Heat pumps and EVs can save EU households over €2,200 a year – report

euronews.com

6 points·rustoo··3 comments

I did napkin math some time ago for my eastern european region: these number works with two caveats you need to get hefty government subsidy and electricity price doesn't rise.

My points are:

- one cold prolonged winter and any savings gone.

- you need to get lucky unit which doesn't need to much maintenance

- if electricity gone pray it will be back in 48 hours (where I live - to get subsidy from government you need demolish furnace)

- using solar panels to compensate when electricity lost or without taking extra electricity: minimum 15Kwh battery storage and at least 20KW panels for generating 8KW heat energy. I based on winter solstice day.

Where I live (UK) heat pumps are very heavily promoted for a host of the good reasons. However, it's the UK, so the usual caveats apply (average installation company is 200% profit driven and 0% quality driven, and the houses insulation is on average quite awful).

I didn't make the move yet because the average installation quality in general is staggeringly shoddy, so I'd get nowhere near the advertised benefits for twice the price, because if have to replace my radiators, and because I don't have the PV and the battery system to soften the blow.

Cynically, in the UK heat pumps are also promoted because they an alternative to public investment in energy production and grid upgrades, which are already under pressure with the transition to EVs. This applies to many European countries...

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