I've seen a few comments lately questioning heat pumps climate mitigation potential.

Here's a thread clearly up some confusion and debunking some myths.

🧵 #energytwitter
Myth #1 - Heat pumps use electricity and our grid runs on coal. So heat pumps emit more CO2 than gas furnaces.

This is a similar argument people make against EVs.

In both cases they are wrong.
It's true that most electricity in the US is generated with fossil fuels.

But heat pumps are 2-3x more efficient than gas furnaces.

The result is much lower emissions almost everywhere in the US.
A recent paper found that "Residential heat pumps reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 38–53% over a gas furnace."

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
But even in places with dirty grids, it makes sense to install heat pumps.

Why?

Because when you install a heating system you are locking yourself into that system for 15 years.
So maybe your grid is dirty now.

But over the next decade, as we build a 💩 ton of renewables, it is almost certainly going to be cleaner.

When you install a system that lasts 15 years you have to take that longer view.
Myth #2 - Heat pumps use hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) which offset any of the carbon reductions.

Again, not true.
I was actually worried about this for a long time.

Heat pumps, like AC units can leak HFCs, which are gases that warm the planet as much as 1000x faster than CO2.

Fortunately, the study I linked above looked at whether those leaks cancel out the CO2 reductions.
So what'd they find?

Even after factoring in HFC leaks, "Heat pumps reduce 20-Year global warming potential emissions by 53–67%."
Both of these critiques of heat pumps are valid in many respects.

We absolutely need to clean up our grid and build more renewables.

We need to build heat pumps without HFCs.
But when they are used as a reason to delay action, they stop being helpful.

Don't believe the myths.

We need to electrify everything AND power it all on zero-emissions electricity.

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More from @curious_founder

Apr 5
In the last few years heat pumps have become more popular.

And for good reason. They can save people money, cut carbon, and make your home more comfortable.

This week I wrote an article about how they actually work.

🧵 #energytwitter

carbonswitch.com/how-does-a-hea…
At the simplest level:

A heat pump is an appliance that can heat and cool your home.

But what makes these things so cool is the fact that they can do it 2-4x more efficiently than any other heating and cooling system.
For homeowners, that means utility bill savings of ~$700 per year and $10,000 over 15 years on average.

For our planet that means way less greenhouse gas emissions.
Read 9 tweets
Feb 11
In the last few years, there have been a lot of headlines like this:

"We have 10 years to prevent catastrophic climate change."

But what does that really mean?

Here's a thread with some charts that will hopefully help you understand it better.

🧵
But first, let's talk about some recent controversy related to all this:

A few days ago @GhostPanther, director of Don't Look Up, tweeted this:

A lot of climate scientists and researchers did NOT like that tweet.

They felt like it was inaccurate and hyperbolic.

Here's an example critique from climate scientist, @CColose.

Read 24 tweets
Feb 10
.@MaraKAbbott just wrote a great guide to induction cooking for @carbonswitch

Here's a thread with some takeaways and an explanation of why induction stoves are so awesome.

🧵 #energytwitter

carbonswitch.co/induction-cook…
First off, many people hear "electric cooking" and think coils and unresponsive ceramic stoves.
When we're talking about induction cooking, we're NOT talking about these things:
Read 23 tweets
Feb 4
There's a lot of misleading claims on the internet about heat pumps in cold climates.

Many people think they stop working below 30 or 40F

But heat pumps can work efficiently as low as -25F.

So here's a thread debunking 3 myths about cold-climate heat pumps.

🧵 #energytwitter
Before diving into the myths, it's helpful to understand how a heat pump works on a cold day.

While it might not seem like it, on a cold day there’s actually some heat in the air outside.

That's true until the temperature reaches absolute zero (–459.67°F)
A heat pump basically captures that heat and moves it into your home.

So rather than create heat directly by burning gas or electricity, it uses a little energy to run some gadgets that *move* heat.
Read 23 tweets
Jan 17
Wow, ~150,000 people read this thread on gas stoves.

Thousands of people said they had no idea. Many said they'd never buy a gas stove again.

Lesson learned: People care a lot more about their health than cutting carbon or saving energy.

For those working to #electrifyeverything this is so important.

Personally, I get caught up writing for and to the #energytwitter crowd too much.

Peak load this. Carbon intensity that.

The reality is that most people don't care about this stuff.
In home electrification, people care about:

- The health and safety of their family
- The comfort of their home
- A whole lot of other things...
.
.
.
- Saving some money on their utility bill
- More things
.
.
.
- And then cutting their carbon footprint.
Read 4 tweets
Jan 14
Well that thread certainly took off.

Lots of questions about ventilation, what monitor I used, and what you should do if you have a gas stove.

So here's... another thread 🧵

First, let's talk ventilation (i.e. range hoods, fans, etc).

The most common question I got was: "If I use my range hood am I safe?"

Yes and no.
All cooking -- whether you use gas or electric -- produces PM2.5 pollution.

Basically when you cook food, little particles that are smaller than a human hair start flying around your kitchen.

That stuff isn't good to breathe.
Read 16 tweets

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