Gas Absorption Heat Pumps Will Help Decarbonize Home Heating

抽象的

A new thermally driven heat pump technology on the market offers a potentially more cost-effective approach compared to 100% electrification in support of the energy transition. It economically tackles one of the toughest challenges in decarbonization—cool/cold climate building heat. With the lowest operating cost and carbon footprints in cool and cold climates, a gas absorption heat pump creates additional options for policy makers to overcome market barriers to widespread heat pump adoption and accelerate decarbonization. Energy system resiliency and reliability can be enhanced without requiring consumers to make difficult tradeoff decisions regarding cost, comfort, and convenience.

Reliable Heat to Keep us Warm in the Depths of Winter

This is an experience we often take for granted. As we advance efforts to decarbonize the economy, the methods by which heat is produced and delivered into our homes and businesses are being re-evaluated. As the people who experienced severe electric grid outages during the February 2021 cold-snap in Texas can attest, events can combine in unexpected ways to test and challenge our evolving heat-delivery systems. In North America, a diverse system of heating technologies has historically provided our winter warmth, utilizing electricity, natural gas, oil, and/or propane, depending on local resources and building owner preferences. Until we have a lot more clarity about the most effective, reliable and economic ways to decarbonize, which will likely differ regionally, it would be unwise to force people to abandon existing and proven energy systems, while leaving us only to rely on just one core method, which has yet to meet the challenge.

介绍

Residential heating represents 43% of all energy used in the average US home [1] and is a significantly higher proportion in cool and cold climates, as well as in Canada. Current discussions on electrification assume, in the face of extensive uncertainty (discussed later in more detail), that the electrical system can technically and economically develop all the required new generation, transmission, and storage assets required of a massive new load—that of winter heating via electric heat pumps (EHPs). This is on top of other massive new electrical loads also be contemplated, such as electric vehicles (EVs), artificial intelligence (AI), and cryptocurrency. At the same time, the vision would abandon or end any further development of another existing and paid-for energy delivery system (the gas pipeline and storage network), without considering how it might be transformed for the new era, which would put our energy resiliency and security at significant risk.

Technology innovation also has a way of surprising us, and new approaches are being developed that can achieve the best of both worlds (economics and environmental progress). One example, a gas absorption heat pump (GAHP), is now manufactured in Tennessee by Stone Mountain Technologies, Inc. (SMTI) and is one of several new gas heat pumps in or entering the market. A modernized version of a cycle developed more than a century ago for making ice, GAHPs use thermal energy (heat) to drive a thermodynamic process, instead of mechanical work powered by electricity. This approach is particularly effective for heating in cold climates, as well as for large, concentrated loads (such as commercial water heating). It offers the lowest delivered cost of heating and the lowest carbon footprint—today, not at some point in the future.

The long-term success of any technology that might reduce carbon emissions ultimately depends on customers’ willingness to buy and use it. For the roughly 150 million homes in North America, approximately 5 million purchase decisions are made every year regarding major heating and cooling projects. Heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) professionals understand that consumers mainly pay attention to three major factors: comfort, cost, and convenience (the “3-Cs”). Plus, these days, a fourth “C” (climate), is gaining importance as more people also consider the environmental impacts of their choices.

Read the full article 这里。

This article was originally published in the 国际能源管理杂志(IJSEEP Vol. 6, Iss. 6, 2024) by Scott Reed

Read more articles like this:
https://www.aeecenter.org/aee-news/empowering-female-engineers-initiative/
https://www.aeecenter.org/aee-news/coal-ash-utilization-and-agrivoltaics-for-a-sustainable-india/