Interesting Links for 30-03-2024

[andrewducker]

1. Maersk is transitioning its fleet to methanol

(tags:globalwarming pollution shipping GoodNews )

2. Zimbabweans abandon plans to plug UK care gaps after changes to visa rules

(tags:UK Zimbabwe care immigration OhForFucksSake )

3. MSPs split over plans for rape trials without juries

(tags:Scotland rape law )

4. The Next Heat Pump Frontier? NYC Apartment Windows

(tags:heating technology newyork )

5. 16 million miles of England's bus routes axed since 2010

(tags:UK conservatives austerity buses transport OhForFucksSake )

6. Dundee seen through the lens of a 20,000 photo collage

(tags:Scotland photos )

Comments

[bens_dad]

4. Replacing an air-con unit with a heat pump is good.

I can see that putting thermostats on ducted-air vents will be more complicated than radiators, but the answer to over-heated south-facing rooms is not separate heaters in each room.

I do fear that moving away from a building-wide system is a mistake.
If the furnace is in the basement, ground-source heat pumps would be possible, though not cheap, and would use the summer heat in winter.

If the existing heat outlets/radiators are central, I hope they consider how the air-flows will change with the heat coming from the windows.

[bens_dad]

ground-source heat pumps ... would use the summer heat in winter.
and might make the outside a little cooler in summer too.

[adrian_turtle]

My grandpa used to say, "Shut the door! We can't air-condition the whole neighborhood?"

[bens_dad]

Ah. But when used as air conditioning waste heat from a ground-source heat-pump heats ... the ground, whilst a/c "exhaust" heats the air outside.

[andrewducker]

Oh yes, ground source heat pumps per building would be better. Or district heating might be even better. But both of those will cause significant faff in getting whole buildings to agree to them. So these might be useful in the meantime.

Totally agreed on the benefits of whole home systems.

[adrian_turtle]

I do fear that moving away from a building-wide system is a mistake

Zone heating is increasingly popular for fuel economy, with specialized thermostats and ordinary furnaces. The reasoning being that it's a waste of money/fuel to heat the bedrooms when nobody is using them. Or when everyone is upstairs in the bedroom and upstairs bathroom, you might as well keep the living room cool. What am I missing?

[bens_dad]

I do fear that moving away from a building-wide system is a mistake

Zone heating is increasingly popular for fuel economy, with specialized thermostats and ordinary furnaces.

That would still be a building-wide system.

The reasoning being that it's a waste of money/fuel to heat the bedrooms when nobody is using them. Or when everyone is upstairs in the bedroom and upstairs bathroom, you might as well keep the living room cool.

Agreed. It might still be more efficient to generate the heat centrally. Tradition says that economy of scale beats transmission losses, especially when you can use waste heat from some other process.

What am I missing?

With a heat pump, which usually has cooler "heat" fluid, it is significantly more efficient to keep a room warm than to reheat it when you want it warm.

Any heating or cooling system works best when the building is well insulated. If you turn the heat off in one room, then heat from the warm rooms around it will migrate to the colder room, so you are effectively heating the same space with fewer radiators or air vents. Or do you have well-insulated internal walls ?

Having said that, since heat pumps have cooler heat fluid, the transmission losses probably mean that they are not great for whole appartment blocks.