HEAT PUMPS

HEAT PUMPS

Context:

The US Department of Energy notes that for climates with moderate heating and cooling needs, heat pumps offer an energy-efficient alternative to furnaces and air-conditioners.

Why in news?

The Pacific Northwest has been dealing with a historic heat wave that has led people in the western parts of the US and Canada to consider buying air conditioners. Some of these people are buying them for the first time in their lives given more frequent heat waves in the last few years. But as people buy air conditioners to deal with harsher summers, there is concern about ACs not being environmentally friendly.

CONCEPT:

• It is much like a refrigerator; heat pumps use electricity to move heat from a cool space to a wam space. This makes the cool place cooler and the warm place warmer. Therefore, a heat pump does not create any heat or cool air, but it merely shifts air.
• For instance, if a heat pump is being used inside a room to make it cool, it will absorb the heat in the room and will release it outdoors with the help of an outdoor compressor. In heating mode, the heat pump will absorb heat from outside and release it indoors.
• There are mainly two types of heat pumps depending on the type of medium they extract heat from. One type extracts heat from the ground and the other from air.
• Heat pump does not generate heat or cold air, therefore it does not use fuel. However, a heat pump works more or less like a refrigerator and does use some amount of electricity to run. Therefore, a heat pump cannot exactly be called a renewable technology. But compared to ACs, they fare much better when it comes to impacting the environment.
• Heat pump can save costs for oil and gas. It estimates that using a heat pump can save a person up to £240 a year
• A ground heat pump requires outside space that should be double the surface area of the house. The ground has to be dug up to lay down the ground loop that contains the heat fluid
• The costs and savings that may come with heat pumps also depends on what the household is already using
• India, a tremendous amount of solar energy is available. The system combination of solar thermal collectors and heat pumps is a very attractive option for increasing the renewable energy usage at worldwide level for heating and domestic hot water preparation.