this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2024
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Councillors in Canada’s coldest city are split on whether to phase out fossil fuels to heat buildings (thenarwhal.ca)
submitted 13 hours ago by Sunshine@lemmy.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca
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[–] n2burns@lemmy.ca 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

First is that gas heating can actually be more efficient than resistive electric heating depending on the power source.

Manitoba's electricity is almost exclusively Hydro.

So of your using gas to generate electricity to heat homes your actually better off just burning the gas for heat.

If you don't account for the environmental impact of the roughly 2% which is lost in transit.

Heat pumps can adjust this equation during moderate temps, being more than 100% efficient at moving heat, but during cold snaps we will still ned auxiliary heat.

That only applies to air-source heat pumps, and even then, they're constantly improving.

We would need to roughly triple the electric grid capacity to be able to take up the current winter heating demand.

Source? Also, as the population and the economy grows, energy sources are going to need to grow either way, so it might as well be electricity.

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world -1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

The expense for ground source heat pumps, especially in the city, would be ridiculous.

Heat pumps are great, but under -15C, they're really, really inefficient. And Winnipeg is very often much colder than that.

[–] n2burns@lemmy.ca 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Heat pumps are great, but under -15C, they’re really, really inefficient.

I think you're working off old data, or you're misunderstanding the article where they say air-source heat pumps start to lose efficiency at ~15°C. My unit, installed just over a year ago is rated for a COP of at least 1.72 at 0°F (-17.78°C) when the inside temperature is 80°F (26.67°C). And as I said, newer units are getting better and better.

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

I have a newer 23 SEER pump now, and it's pretty terrible at that temperature. The draw is approaching resistive at -20 and beyond that, well, don't even bother. If I compare costs to running my backup furnace past -15 vs the electricity costs to force it to work at that temperature, I turn off the heat pump.

Yes, for about 90% of the work these pumps do, they are efficient and cost effective, as well as cooling in the summer. But this blue-sky thinking that they can replace NG heating in places like the Canadian Prairies is a pipe dream at this time.