Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by jurgenburgen 33 days ago
> Solar panels + cooling + heating heat pump is the most logical combination as we are past the point of no return on global warming.

I’ve been feeling confused lately about the news that the far-right parties in UK & France want more AC and the left-wing complain it’s not solving the root problems.

Are people just not aware that heat pumps are a great solution for both heating and cooling, saving energy on heating during winter?
4 comments
ragazzina 33 days ago
> Are people just not aware that heat pumps are a great solution

In my European country, people struggle to buy houses, nobody is rushing to do a full house renovation.

Furthermore, the consensus is: heat pumps are great for a new home or a full renovation. Installing a heat pump with old-style radiators makes no sense, because the heat pump heats to a low temperature.

link
ZeroGravitas 33 days ago
That's mostly outdated info, modern heat pumps can heat to high temps. They are more efficient if run at lower temps but so are condensing gas boilers, which are the most directly competing technology.
link
rescbr 33 days ago
You can keep the radiators in place when using mini-split heat pumps..
link
ZeroGravitas 33 days ago
Tech to combine radiator based heat pump heating with cooling is relatively new to the market.

I would have assumed air-con was standard in new built homes in southern Europe and less so once you get to more northern places where the load is mostly heating.

Then there are refits, which add another dimension of cost and difficulty.

link
subscribed 33 days ago
Far right parties want more fossil fuels burning for cooling and heating (more coal, more gas, more oil, more water pollution).

And I think that parties saying burning more fossil fuels doesn't fix the problem, like, at all, aren't particularly wrong? And they're also the ones trying to push for more solar/wind energy generation and more heat pumps (that can heat in the winter and cool in the summer).

Not sure what you're trying to convey or where you're taking your data from?

link
petre 33 days ago
The leftists are free to sweat or freeze to the point of exhaustion then. Modern AC units with heat pumps are just great. I'm going to install one myself soon.
link