this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2024
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It's a lot better to burn the gas in a power plant, than at home. While it's less efficient, heating wise compared to direct heating, it allows for transitions. E.g. during the day, solar can carry the load. During spikes, or in the evening, a gas plant spins up and takes the load.
That changes further with heat pumps. Heat pumps do the (naively) impossible, they go past 100% efficiency. They are actually about 350% efficient. A simple heater makes heat, via resistance. A heat pump uses that energy to pull heat in, against the temperature gradient. The inefficiencies of the process just add extra heat.
This lets them match up to gas boilers, even with the inherent inefficiencies of a power plant and transmission. Add in renewables and heat pumps win, hands down.
Even if you don't add in renewables heat pumps still win. When there at or above 200% efficiency (coefficient of production) they use less gas at the power plant to produce the same amount of heat at your home. And most new models are able to maintain that level of efficiency down to -10c.