#8 Pumping Heat

When it’s zero outside we know it’s cold. But for scientists that is just beginning to get chilly — the real zero is 0 Kelvin or Absolute Zero, about 459 degrees below Fahrenheit 0! At that temperature, molecules pretty much stop giggling, although no one knows for sure because we haven’t gotten there yet. The point is that at anything above Absolute Zero, there is heat available.

A heat pump is like an air conditioner that can be run in both directions. It can either pump heat out or it can pump heat in (pretend it’s winter and heat is pouring out of your AC.) Heat pumps have long been popular in the south because they can both cool and heat a house. But below about 40F, these older units were not powerful enough to give very much heat. Then about 20 years ago, more efficient heat pumps were developed that can extract heat even from Maine’s cold winter air, down to -5F or below!

Heat pumps are important tools to fight climate change for two reasons:

• First, they run on electricity, and in the future we can make all our electricity without producing CO2. Burning oil or gas in your home furnace generates CO2 (almost 25 pounds per gallon of heating oil).

• Second, it is much more efficient to “pump” heat from outside air or ground water than it is to “burn” it in electric baseboard or space heaters. Heat pumps can even beat the most efficient gas furnaces.

There are many types of heat pumps, and they can pump heat from a variety of sources — too much to go into here. Suffice it to say that there is almost certainly a heat pump in your future, and the sooner the better! Heat pumps are another one of the climate “no brainers” — they save you money, make your home more comfortable, and fight climate change.

Things you can do:

• Don’t buy a new fossil fuel furnace! If we are to address climate change, we will have to stop burning gas and oil in our homes. A new fuel furnace will be obsolete long before it is worn out. Many areas are banning fossil fuel heating in new home construction: Canadian Broadcasting Corp

• You might be able to substantially reduce your CO2 output by installing a “mini split” heat pump, keeping your fuel furnace as a backup. Most states offer rebates for installing one of these amazing machines. Efficiency Maine Trust

• Read about how two women from Cambridge, MA have come up with an incredible idea for converting urban areas to pumped geothermal heat. Outsiders Sway Utilities

Thanks for reading, Doug Hylan, Brooklin, Maine

“As human beings, we are vulnerable to confusing the unprecedented with the improbable. In our everyday experience, if something has never happened before, we are generally safe in assuming it is not going to happen in the future. But the exceptions can kill you, and climate change is one of those exceptions.” – Al Gore