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Re:Heat Pumps – The Well-Tempered Future of A/Cs by mason55 on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @05:42PM (#36607570)
> Then, what's the point? If you still have to have gas lines and infra, just use the gas. It's vastly cheaper.

A) Not everywhere

B) Heat pumps can be powered with solar, reducing costs even if your gas would normally be cheaper

C) Some people are willing to spend a little more if it helps push electrification forward, for environmental reasons

Re:Heat Pumps – The Well-Tempered Future of A/Cs by Alupis on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @05:48PM (#36607637)
> Some people are willing to spend a little more if it helps push electrification forward, for environmental reasons

It's not a little more though, that was the point. In my area, California, it's about 4x more. Gas here is so cheap, it's almost free.

Anecdotally, I don't know anyone who's opted into the "green energy" plans offered by the area's utility providers - because they all cost a lot more than regular.

People talk a lot - but their bank account dictates their actual decision making. Running a heatpump seems very expensive for a lot of the country, with negligible gains.

Natural Gas isn't exactly what we would call "dirty"... seems like a min-max issue, with people forgetting there's still areas burning coil and oil for electricity production.

> Heat pumps can be powered with solar

Not in the dead of winter you can't... not everyone lives in big cities folks, and where it snows, it gets quite cold.

Re:Heat Pumps – The Well-Tempered Future of A/Cs by ThatPlayer on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @08:41PM (#36609380)
Lots of places are looking into phasing out natural gas though. California gives you rebates for heat pump water heaters and there's plenty of discouragement to block new gas appliances and hookups.

There will be a feedback loop once that really starts: individual prices go up because infrastructure costs remain the same. Once natural gas prices go up, people will switch to more efficient appliances, or switch to electricity. Forcing prices to go up some more to make up for infrastructure costs.

At some point running a heatpump will be cheaper than maintaining a natural gas hookup in your house. And that will just make it more expensive for everyone else until they do the same.

Re:Heat Pumps – The Well-Tempered Future of A/Cs by frumper on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @05:47PM (#36607615)
I tend to need heat when the sun isn't warming everything up.
Re:Heat Pumps – The Well-Tempered Future of A/Cs by zamalek on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @05:55PM (#36607721)
D) Carries the risk of killing you with CO.