An article in the Home and Garden section of the New York Times "Time to Worry About Heat Bills" By JAY ROMANO (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/garden/24fix.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y) talks about a winter heating option that will save you money: electric heat pumps. With the price of gas and oil skyrocketing, the article reasons, an electric heat pump will be a money saver this winter and eventually end up "paying for itself."
But is it green?
Not if you're getting your electricity from the grid.
- Coal plants have an efficiency of about 31%; put another way, almost 70% of the energy contained in a lump of coal is lost as heat when it's burned at a coal plant.
- And along with that heat, tons of carbon dioxide are dumped into the atmosphere when the lump of coal is burned.
- And strip mining for lumps of coal leaves a mighty big footprint on the land.
I sure wish I could convince Henry Gifford to let me publish his manuscript on why heat pumps are not such a great idea.
--Dan Morrison is managing editor of GreenBuildingAdvisor.com
1 comment:
I think it was Amory Lovins who said that heating water with electricity is like cutting butter with a chainsaw and the sentiment applies to heating homes with electric heat pumps. But there is still a place for heat pumps in my homes that are primarily passive solar with serious insulation and solar/propane radiant heat in the floors.
They provide a great back-up heat source that also can provide air conditioning and dehumidification. It's the two in one functionality that makes them work in my homes.
Post a Comment