
Tesla Model Y Heat Pump – The Start of Something Bigger? - baylessj
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/next-trick-elon-musk-revolutionize-183200781.html
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exhilaration
The entire 10 paragraph article is based around a single tweet from Musk and
doesn't explain a single thing about how the heat pump in the headline works.

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gandalfian
You could buy a mini split heat pump from mitsubishi today. Five units of heat
for every one of electricity. Rock solid reliability. I'm not sure it needs
reinventing. What it needs is a better service industry so you can get them
installed and maintained cheaply. Cheap installation, maintenance and repairs
of the heat pumps we already have, that would change the world.

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jonstewart
You _should_ think about heat pumps for HVAC in your home, especially if it's
well-insulated (if not, think about insulation and heat pumps). But you should
buy one made by Mitsubishi or Fujitsu, which are already amazing.

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jhloa2
Only in certain climates though. Heat pumps typically perform poorly in colder
climates where it's difficult to extract heat from low ambient outdoor
temperatures. I work in HVAC and we almost never use them here in Denver
because you can't get enough heat out of them when you need it the most.

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jonstewart
Mitsubishi and Fujitsu both have models that are rated efficient down to -15F
now, with anecdotal reports they can handle -25F.

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nitrogen
Can't you also (in new construction or remodels and not in permafrost areas)
bury a heat exchanger underground?

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D13Fd
Yes, they call this "geothermal" (although it's not like geothermal power
generation). You can also use lakes and large ponds rather than burying it.

I looked into it last year. The main problem is cost (in getting into the
ground) and expertise. In my area at least, there are dozens of reasonably
solid residential HVAC companies with extensive traditional heat pump
experience, and zero with extensive geothermal experience.

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aerovistae
Flagged because all this article is, is some shallow quotes from Elon's
Twitter and statements like "people are speculating how it works!" There is no
new information nor interesting analysis.

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stephen_g
I really don’t understand quite what’s going on here - most home heating and
cooling in my country has used heat pumps for years, isn’t that the case in
the US?

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xutopia
In Canada we have really cold weather and heat pumps are used but only down to
between -5C to -10C depending on the efficiency of your pump. If I tried to
run my heat pump in really cold weather it would just never reach the desired
temperature.

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stephen_g
One option is to use a ground-source heat pump in that kind of situation, if
you have enough land to dig or drill to install the exchanger pipes. Most
places in Australia where I live are able to just use air source but I've seen
ground source ones in Europe.

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llampx
Doesn't the Nissan Leaf use a heat pump as well?

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olabyne
A lot of EV use a heat pump. Some old model had a petrol heater, like the EV
version of the Peugeot 106

