[tomohawk]

We have a dual fuel heat pump / oil furnace set up. The heat pump is ok above freezing, but you can see the efficiency drop off starting at 40F.

Friday night, we had a several hour power outage as the temps dropped to 10F.

So, fired up the diesel generator (runs off the same fuel as the oil furnace) and had no problem heating the house. Our neighbors with their heat pumps spent a very chilly and uncomfortable night, which could have turned deadly had the power not been restored when it was.

Heat pumps require a considerably larger and more expensive generator, well outside of the reach of most people to buy and keep in good service.

Wood, gas, and oil are all much better than heat pumps in this regard, as even a solar battery can provide enough power so you can survive events like these.

Heat pump are good on average, but have really bad failure modes in this regard.