Re:Finland starts much-delayed nuclear plant, brings respite...
by Sharlin on Sunday March 13, 2022 @11:31AM
(#30662092)
Yep, and cooling is rapidly becoming a problem comparable to heating; summers are getting hotter but Finnish construction norms are still all about keeping homes warm in the winter as opposed to cool in the summer. Few Finnish homes have AC, except for those that have two-way heat pumps. Portable AC units have been in very high demand in the past few summers due to heat waves that used to be exceptional but are quickly becoming the norm.
You can have tiny heat pumps in every home that share a district-wide pipe as a heat source, you can use giant/deep heat pumps to supply the district-wide pipe and you can do both at the same time. And heat pumps can also be used to cool things, returning heat into the system and allowing for big solar gains in windows, since the heat generated can be re-used when it's more than needed rather than wasted.