishwashers i'm calling it.
Can you provide a link of that video? I would love to watch it. Thanks.
@@YetiFell Or "What the old toaster teaches us about planned obsolescence"
Maybe take a look at how Denmark is heating their houses. Something called “fjernvarme”. It is really effective, and around 80 or so percent of homes in Denmark use it. It’s sort of the same as electrical stations, that have several houses connected, but for heat, and the smart thing is, that big buildings that produce a lot of heat, like a server farm, can Connect to the grid and use their heat to heat up houses.
Listen, i googled your word and its not just Denmark. All over Russia is using it.
its called district heating
This video made zero sense. Is a heat pump more efficient than an AC? Is the benefit of heat pumps simply that you can use them in both situations because you won't need furnaces? If most of the world is getting hotter, won't take also lead to milder winters leading to lower heating costs? You can survive in most of India without heaters because it is a generally warm country and the winters are mild. So in that sense, giving people the option to both heat and cool, won't it lead to more people using it just for the sake of it? Thereby increasing carbon emissions? NOT TO MENTION THAT YOUR FURNACES ARE 100's of times MORE ROBUST than any heat pump device that will NEVER last more than a few years, much less decades, leading to more and more production of devices so your argument that you're future proofing your home doesn't hold water either. What was even this video? Are you people all right in the end? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE VIDEO PLEASE EXPLAIN.
@@braincell4536 Yes or if you want a literal translation it's long-distance heating. It exists in many countries not only in Denmark.
In germany its called fernwärme :)
we use this type of AC for decades here in Brazil, in my house I have 3 units and I'm going to buy one more, and this AC it's so much common, like almost every store and middle class family has one of those
pera então eh literalmente só um ar condicionado padrão que a gente usa?
@@andre-cmyk no this is a different one but people are really ignorant and just look at the shape and say that it is
@@andre-cmyk sim, é que nos EUA eles usam ar-condicionado central a gás, tu mexe no termostato e escolhe a temperatura, mas no resto do mundo é ar-condicionado elétrico que nem esse que aparece no vídeo, que sinceramente é muito melhor e bem mais simples de usar no
pois é, eu esperando apresentarem algo super revolucionário, e os caras mostram o ar condicionado que eu tenho em casa. me senti super ecologicamente correto agora hahaha
Acho q bomba de calor são os AC do tipo inverter, não tenho certeza
I just had these installed at my house in Death Valley, where it gets to be over 120°F in the summertime...curious to see how this coming season goes in terms of comfort -- and electric bills!
Yooo wonderhussy what a pleasant surprise. Yeah solar would be a great idea to offset consumption and provide backup power if the power goes out in the area.
Funny to randomly run into you Wonderhussy!! /../,
Don't think you need a heat pump in death valley
@@DaLULZ8 you'd be surprised, it gets very chilly there in the winter
In every single house in the middle east there is this "heat pump " that you call , it's just an ordinary air conditioner why call it a heat pump. Noting that you don't need to warm your room in the winter in the middle east but everyone has this "heat pump" and everyone uses it in australia , India , Asia, Northern Africa so I'm so surprised that Americans are just realising that there is something called a "heat pump" (it's just an air conditioner)
Didn't realize they were so important for the climate. I've had them in my home since we moved and we also have solar panels for electricity and water heating.
It still surprises me that heat pumps are so rare in the US. In New Zealand, and other Commonwealth Countries, we call the AC/Heat Pump combo the AC, and we just assume that you get one with the other. Then I heard that in the US, where AC is really common, but heat pumps aren't, and it made no sense to me at all, considering you already had the mechanics installed to make it possible.
This video made zero sense. Is a heat pump more efficient than an AC? Is the benefit of heat pumps simply that you can use them in both situations because you won't need furnaces? If most of the world is getting hotter, won't take also lead to milder winters leading to lower heating costs? You can survive in most of India without heaters because it is a generally warm country and the winters are mild. So in that sense, giving people the option to both heat and cool, won't it lead to more people using it just for the sake of it? Thereby increasing carbon emissions? NOT TO MENTION THAT YOUR FURNACES ARE 100's of times MORE ROBUST than any heat pump device that will NEVER last more than a few years, much less decades, leading to more and more production of devices so your argument that you're future proofing your home doesn't hold water either. What was even this video? Are you people all right in the end? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE VIDEO PLEASE EXPLAIN.
@@Chad.Commenter I didn't make the video my dude
@@Chad.Commenter an ac is a heat pump, can either pump heat out in order to cool or pump it in to warm. It's much more efficient at heating than directly heating via heating element or natural gas. If you're interested, there is a video by the channel "technology connections" that does a much better job of explaining.
@@straightasarainbow5344 It's more that most installed AC in the US doesn't have the ability to reverse the direction of the regigerant - ie the condenser becomes the evaporator and the evaporator becomes the condenser.
We could do that in the USA, but that would make TOO much sense.
Heat Pumps have been the norm here in Aotearoa New Zealand for 15-20 years now. They definitely have benefits over traditional heaters - but you need to point out that they’re pretty inefficient if your home isn’t well insulated. Wall insulation and double glazing work to keep the warm or cold air in and dramatically reduce the energy required by the Heat Pump to be effective. So yes while it’s great other places are catching up, being aware of the best situations for them is the best way to address climate and energy concerns.
The heat pump can be ineffective if the insulation is bad, but it will always be more efficient than burning fossil fuel
@@MateusHokari a properly isolated traditionally heated place can easily be more efficient than a badly isolated heat pumped place.
OP is not exhagerating. Double glazing and properly isolating your roof can especially make a huge difference!
I am not sure what "double glazing" means - is it just that window has two layers of glass? Cause if thats it, its nothing new. Heck, the windows in my vintage apartment that are 100 years old have two layers of glass (but in this case they are basically double windows - you open one, and there is second behind it). And the two glass sheets integrated in one frame has beed the standard here for decades, I would say that probably since 1950's. Nowadays the optimal cost/performance window will have 3 sheets of glass, and if you really want to have extreme heat efficiency without regard for the cost, you can get a window with 4 layers of glass. Are there really places in the world, where a window just has one layer of glass and thats it? Sounds very XIX century...
@@owennilens8892 If the point is to first make sure there is good insulation, then you're right.
This video made zero sense. Is a heat pump more efficient than an AC? Is the benefit of heat pumps simply that you can use them in both situations because you won't need furnaces? If most of the world is getting hotter, won't take also lead to milder winters leading to lower heating costs? You can survive in most of India without heaters because it is a generally warm country and the winters are mild. So in that sense, giving people the option to both heat and cool, won't it lead to more people using it just for the sake of it? Thereby increasing carbon emissions? NOT TO MENTION THAT YOUR FURNACES ARE 100's of times MORE ROBUST than any heat pump device that will NEVER last more than a few years, much less decades, leading to more and more production of devices so your argument that you're future proofing your home doesn't hold water either. What was even this video? Are you people all right in the end? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE VIDEO PLEASE EXPLAIN.
As an HVAC technician I can definitely tell you heat pumps are super in efficient in northern climates
Hi. I’m from Maine. We’ve been using heat pumps around here for YEARS. I remember hearing about them at least 15 years ago. They’re everywhere.
Technology Connections fans were ready to shout “heat pump” at the start of this vid lol
They have these everywhere in New Zealand (used mainly for heating) and in the Philippines (for cooling). They're amazing
They have heat pumps for cooling….. you mean an AC?
@@cat2556 tomato tomato
This video made zero sense. Is a heat pump more efficient than an AC? Is the benefit of heat pumps simply that you can use them in both situations because you won't need furnaces? If most of the world is getting hotter, won't take also lead to milder winters leading to lower heating costs? You can survive in most of India without heaters because it is a generally warm country and the winters are mild. So in that sense, giving people the option to both heat and cool, won't it lead to more people using it just for the sake of it? Thereby increasing carbon emissions? NOT TO MENTION THAT YOUR FURNACES ARE 100's of times MORE ROBUST than any heat pump device that will NEVER last more than a few years, much less decades, leading to more and more production of devices so your argument that you're future proofing your home doesn't hold water either. What was even this video? Are you people all right in the end? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE VIDEO PLEASE EXPLAIN.
@@Chad.Commenter Wrong, 4x leverage of ambient heat for free
@@Chad.Commenter Wrong, 4x leverage of ambient heat for free
Heat pumps have been a thing in the US for a while, you see them in office buildings and apartment complexes pretty frequently.
i watched the video and was wondering if it was maybe only in my state.
Exactly. It's as if someone with little knowledge on the subject or it's history just learned it exists, decided this was a new thing about to be big, and made a video.
Im honestly surprised people didnt know about this, I live in Sweden and we have used one since like 2010 or something like that.
We have only had to fix it once during those 11 years, although we dont use it often as we heat our home in other ways aswell, cooling system works perfectly btw
I live in the US and every house in my neighborhood, built in the 1970’s, has these. A lot of older homes do rely on gas powered heating as well as some newer ones who want to keep electric bills low and just love the aesthetic of the gas stove. However, the pump is definitely very common here. I would add though, that even with the benefits of having this type of cooling over gas methods, having ceiling fans throughout your home makes a huge difference. If you can keep air circulation wherever you happen to be, your need for very low temp settings is greatly reduced and ceiling fans take waaaay less energy to run.
I would not call a Heat Pump revolutionary, they have been around for decades.
Let the Americans think they are on to something new, it makes them feel better.
@@TwoPlusTwoEqualsFive32 I didn't know about heat pumps to be honest.
Here in the Philippines we have them since I was child. I am now 25.
@@TwoPlusTwoEqualsFive32 I live in America and our house has had a heat pump since 1982. I think it's the northeastern US that is behind and still using heating oil
Im not sure if you did, but op deleted my comment calling him out lol
Thanks for watching! This is the fourth of five videos we're putting out this week and next about climate coverage. You can watch the previous one (about the indigenous practice that could help save our forests) here: th-cam.com/video/0o6ezu_h6iE/w-d-xo.html
ok
So sad you omitted the efficiency numbers in the video. The heat pump, or called reverse cycle air conditioner in some parts of the world, usually has a coefficient of performance (COP) at about 300%.
So you use 1 unit of energy to move 3 times of the heat indoor. About the same for cooling as well.
TH-cam channel Technology Connections did a great and very detailed video on these.
Climate change doesn't exist
I installed a small heat pump in my office in the summer of 2020, anticipating work-from-home to continue for quite a while. It allowed me to ditch the room heater (an electric oil-filled radiator, somewhat efficient since al the heat was generated directly in the room) and I didn't need to buy a window air conditioner. What's not mentioned here is just how quiet these are in operation - it's not like a cheap motel air conditioner that's rattling on in the background for hours on end but instead there's a whisper quiet fan blowing cold (or warm) air into the room with minimal fuss.
The other issue touched on is efficiency - the SEER rating of a heat pump can be 18 with some units well above 20. Window air conditioners can have SEER ratings as low as 10 for the cheap ones to 15+ for the better units.
I have one in a very good insulated A frame camper. Excellent in the summer, not so good when temperatures are
40* or below. I just try to keep the temperature around 60* inside in the winter. Yes I can warm it up higher, it’s comfy for me. I have been in Texas at 20* for a week.
I grew up in the US where heat pumps are popular. I didn't know they were considered uncommon. 🤔 I think they are freaking awesome.
As a cheer building engineer located in Canada I can guarantee swapping furnaces in Canada is hard to do with heat pumps. Especially in places where you have a lot of days below freezing point. But a lot of the world can adopt it.
Heat pumps can still extract heat from the air below 0 degrees. Mine can still heat my home at -20 C. Some can heat at -27C. Water freezing doesn't mean there is no heat that can be extracted from the air.
@@alexviau6950 one of my
Building we had one and on -27 days or below we would struggle. The way we fixed it is by not removing boilers in the building and use them to supplement as cost was not an issue being environmentally cautious was the priority. I have worked with other clients where budget is tight it’s hard to recommend both a boiler and heat
Pump.
@@Thebreakdownshow1 well for tougher climates you just need the heat pump that uses other source of heat than external air. Like the ground source - not so deep underground you can expect pretty stable +4C even in harsh winters. This is sometimes called as 'shallow geothermal' energy.
@@TheBlobik I agree there are options it's the added cost that makes it harder in certain applications.
@@Thebreakdownshow1 bro all you need is a 98% gas furnace with an evap coil and heat pump, set temperature parameters to say -5 and thus locking out the heat pump and using gas furnace only
The first map looks odd. Shows Buenos Aires as cooling free, when temperatures during summer normally exceed 35C up to 40.
It's all relative ig.
In countries like India, we have temperatures in winters upto 35°C.
And in Summers upto 49°C on average.
Here a 35-36° is considered a very pleasant temperature.
The map shows places with heating and cooling. Does Buenos Aires require heating systems?
@@AmandaComeauCreates Absolutely. Ive never been to a house without AC in Buenos Aires, its unbearable during summer
@@thebestevertherewas Sure. I just wanted to point out that Buenos aires does require AC, specially because of the combination of high temperatures and humidity
@@faramhit1326 yeah I agree.
Absolute Temperatures don't account for Humidity.
When you can't sweat to cool off, it feels much hotter than it is.
Aircon serviceman is the job of the future.
Expect a huge under-supply in the specialists.
BTW: Greetings from Europe, where heat pumps are popular. So weird to see Americans discover them just now, lol.
In Austraila, and am a fan of Heat pumps also... even at the 2500-5000AUD price.
If will be cheaper buy a new one than pay for a person to fix an old high consume air conditioner
It has much to do with policy
like the metric system?
I do HVAC in USA. Heat Pumps been around for years now. Most popular unit we sell. Heat pumps don't heat near as good as Gas or Wood though. When the temperature drops below 32 it pulls very little heat out of the air to warm your house. Not very effective when super cold
I’m in the US and have a “split unit AC” that can both heat and cool. I already have a heat pump then, correct?
If you don’t have gas/propane/oil that you’re paying for, then probably. Some homes have baseboard electric heat though, which gets expensive fast
Yes, you have a heat pump.
I've done my part to replace every non-heat pump condenser unit with heat pump units at every senior living and apartment communities I have worked for the last 5 years. I am shock that this is just now coming to light after my 12 years of knowing about them. As long as you have two stage heating (use of electric coils) your golden.
Ah I bet they were “inspired” by technology connections” here. For the uninitiated, Technology Connections in a kickass TH-cam channel.
LUV IT
Why were they inspired by that channel? I agree it's a good channel, but heat pumps are 200 years old. Also, whatever they were inspired by, this is a much crappier video than Vox usually puts out.
It's interesting how different people call it. We Vietnamese call it the "cooling machine" in our language and we learned to call it "air conditioner" in English classes. Then, going to the West, I've only heard people calling it the "heat pump." So confusing...
An air conditioner is, cooling only. A heat pump reverses its piping with a reversing valve, and gives you heating
Viet here, I thought about the same thing when I was young. After working in the industry for awhile, you can classify them like so: heat pump (has reversing valve that transfer the hot gas in or outdoor to extract or remove heat; air condition - cool only. In addition, in the trade we have evaporative cooling (water), cooler, chiller to achieve different aspect of air conditioning.
Hey man, if you come to Australia, it's an air conditioner (edit: a 'reverse cycle air con', as in it can also heat). I guess if you go to a country that's generally cold, it might be called a heat pump. I know an english guy who still calls it a heat pump.
@@Sayntavian yes i agree it should be called air conditioner too.
This video made zero sense. Is a heat pump more efficient than an AC? Is the benefit of heat pumps simply that you can use them in both situations because you won't need furnaces? If most of the world is getting hotter, won't take also lead to milder winters leading to lower heating costs? You can survive in most of India without heaters because it is a generally warm country and the winters are mild. So in that sense, giving people the option to both heat and cool, won't it lead to more people using it just for the sake of it? Thereby increasing carbon emissions? NOT TO MENTION THAT YOUR FURNACES ARE 100's of times MORE ROBUST than any heat pump device that will NEVER last more than a few years, much less decades, leading to more and more production of devices so your argument that you're future proofing your home doesn't hold water either. What was even this video? Are you people all right in the end? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE VIDEO PLEASE EXPLAIN.
Wait, this is about the ACs that both heat and cool a room right??
Yes, they reverse for heating
It is just like any other AC you see, but has like 3 valves that flip the freon (or whatever brand name) around.
Very old tech, just has more moving parts and is not practical in most areas in USA
Either it is too cold to use in the winter; or you don't get a winter and you don't need the heating aspect of it.
Many house in US still using gas or oil to heating a house instead of A.C. unit that can do both way and using pure electric.
Those heating method created emission at each household unlike the electric than can use electricity from green source like wind or solar.
@@LtZetarn green energy can,t do everything ! It supplies less than 10 % of total demand. Check out Mikey Moore documentary on green power.
@@MoonLiteNite you're very wrong
Here in coastal BC, Canada, folks this past summer started buying air conditioners at a truly unprecedented rate. Air conditioners were never a thing here until recently. Lots of elderly people died of heatstroke, and a few died in forest fires that ate small towns.
“Heat Pump” is NOT one of the worst names of all time. It explains exactly what it does: a heat pump moves heat energy from one place to another. Sometimes it’s pumping heat out of your home, sometimes it’s pumping heat into your home.
For the average consumer it is a bad name and companies know this, that's why they spend so much money on marketing.
Just to be clear, we do have them in the US. My home, my parents, my in-laws all have heat pumps... nothing new. I too was like "ummm?!" We just colloquially refer to it as "AC", maybe that's some of the confusion by the author of this video.
I'm in the US (New England area) and my apartment only got a heat pump maybe 6 years ago? We only learned about it because my town was pushing for a bulk discount. I'm sure it depends on where you live as to whether or not it's popular. (PS. it was advertised as a "heat pump".)
@@chewbaccazulu5908 Perhaps, I am in the Southeastern US, maybe they are just more popular/common here. My house was built in 1989 and when we moved in (2008) we replaced the existing heatpump system as it hadn't been properly maintained and was having issues. The one we replaced was original to the house in '89.
They are definitely marketed as "heat pumps" but everyone I know just calls it "AC" or just "the air". Like we just switched it over to heating mode and I asked my wife this morning, "Did you ever hear the air come on last night".
@@erilidon1 "the air" - I like that :)
And the place I live in was most likely built around 1910 so... a lot of updates need to be made.
They are popular in areas in USA where it gets kinda cold, but not too cold. And you need the cooling air as well.
If it gets too cold, heat pumps just don't work.
And if you live in a hot place that never gets cold, why have a pricey heat pump? Just get a one way heat pump (a normal AC) and save yourself tons of money.
@@MoonLiteNite Makes sense... and as a side note, when we purchased we made sure the house was all electric because the prices seem to be more stable, plus in hindsight, it's "greener" all that has to happen is the utility switch to clean energy and I'm automatically green, and they are slowly working on it, in my area at least. No more coal burning and they are phasing out natural gas for solar/nuclear.
But some houses still have gas (propane) heating as a backup, we have a (wood burning) fireplace that we've used twice when we've lost power in winter but other than that its comfortable in the summer and winter no issues.
Right now it's in heating mode but has yet to switch on as we have quite good insulation and new windows.
Fun fact: heat pumps are some of the rare things that are 200% or more efficient. Ie it does 2x+ more heating/cooling energy transfer than the electricity consumed by the unit.
Another fun fact: It is overall system efficiency that matters. The comparison that counts is the quantity of heat delivered to the target living area for each kilowatt-hour of electricity consumed. A portable oil-filled electric space heater (no fan) or -- for that matter -- conventional electric baseboard radiator -- is 100% efficient. That means that every kilowatt-hour of electricity is converted to 3,412.14 BTUs of heat -- or, if you prefer, 3,600 kilojoules.
It isn't possible to be more efficient than that.
@@thomasstambaugh5181 Actually yes you can with a heat pump for one simple reason you are not using the electricity to generate the heat, but instead merely using it to move the heat that already exists. You still need to use some energy to work against the entropy gradient like this but it is less than is needed to generate the same amount of heat. Thus how the COP is greater than 1 typically around 4-5 that is to say that while 1 kilowatt hour can only generate around 3,600 kilojoules it can be used to move 14,400-18,000 kilojoules of the heat already present outside into the living space. And yes even what we think of as cold air still has a lot of heat as even during cold conditions earths surface temperatures are relatively warm remember 0 C is already 273 K in absolute terms so there is still a lot of energy to play with there.
@@seraphina985 : Sorry, but I fear you miss the point. The COP of the heat pump is not the same as overall efficiency of the system that delivers that heat. In a split-cycle system like we're discussing, the heat pump is NOT moving heat "already present outside into the living space". It is instead moving it from the heatpump into a heat exchanger located in the same outside enclosure as the heatpump itself, where the heat is transferred to the transfer fluid. More heat is lost through the wall of the flexible lines that connect the exterior inverter to the wall unit. Another heat exchanger in the wall unit has to then transfer the heat to the room air. NONE of those components is 100% efficent.
As a thought experiment, consider a system that had no wall unit connected to it, and that merely circulated the transfer fluid in a large loop. That system would still have a COP of 400% at the heat pump -- and would deliver ZERO useful space heat.
The metric that matters is the energy delivered to the interior heating space divided by the total energy consumed by the system (and measured at the meter). That metric cannot be greater than 100%.
@@thomasstambaugh5181 you're completely wrong. You're not measuring efficiency correctly.
You absolutely can provide 7 kW of heating using 1 kW of energy.
It's not free energy, it's not breaking the laws of thermodynamics. You're mixing up available energy with total energy. Enough understanding to have confused yourself, but not enough to understand.
@@thomasstambaugh5181 you're wrong though.
HVAC/R technician here, the one downside inherent with air-to-air heat pumps is that as the outdoor temperature drops, they're SEER rating falls off a cliff. The colder it is outside the less effective they are.
That is why industry built AC with both heating and cooling functions at the same time, to combat SEER rating falls.
Unless you spend $$$ for a Mitsubishi Hyper Heat
They are useless below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
The great thing about heat pumps is there will always be places where heat is needed through the summer. If you have a water heater, clothes drier or a swimming pool, the heat you draw out from your house can go to those places instead.
In the winter you can draw heat from your fridge/freezers instead of having the rear element heating a small section of wall in your kitchen. Store heat from an oven when it's no longer in use etc etc.
If you have a robust enough system, you can move around your temperature differences to wherever you need them most around your home before you need to throw it in the ground or into the atmosphere.
I always imagine how it could be utilised in leisure centres, where a closed loop system could be used to draw heat out of a gymnasium using air-conditioning and the excess heat being used to supplement the heating of the leisure pool or spa area.
Air conditioning is a non-negotiable in Australia! 🥵 Usually people have the split-system aircon for both heating and cooling since city temperatures range from 0° to 45°C 😂
1:48 "Heat pump" is a more accurate name for any air conditioner. Whether you cool/heat depends on where you are "pumping" the heat
Exactly, either pumping heat energy in or out of your house.
Moving heat is more efficient than using an heating element (and also allows for cooling).
The difference between 'heat pump' and 'a/c' is that it doesn't have to be a conventional airconditioner, but instead if you source heat from ground (water) into the floor/radiators (water) it's more efficient and much more comfortable.
I think you guys kinda missed telling everyone how incredibly efficient these things are. They are almost 4-5 times times as efficient as regular electric heaters. Saying that if you put in 1000W it will give you 3-5000W of heating power back, because of how it takes the heat from the outside air and "pumps" it to the inside
The problem is really that the 4-5 times factor only works out in relatively mild climates.
The efficiency for heating goes way down if it is really cold outside to the degree that it will use only maybe half the energy compared to an electric heater or it will stop working completely.
If the electric power comes from natural sources such as gas this combines the overall efficiency to be less than heating directly with gas.
That is of course since the transformation of gas to electric power only comes with a 30-40% efficiency. So you end up with 2 x 30% = 60% or if it is so cold that the heat pump stops working you end up with only 30% (backup electric heating)
In most countries this will not be the case for alot of days in the winter but that depends onf where you live.
Combine this with a really high upfront installation cost and cheap gas prizes, high electric energy prizes and you see why it is not common yet in europe for example.
There are tiny things that seems surprisingly influential in this. Growing up in Shanghai China I'm more than used to those 'AC units' that basically ACs and heats within the same electric device. And now I'm in NYC, and increasingly a combined heating-cooling unit is very popular, whether it's a central, ductless mini-split (which is the most popular in Asia, Africa, Southern Europe where cooling is needed, as well as even Latin America, but kinda rare compared to others in America), or even through the wall (PTAC) units which for the AC part work very similar to a window unit. And for actual window or even portable units you can now buy ones that have a heating function. However what's kind of noticeable is that at least in most large rental complexes, it's actually still popular, even for the newly built buildings, to use electric AC AND hot-water based heating in the winter (which is usually based off natural gas), IN THOSE SYSTEMS that definitely CAN have a inversible heat pump, and hence use electric heat pump for both cooling and heating. And it seems to me that, a primary reason is that the rental market in NYC has an unspoken 'standard' on utility bills: tenants pay for AC while landlords pay for heating. And using the same electric heat pump would make that separation a lot more difficult. But that separation seems like a must, as especially when we are talking about large apartment complexes owned by corporations as landlords, they're neither willing to start taking the risk and start covering tenants' AC bills, nor are they willing to let the tenants pay for heating during the NYC's brutal winters. Even though either way they can adjust their rent so that essentially on average both parties are paying the same price.
They need "Green Leasing" where the bills are part of the lease and are minimized
@@worldchangingvideos6253 The problem is, it's rare. And enabling a major appliance to be more eco friendly usually is far from enough of a reason to implement such a big change
Pretty sure Co-Op City in the Bronx includes air conditioning in the rent.
@@NJRoadfan That's just co-op city though. Most NYC apartment doesn't. And neither does most other places' apartment. NYC is kinda unique from my experience to have landlord cover for heating cost. (Which is not mandated by law from what I know, but it has just become industrial standard).
@@davidfreeman3083 It's common in older apartment buildings in NJ too. Many older buildings had a central heating system with a boiler in the basement. It would be impossible to individually bill people for heating in that case, so they just tack it on the rent. The same for water in many buildings as well.
I can tell you we have lots of heat pumps in New Brunswick Canada. We had several weeks in the 95f to 110f (or 35c to 42c). In the winter, some days will be often be colder than -35f or -35c so we still require an alternative heating source for some days but that is only for about 1 month at the most in the year.
Mechanical engineer here - the target market for air source heat pumps are climates zones with relatively mild winters (i.e. the entire sun belt of the US). The nominal efficiency or COP of a heat pump can be as high as 4.0. This means 4 units of heat out for every unit of energy in. Compare that to a boiler or furnace that burns at 80% efficiency (COP = 0.8) and you see that heat pumps can be 5x as energy efficient.
The problem with heat pumps is the derating of performance when it gets truly cold outside. It becomes difficult for the outdoor unit to extract heat from the air when it gets below 20F outside. Manufacturers have made improvements in this area and many manufacturers certify performance at very cold outside temperatures. Mitsubishi calls it "hyper heat." Other less conventional heat exchangers mentioned in the video such as "ground-source" or "water source" perform better in seriously cold weather.
Overall, I definitely see us moving away from fossil fuel furnaces and boilers in the coming years. Heat pumps are not a new technology and it is a great option for any new construction or renovation in the Sun belt or West Cost. I enjoyed those maps showing the projected cooling need over time.
Great starter video. Here’s the challenge and maybe a good follow on video: if heating is electrified we would create a new winter peak demand, massively increasing the need for energy storage. New technologies might be necessary to avoid this unintended consequence. Also, there is a significant difference between natural gas costs and electricity costs, which is not made up with increased efficiency. How to get heat pump adoption without increasing heating costs is a major challenge. On the edge of the conversation is green natural gas and hydrogen for heating. There is an opportunity to use the existing natural gas infrastructure to deliver natural gas produced from renewable excess capacity. This field is fertile ground for revolutionary highly impactful solutions.
One of the thing that it's now as efficient in heating as traditional sources. How much money do you need to keep you house warm when outside is -15 Celsius (5°F)?
You can't use a heat pump when it's that cold you must use LPG in those extreme temps
In those cold temps you the air handler will use a heating element to heat up homes if the temperature outside is at or below freezing.
In India when most families think of an AC, we think of a Window AC or Top AC (what you would call Heat Pumps). Indians call American ACs "Centralised AC"
Top AC matlab split AC??
@@sephorapiano9602 yes sorry
we also call it centralized AC in the US. Not everyone has it. Many people only have window units
The title of this video on Opposite Day:
“Why coolers are the future of heating”
I work in the HVAC industry for 12 years. And back the Heat Pumps were limited to only warmer climates and if used in cold climates they needed a means to boost their heating capability. Now, there are full high-rise luxury apartments in NYC going up with full VRF Heat Pump condenser farms. The technology clearly has gotten better in the past 12 years of me being in this career.
I’m so confused, we across Pakistan and other South Asian countries have been using these for years. We just call them Reversible ACs…
Yeah but americans didn't know about them until now. And now that they do, they are the "hot new trend", and naturally at somepoint they'll say they invented it.
@@alaric_ this videos was made by People who live in Cali, even the most common things are revolutionary to them.
Vox: The demand for Air conditioning is going to sky rocket and that's alarming.
Meanwhile Stock market guys: Buy AC stocks...
This video made zero sense. Is a heat pump more efficient than an AC? Is the benefit of heat pumps simply that you can use them in both situations because you won't need furnaces? If most of the world is getting hotter, won't take also lead to milder winters leading to lower heating costs? You can survive in most of India without heaters because it is a generally warm country and the winters are mild. So in that sense, giving people the option to both heat and cool, won't it lead to more people using it just for the sake of it? Thereby increasing carbon emissions? NOT TO MENTION THAT YOUR FURNACES ARE 100's of times MORE ROBUST than any heat pump device that will NEVER last more than a few years, much less decades, leading to more and more production of devices so your argument that you're future proofing your home doesn't hold water either. What was even this video? Are you people all right in the end? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE VIDEO PLEASE EXPLAIN.
We are already having shortages on a/c units
Midea: yeahhhh
We have had these for decades in New Zealand! We also call it a reverse cycle air conditioner. In fact, right now I'm sitting under my Fujitsu Nocria 7.5kw heatpump, it's 10 degrees outside, but a nice 21 inside.
Here in Australia (well, Victoria at least) we call them Reverse Cycle Air Conditioners.
Indicating that if you reverse the cycle, they make you warm instead of cold.
For those in the land down under, we call this Split Systems, and we've been using them for sometime now.
Lol, I was so interested only to realize after the video that literally every AC unit in my country has been a "heat pump" for decades. Some homes also have wood/gas furnaces but a "heat pump" is the default here and it's not expensive at all.
My country is not incredible but jeez does the US have some major evolution to do especially as the world's biggest economy.
Where is "here"?
@@Anthony-hu3rj Israel
Yeah this is pretty common in Spain too. They're called inverters here, since you 'invert' flow of heat when changing modes. *shrug* US discovering 21st century I guess. ;)
In the US most homes have central air, and not individual units.
@@seanthe100 You can install reverse cycle air conditioners in a central location (often called ducted reverse cycle).
I expected China has a higher demand for cooling as their entire city has air conditioning for literally every single room instead of just a singular air conditioning system.
You mean Cold bombs?
True, and also that is why the big cities in many large asian cities create a so called urban heat island.
@@x64emulator that Phenomenon predated China’s recent economic Modernization. It’s not exactly the air conditioning alone that is hitting up the cities.
Usually you’ll be expecting each bedroom and living room to have each air-conditioning of their own. But you definitely see Chinese households being a little bit reluctant on the usage of heating or cooling facilities due to High energy consumption. You definitely observe the creation of different types of related home appliances that almost achieve similar purpose at much lower energy consumption
I feel like my technologies are getting connected...
Just replaced my 30 year old heat pump with a newer model, absolutely love it. Most heat pumps have electric coils in the air handler as backup for those super cold days and to preheat the air, also for emergency heat should your compressor or condenser go out.
We’ve had a heat pump installed on my home this week, here in the UK. Best decision, especially with the government grants supporting the costs.
I like how we focus on such minor things as acs but dont worry that a patch of asphalt emits as much as building a car
There is a few companies working on alternatives
I see you're just regurgitating what you saw in the newest Kurgzgesagt video in order to sound smart, but you forgot the part where they mention that heating residential homes produces more emissions than all cars combined.
Such revolutionary technology... that pretty much every Japanese home/apartment has been using for the last 25 years if not longer
Omg the shade, we get it the US is a bit late on the uptake 😭💀
For public transportation as well, now that i think about it
i live in pakistan and the thing they are calling HEAT PUMP is called SPLIT AC here and it consumes way less energy than normal ACs..
split ac has been used for a much long time
they're calling it either INVERTER or REVERSE CYCLE AIR CONDITIONING for this technology
Please, do explain how it consumes less energy.....
It is it the SAME thing as a normal 1 way heat pump (AC system). It has a few extra valves and a relay timer. It by no means use LESS energy to cool the same BTU.
@@MoonLiteNite A normal AC will usually not have a BTU as small as a mini-split. So it uses more electricity.
i just moved into an apartment that has one of these. They are amazing!. im still waiting for the summer though to see how cool they keep the rooms but im sure it works just as well as a window ac
As an old HVAC technician I support this message ;)
Ah, someone watches Technology Connections.
Wait, what? This isn't close to revolutionary unless you made the video a couple decades back 😂
Cam.. 40 years ago
My parents house was built in the 80’s and it had a heat pump didn’t know they revolutionary either.
the best part is how efficient heat pumps are at heating, for every one unit of electricity input, you get 3-4 times the heat output!!
I install mini splits all the time here in Arizona, they work great
I'm an hvacr tech, I like working on heat pumps =)
I have never heard of a heat pump, that's a reverse cycle air conditioner to me. I also didn't realise there are parts of the world that don't need both heating and cooling.
Here in Ontario Canada electricity cost 3x gas. The answer can't be raising the price of gas, (although I get it) it has to be electrical heating priced at a lower rate so that it can be implemented economically.
Vox videos, so well made that I get hooked up from the very first seconds! There are so interesting, keep it up guys. Ok I'm back to watching.
In Maryland we have used a whole house heat pump since 1982. My house in Texas also used a heat pump. In Azerbaijan, we have the wall heat pumps. Didn’t know they weren’t popular
I live north of Seattle and was so happy to have ductless heat pumps in my house during the heat wave. Our first year in this house I was told by the propane guy it might last a month during winter and at $450 to refill, I wasn't going to spend that on heating. I almost exclusively used my wood stove. The next year we got heat pumps installed. They are the way to go.
I'm amazed that the efficiency comparison was left out in this video. Heat pumps are ~4 times as efficient as traditional AC or heaters. That means reducing energy usage to 25% of today's methods. It also tends to use cleaner power to run, meaning and even better save for the climate
This video made zero sense. Is a heat pump more efficient than an AC? Is the benefit of heat pumps simply that you can use them in both situations because you won't need furnaces? If most of the world is getting hotter, won't take also lead to milder winters leading to lower heating costs? You can survive in most of India without heaters because it is a generally warm country and the winters are mild. So in that sense, giving people the option to both heat and cool, won't it lead to more people using it just for the sake of it? Thereby increasing carbon emissions? NOT TO MENTION THAT YOUR FURNACES ARE 100's of times MORE ROBUST than any heat pump device that will NEVER last more than a few years, much less decades, leading to more and more production of devices so your argument that you're future proofing your home doesn't hold water either. What was even this video? Are you people all right in the end? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE VIDEO PLEASE EXPLAIN.
Yea but it takes longer
Heat pumps use the exact same tech as ACs. They're 5x more efficient than standard electric radiative heating.
“Revolutionary”?
We have these for decades in nearly every Turkish home.
What ever is new for americans, it's "revolutionary" and they invented it because they are 'murica.
@@alaric_ LOL these aren’t new here they just don’t make much financial sense because fossil fuel prices are kept so low here. Once natural gas becomes more expensive in the US they will become more popular.
In French we call them "Thermopompe" (Thermopump) which is a more accurate name.
Much better name.
Thanks for promoting heat pump (or what industry called two way AC), this product has been in market for such a long time but due to pre war building limitations like places in EU applications has been limited.
These high historical valued buildings still using radiator (with boilers) due to existing pipelines which are difficult to replace.
Hence, Air To water came in place to replace boilers.
You may explore how industry has evolved.
The heat pumps work really well to both heat and cool. In Nova Scotia, Canada they are being installed in homes and businesses with incentives from our government. TH-cam is giving tons of ads about installing them. They work. They are easy to use. if you are thinking about getting one. Do it.
The problem is here in the Midwest US, I can get a furnace for my whole house for half the cost of an efficient heat pump (that maintains its efficiency in below freezing temps) for my 300sqft finished attic.
3:32 so many of the richer countries are in this....
it doesn't show my state as needing both but i want to see them stay in my house when it's -1c without heating.
Next episode: Americans discoverig the wheel.
you should make that video
“Revolutionary device” 😂. This is just Americans discovering electric kettles all over again. We’ve had heat pumps (and electric kettles) in New Zealand for decades.
Heat pumps have been around the U.S. for years now this video is just poorly made
Thanks Hitachi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for my expensive inverter ACs lol.
Using 5 big inverter ACs in Philippines and only paying less than $100 a month for almost 24/7 @24c cooling in 33-35c ambient temp.
It pays to invest in really good air conditioners.
A key point is missing here: HVAC contractors are the key. Most of them in places with reasonably cold winters aren't comfortable with heat pumps, therefore they seldom even offer them. If a consumer proposes them, they are likely to be talked out of it by a reluctant HVAC contractor.
The best solution for this is indeed policy: pay the HVAC manufacturers to stop making one way air conditioners and only make two way heat pumps. A heat pump and an AC are the same piece of equipment, the heat pump just has a few extra parts. The wholesale cost difference between them is about $300-500. This would cost about $10 billion over 7 years, pocket change at the federal level.
Then everyone gets a heat pump and gets used to the technology, even if it is paired with a furnace (which is likely for the next 5 years at a minimum.) At the next replacement heat pumps won't be a foreign concept.