But how efficient is it? I don't see that info in the article.
I didn't spot any mention of voltage requirements for that so maybe it requires so high voltage that cause it to be a bit harder to actually use.
- Heat pumps typically achieve better than 100% efficiency, though at modest temperatures (slightly above ambient room temperatures), and would be better suited to most space-heating applications.
- The key achievement of the described technology is very high temperature applications, such as metals smelting, though what advantages the described tech has over existing electric arc furnaces (utilising graphite electrodes, cheap and abundant and capable of 3,000 °C temps) is less than clear.
except there are many types of heat pump in this world that routinely achieve well above 100% efficiency, since pumping heat from a cold heat bath to a hot one can cost significantly less energy than generating that heat resistively.
Don't get me wrong, it would be super cool if someone creates a heat pump that can bring the temperature up enough to melt iron ore at greater than 100 percent efficiency, but it does not seem like anyone currently making heat pumps considers this remotely possible.