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- hackernews@lemmy.smeargle.fans
- cross-posted to:
- hackernews@lemmy.smeargle.fans
Oxford study proves heat pumps triumph over fossil fuels in the cold::Published Monday in the scientific journal Joule, the research found that heat pumps are two to three times more efficient than their oil and gas counterparts, specifically in temperatures ranging from 10 C to -20 C.
Under the conditions you describe, a hybrid setup will work best.
In a hybrid setup, the heat pump is providing most heat when it isn’t very cold, while the traditional heat source is providing heat on really cold days.
A few years ago, the temperature where the system would switch was 5 C. Nowadays it’s more like -10 C. As heat pumps get better, hybrid loses territory, so you could also just wait a few years and then switch.
Hybrid gives best of both worlds at the cost of added complexity.
If you have A/C then the cheap way to do hybrid is to keep the traditional heating system but use the A/C in heating mode on mild days.