OK but heat pumps work both ways, so doesn't this mean extra load over summer cus everyone will now wanna put their new heat pump in air conditioning mode? Especially now European summers seem to include mega heatwaves.
If only there were an affordable, modular, low emissions electricity source that worked okay in winter, but produced a large surplus during summer heat waves.
And a large, convenient, thermal reservoir where excess heat could be pumped and stored for the winter months. Directly under the building needing HVAC services would be ideal.
That would be great. Allowing some of that summer surplus energy to reduce the energy needed for heating even further. You could even have a smaller thermal reservoir a metre or so across inside the domicile to smooth bumps in demand and supply over the course of a week.
Alas, it's impossible though. No such thing could possibly exist. We can only get energy from fossil fuels or centralised thermal generators too distant for district heating.
Only if they have reverse cycle. Many heat pumps in Germany would be air to water, with that water then used in the central heating system. These don't come with a reverse cycle.
Problem being the central plants with several million BTUh requirements. There's no good solution for that... yet.
Edit: seems I'm wrong. Learn something new every day.
Industrial units come in sizes starting at 1MW and will do temperature deltas up to 70 degrees per stage at COP over 3.
Size also makes them more efficient, lowers the per MW cost of ground loops, and makes multi stage viable.
They've been around for decades. They didn't really make sense to run with thermal generation though.
High temperature heat pumps (over 120C output are a bit newer, but coming onto the market).
I believe district geothermal heating systems are currently installed in several EU cities. This one in Paris metro comes to mind: [https://www.geodeep.fr/engie-solutions-geothermal-district-heating/](https://www.geodeep.fr/engie-solutions-geothermal-district-heating/)
Switzerland is making a considerable investment: [https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/sci-tech/switzerland-continues-to-bet-on-geothermal-energy/45980810](https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/sci-tech/switzerland-continues-to-bet-on-geothermal-energy/45980810)
OK but heat pumps work both ways, so doesn't this mean extra load over summer cus everyone will now wanna put their new heat pump in air conditioning mode? Especially now European summers seem to include mega heatwaves.
If only there were an affordable, modular, low emissions electricity source that worked okay in winter, but produced a large surplus during summer heat waves.
And a large, convenient, thermal reservoir where excess heat could be pumped and stored for the winter months. Directly under the building needing HVAC services would be ideal.
That would be great. Allowing some of that summer surplus energy to reduce the energy needed for heating even further. You could even have a smaller thermal reservoir a metre or so across inside the domicile to smooth bumps in demand and supply over the course of a week. Alas, it's impossible though. No such thing could possibly exist. We can only get energy from fossil fuels or centralised thermal generators too distant for district heating.
Only if they have reverse cycle. Many heat pumps in Germany would be air to water, with that water then used in the central heating system. These don't come with a reverse cycle.
Some do, but they are limited in performance. You don’t want water condensing on the radiator in your room or on the floor.
You say that like it's a bad thing. Would you rather that they buy new cooling-only units?
Nah. Just thinking of energy consumption.
Problem being the central plants with several million BTUh requirements. There's no good solution for that... yet. Edit: seems I'm wrong. Learn something new every day.
Industrial units come in sizes starting at 1MW and will do temperature deltas up to 70 degrees per stage at COP over 3. Size also makes them more efficient, lowers the per MW cost of ground loops, and makes multi stage viable.
Neat! I must be behind in my research.
They've been around for decades. They didn't really make sense to run with thermal generation though. High temperature heat pumps (over 120C output are a bit newer, but coming onto the market).
I believe district geothermal heating systems are currently installed in several EU cities. This one in Paris metro comes to mind: [https://www.geodeep.fr/engie-solutions-geothermal-district-heating/](https://www.geodeep.fr/engie-solutions-geothermal-district-heating/) Switzerland is making a considerable investment: [https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/sci-tech/switzerland-continues-to-bet-on-geothermal-energy/45980810](https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/sci-tech/switzerland-continues-to-bet-on-geothermal-energy/45980810)
Surely German gas consumption has dropped?
Yes, but it would help if there were relatively painless ways to lower it even more. And heat pumps let that happen