High Efficient Oil Furnaces As Cheap As Air Source Heat Pumps

Comment

Comment by Art Brigades on February 22, 2019 at 9:28pm

1.  This assumes 100% combustion efficiency and 100% distribution efficiency for the conventional fuels including oil, a major error.

2.  This assumes a COP of 2.7 for the heat pumps.

The efficiency Maine website does a far better job:

https://www.efficiencymaine.com/at-home/home-energy-savings-program/heating-cost-comparison/

Comment by Willem Post on February 18, 2019 at 10:40am

HEAT PUMPS

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/furnaces-for-heating-an...

 

The NE grid had emissions of 710 lb CO2/MWh in 2016, fed to grid. See note

Every 1 million Btu of electricity drawn from the NE grid has (1000000 Btu/3412 Btu/kWh) x (710/ lb CO2/MWh) x (1 MWh/1000 kWh) x 1.075, T&D = 224 lb/million Btu (electrical), at user meter.

Heat pump winter average COP = 2.2

CO2 per million Btu of delivered heat = 224/2.2 = 102 lb, i.e., only slightly better than gas  

https://www.iso-ne.com/static-assets/documents/2018/01/2016_emissio...

NOTE: 

- As Vermont is connected to the NE-grid, any electricity drawn from the grid is the grid mix, which likely would have a fossil fuel component, i.e., not some hypothetical, artificial “Vermont mix”.

- Electricity moves on the grid as electromagnetic waves at near the speed of light, i.e., from northern Maine to southern Florida, about 1800 miles in 0.01 second; the electrons migrate at about 1 inch/second. In fact, if electricity did not move that fast, no electric grid would work.

- To proclaim, without scientific proof, there is a “Vermont mix”, or a “New Hampshire mix”, or a "Maine mix" is beyond rational.

 

Table 1/Fuel	lb CO2/million Btu	Efficiency, %	CO2/million Btu of delivered heat	Ratio
Wood, old	213	75	284	2.53
Wood, new	213	Up to 85	251	2.23
No. 2 fuel oil, old	161	70	230	2.05
No. 2 fuel oil; new	161	Up to 83	194	1.73
Propane, old	139	80	174	1.55
Propane new, condensing	139	Up to 96	145	1.29
Natural gas, old	117	80	146	1.30
Natural gas, condensing	117	Up to 96	112	1.00
		Winter COP
Heat pump	224	2.2	102

Comment by Dan McKay on February 18, 2019 at 8:48am

Willem, they tell me Efficiency Maine only rebates ASHP with HSPF of 12 or above. How do the costs stack up for the high performance units ?

Comment by Willem Post on February 18, 2019 at 8:41am

McKay,

The Maine calculation is a hoax, gross deception to promote heat pumps.

It takes the electricity its price and devices it by the coefficient of performance of the heat pump.

18.5/2.7 = 6.85

It is highly likely the ANNUAL COP of the heat pump is about 2.0 to 2.2

A condensing propane or gas fired furnace would have an efficiency of about 95%

Older wood stove emits far more CO2 than gas, 284 vs 146 lb/million of usable heat.

Regarding heat pumps:

The NE grid had emissions of 710 lb CO2/MWh in 2016, fed to grid, or

1000000/3412 x 710/1000 x 1.075, T&D = 224 lb/million Btu (electrical), at user meter

Every 1 million Btu of electricity drawn from the NE grid, at user meter, has 224 lb of CO2

   

https://www.iso-ne.com/static-assets/documents/2018/01/2016_emissio...

 

Table 1/Fuel	lb CO2/million Btu	Efficiency, %	lb CO2/million Btu of usable heat	Ratio
Wood, old	213	75	284	2.53
Wood, new	213	Up to 85	251	2.23
No. 2 fuel oil, old	161	70	230	2.05
No. 2 fuel oil; new	161	Up to 83	194	1.73
Propane, old	139	80	174	1.55
Propane new, condensing	139	Up to 96	145	1.29
Natural gas, old	117	80	146	1.30
Natural gas, condensing	117	Up to 96	112	1.00

Comment by Willem Post on February 16, 2019 at 10:16pm

COMPARISON OF CO2 OF VARIOUS HEATING FURNACES  

 

The AFUEs of various furnaces and CO2 per million Btu of delivered heat are shown on table 2.

Wood has 2.53 times the CO2 emissions/kWh of natural gas

Wood toxic pollutants/kWh are about 1.67 times greater than of hard coal, because 1) coal combustion has slightly less lb CO2/million Btu and 2) coal power plants are much more efficient than wood power plants. See URLs.

 

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/is-burning-wood-co-2-ne... 

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=73&t=11

 

It takes about 50 years in moderate climates (North Carolina) to about 100 years in colder climates (Vermont) for the combustionCO2 of wood burning to be naturally reabsorbed.

 

The absorption has the shape of an S-curve, i.e., slowly increasing during the first 1/3, rapidly increasing during the second 1/3, and slowly increasing during the last 1/3 of the period; not much help if the world’s climate is to be prevented from falling off the cliff during the next 20 to 30 years.

 

NOTE: Any other CO2 associated with the A to Z chain (from embodied CO2, and CO2 due to managing wood lots, harvesting, O&M of the plant, and plant decommissioning) would never be absorbed, unless additional forest is set aside.

 

Inefficient heating systems should be banned within a certain time period.

High-efficiency propane and natural gas condensing furnaces should be promoted with incentives and new gas lines, etc.

High-efficiency wood stoves should be promoted with incentives.

 

Table 1/Fuel	lb CO2/million Btu	Efficiency, %	CO2/million Btu of delivered heat	Ratio
Wood, old	213	75	284	2.53
Wood, new	213	Up to 85	251	2.23
No. 2 fuel oil, old	161	70	230	2.05
No. 2 fuel oil; new	161	Up to 83	194	1.73
Propane, old	139	80	174	1.55
Propane new, condensing	139	Up to 96	145	1.29
Natural gas, old	117	80	146	1.30
Natural gas, condensing	117	Up to 96	112	1.00