As looming risks of global warming caused by unabated carbon dioxide emissions

continue, alternatives to using traditional gas furnaces are becoming popular. In the
Telegraph newspaper, a person using a gas boiler for both heating and hot water
contracted the newspaper and asked whether switching to an air-source heat pump would
be a good choice. The newspaper responded that coefficients of performance (COP)
figures of 3 or 4 provided by the manufactures are unrealistic. The more realistic figure is
2.5, while in very cold weather 1 or 2 is possible. Low winter temperatures causes water
vapour to freeze on the coils and the heat pump then has to enter a defrost cycle using
resistive heaters. They recommended that it would cost less to use the old gas powered
boiler since gas is cheaper than electricity. Deutsche-Welle took an opposite view of heat
pumps. In their article they described the success of ground-source heat pumps in Sweden.
The rock energy is described as being virtually emissions free and people who install
them have halved energy costs. Deutsche-Welle explained that even when temperatures
fall to -30C, this type of heat pump still work well.

The Clausius Statement is It is impossible to construct a device that operates in a cycle
and whose sole effect is the transfer of heat from a cooler body to a hotter body. The
transfer of heat from a low-temperature region to a high temperature requires a special
device called a heat pump
20
(fig. 1), The heat pump utilizes the vapour refrigeration
cycle to heat homes in cool weather or cool a house in warm weather. This requires a
working fluid called a refrigerant
20
. In the heating mode, the house gains heat from the
condenser, whereas in the cooling mode the house loses heat to the evaporator
14
. A heat
pump uses electricity to transfer thermal energy from one place to another
19
. The ratio of
electricity used to the amount of heat pushed is called the COP.

.
L H
H
L H
H H
HP
T T
T
Q Q
Q
W
Q
Input Work
Effect Heating
Input quire
Output Desired
COP

_
_
_ Re
_


When the mass of the working fluid is taken into consideration, the equations become:
W
Q
COP
h h m W
h h m Q
c
c

) (
) (
1 2
3 2

1 2
3 2
_
) ( ) (
h h
h h
W
q
COP
h h w w q q
in net
H
HP
i e out in out in

COP derived from the Carnot Cycle (fig. 2b) is the most efficient, but it is unrealistic
because it would require designing a compressor that can handle two phases and involves
the handing of high-moisture-content refrigerant
20
. It is much simpler to reduce the
pressure irreversibly by using an expansion valve in which enthalpy remains constant.
Even through this expansion process is characterized by losses, it is considered to be part
of the ideal vapour refrigerant cycle because expansion process is in nonequilibrium,
the area under the T-S diagram (fig. 2b) does not represent the net work input
20
. This is
most closely approximated by the Rankine Cycle. To have heat transfer at a reasonable
rate, a temperature difference of 5C to 10C should be maintained between the
refrigerant and the medium which it is exchanging heat
20
.

Using fig. 2c COP figures for heat pumps will be calculated. If outside temperature is 6C
(average British winter) the evaporator will need to be operated at -4C. The condenser
will operate at 800 kPa and the maximum heating load of the house is 300 kW. The curve
is the saturation curve of the refrigerant R134a.

The calculation will be completed in the following manner by using the saturation tables
of R134a
14
(the units of h are kJ/kg, and the unit of s are kJ/kgK):

P f T g T g
h h h s s s h h
, 4 3 , 2 1 , 1
; ;
) / ($ ) / ($ _ _
) (
) ( 300
) )( (
1 2
3 2
1 , sup 2 , sup
1 , sup 2 , sup
2 1 , sup
1 , sup 2
kWh W h y electricit of Cost
W
Q
COP
h h m W
h h m Q kW
h h
s s
s s
h h
c
c
sat erheated sat erheated
sat erheated sat erheated
sat erheated
sat erheated

These are the results for when outside temperature is 6C:
h kWh kW y electricit of Cost
COP
W
s
kg
m m Q
kg
kJ
h
s s
h h
h
c
/ 08 . 8 $ / 20 . 0 $ 4 . 40 _ _
42 . 7
4 . 40
300
4 . 40 ) 9 . 244 5 . 268 ( 713 . 1
713 . 1 ) 4 . 93 5 . 268 ( 300
5 . 268 ) 7 . 273 4 . 284 )(
9274 . 0 9711 . 0
921 . 0 9374 . 0
( 7 . 273
921 . 0
4 . 93
90 . 244
2
2 1
4 3
1

These are results for other temperatures:

Outside
Temperature
(C)
Evaporator
Temperature
(C)
COP Operating Costs
($/h)
6 -4 7.42 8.08
2 -8 6.55 9.16
-2 -12 5.82 12.40
-10 -20 4.84 10.30

Cost of gas (the average cost of UKs gas is $0.93/therm:

h h
kJ
s kJs
gas of Cost / 05 . 10 $ / 93 . 0 $
100000
3600 300
_ _
1

At very low outside temperatures (below 0C), the operating costs of the heat pump is
more than gas. These are the major reasons why air-source heat pumps do not perform
well in very low ambient temperatures: (a) insufficient heat output as the required heat
increases, but the heat pump capacity decreases mainly due to lower refrigerant mass
flow rates delivered by the compressor at high pressure ratios; (b) high compression
discharge temperatures caused by low suction pressure and high pressure ratio across the
compressor; (c) the COP decreases rapidly for high pressure ratios which occur at low
ambient temperature conditions
18
.

If the COP values are halved (to compensate for heat losses in real life) then COP for 6C
to 2C ambient temperature is between 4 and 3. The heat pump manufacturers are not
exaggerating the COP values (as the Telegraph accuses), but accurate calculation of COP
can be attained by using more sophisticated equations
17
; one example for heat pump
water heaters is: ] 1 )][ ( [
3 2 1
d a
w a
a i
T T
T T
a T T a a COP

.
as are constants in the above equation, T
i
is the temperature of the tank, T
a
is the
ambient temperature, T
w
is the wet point depth and T
d
is the dew point depth.


Contrary to the Telegraph, an air-source heat pump is very competitive in places with
mild winter temperatures; winter temperature of the UK rarely drops below freezing point
but their assessment of frosting is correct. Frosting occurs in humid climates when the
temperature is between 2C to 5C. A remedy of air-cooled heat pumps is to use ground-
source heat pumps where a well with the depth 80m can utilize subterranean temperatures
of 5C to 18C; the per hour cost reduction is more than 20 percent compared to gas.
Another type uses deep lakes or ponds as a heat source. Both types are more complex and
expensive, but have no frosting issue and provide higher COP
20
.

Neither paper mentioned that in summer, a heat pump can be used as an air-conditioner.
Both heat pumps and air-conditioners share the same mechanical components. One
system can be used as a heat pump in winter and an air-conditioner in summer. This can
be accomplished by adding a revering valve to the cycle. As a result of this modification,
the condenser of the heat pump (located indoors) functions as the evaporator of the air-
conditioner. Also the evaporator of the heat pump (located outdoors) serves as the
condenser of the air-conditioner
20
. Even though a heat pump costs more than a boiler or
gas furnace, the extra functionality of an air-conditioner might be more attractive. In
Houston, where there is a large cooling need, it is better to have a supplemental heat
rejecter. In Tulsa, where both heating and cooling is needed, the equipment requirement
is dominated by the heating system; but this reduces efficiency so a sophisticated control
mechanism is needed
16
.

The Telegraph overlooked the feature of heat pumps to provide hot water cheaply. In a
high electricity cost environment such as the UK, heat pumps are a sensible choice for
dedicated water heating. An integral-type solar-assisted heat pump water heater (ISAHP)
can be used
2
. The ISAHP integrates the storage tank and the Rankine cycle unit together
to make a compact size. When a thermosyphon loop is used, no pump is required thus
yielding a high COP
3
. The low electric needs of these water heaters can be provided by
PV cells, but a decision has to be made regarding which type of water heater is best
suited: thermosyphon, air-source or direct solar heat pump. Generally the thermosyphon
water heater is not recommended for locations with low solar radiation. In contrast, the
solar heat pump is suggested as it offers the lowest specific electricity consumption. The
thermosyphon water is heater is most appropriate choice in localities with uniform and
high solar radiation available throught the year. If the ambient temperature is also high,
this may result in higher collector efficiency
6
. Numerical calculations have shown that
photovoltaic/thermal cells coupled with heat pumps are able to generate all its electric
needs, and provide heating for an average household
7
. Water-source heat pumps in cold
climates located near sources of thermal water pollution (near power plants) can tap into
the warm water
5
. Studies in Korea (climate is similar to UKs) have shown that heat
pumps using thermal water as a heat source, especially if using off-peak electricity can
effective be used for both hot water and space heating with COP between 4 and 5
4
.

Newer models of air-source heat pumps are also not mentioned in the Telegraph article.
These use advanced multistage cycles which increase the mass flow of the working fluid
as the temperature decreases
8
. The latest devices are hybrid systems with improved
compressor performance and better refriegerants
13
. They perform better than single-stage
heat pumps by more than doubling the capacity by having two parallel compressors and
can operate in low ambient temperatures without overheating. Some models can also
supply hot water up to 50C
18
. The drawbacks of these 2-stage devices are that even with
an economizer they are considerably more expensive than a single stage air-source heat
pump and have more complex controls
18
.

Deutsche-Welle is correct in their observations that ground-source heat pumps (GSHP)
provide superior results. Computer simulation based on mathematical equations
12
shows
that ground source heat pumps are much more efficient than air source heat pumps. In
tests in hot and cold climates, the GSHP systems saved 9.4 percent and 24 percent
respectively
10
. These results are generally invalid for mild climates where the superiority
of the GSHP energy savings over the air-source heat pumps is not as significant. For
heavy heating loads, GSHP systems are much more efficient
10
. GSHP is popular in
Switzerland and Sweden where the market penetration rates are about one percent
11
.

Heat pumps are not emissions free contrary to Deutsche-Welle. CO
2
is generated at the
power plants where electricity is generated, but major concerns are the refrigerants which
are potent green-house gases
6
. One way to measure the green-house generation of heat
pumps is: ) ( )] 1 ( [ ) (
cov

annual ery re
E n m GWP n L GWP TEWI ; the terms
are: GWP is the global warming potential relative to CO
2
(GWP CO
2
= 1); L is the
leakage rate per year (kg/year); n is the system operating time (years); m is the working
fluid change (kg);
recovery
is the recycling factor, E
annual
is the energy consumption per
year (kWh/year) and is the CO
2
emissions from electricity generation (kg
CO2
/kWh). In
real life the leakage rate and recycling factor can be assumed to be 10% and 0.7
respectively
6
.

The effect on global warming potential is mainly influenced by the type of working fluid
6
.
It is essential to find new refrigerants that are environmentally friendly replacements for
R-134a. There are several choices including hydrocarbons, ammonia and carbon dioxide.
However, a wide knowledge base of natural refrigerant is not firmly established and more
research in this field is essential in to find the most suitable refrigerant such as
refrigerants that absorb heat through chemical reactions
9
. CO
2
is a good replacement
because the global warming potential of CO
2
is 1000 to 3000 times less than HCFCs. In
lab tests a CO
2
system was able to maintain higher heating capacity than a HCFC-22
system
15
at low ambient temperatures thereby saving supplementary heating
1
. If properly
designed, the CO
2
system can be very competitive.

By comparing the two articles, one can generalize that the media is either too antagonistic
or too enthusiastic regarding their article topic.

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2
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