What is a heat pump?
A heat pump is a system that provides heat to your home or building, similar to a furnace or boiler, but without burning fuel. Heat pumps work through the same heat transfer process and largely the same equipment as that used in air conditioners. Air conditioners use a closed loop refrigerant system to remove heat from an interior space and release it outside a building. Heat pumps simply reverse the heat flow, removing heat from the outdoors and releasing it inside a building.
Even in lower ambient conditions, heat pumps are still able to capture heat and provide it to an indoor space. Most heat pumps also are reversible, so they can provide cooling or heating based on the seasonal need. This can be a part of a very efficient heating and cooling solution that transfers up to three times more energy than it consumes.
The environmental benefits are clear, and consumers are beginning to take notice. As the world shifts to a more sustainable mindset, what will it take to create more widespread use of this technology that has already paid dividends across the world?
Managing Temperature and Comfort, Efficiently and Effectively
A staple in Europe and Asia for decades, heat pump adoption is growing rapidly across all primary heating markets, including North America. The technology has traditionally been applied in milder climates, where the temperature does not drop below freezing for long.
Managing both temperature and comfort is a challenge facing any heating and cooling system. But it’s a challenge heat pumps can handle in climates around the world, as heat pump technology evolves. Consider Florida, where temperatures are hot and humid in the summer, but cooler in the winter.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Florida’s per capita residential electricity demand is among the highest in the country, due in part to high air conditioning use during the summer and the fact that about 90% of Florida households use electricity for heating. More Florida homeowners are turning to heat pump systems, due to their ability to deliver up to a 40% savings on energy bills without sacrificing comfort. In fact, nearly 40% of new system installs in Florida are heat pumps. And leading contractors like that heat pumps are both an easy sell and an easy install.
Beyond space heating, heat pumps also are used to heat water in commercial and residential buildings. Emerson’s products and solutions helped to usher in a new chapter in energy savings for Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) in Mumbai, India. As part of a pilot project, VJTI installed heat pumps in student hostels to generate 5,000 liters of hot water each day, while delivering up to 72% energy savings compared to traditional water heating systems.
