Category: Linked

Why This Window Heat Pump Is Genius

In Linked By Jay Torres On

Matt Ferrell runs a great engineering focused YouTube channel called Undecided. He recently covered a uniquely designed window heat pump.

Well, there’s a new type of heat pump hitting the market that’s a little more accessible: easy to install heat pumps that sit on your window just like an AC unit. It seems so obvious when you look at it that I can’t help but wonder…why didn’t we do this earlier? And how well do they actually work and at what cost?

For markets such as New York or other applications where a centralized system or split system isn’t feasible, a window unit makes sense.

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How Do Heat Pumps Work?

In Linked By Jay Torres On

Wired with another great piece on heat pumps.

And here’s a crucial fact: According to the second law of thermodynamics, thermal energy only transfers from hot things to cold things; it doesn’t go the other way. So despite what you might think, the ice cubes in your drink aren’t “cooling” the liquid; the liquid is heating the ice cubes—which means it’s losing energy and getting colder, while the ice gains energy and melts.

If you really want to bend people’s brains, just share this law of physics and you will start to see the wheels turn as they try to figure that out.

Send this article whenever someone you know is curious about heat pumps and how they work.

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California Grid Breezes Through Heat Wave due to Renewables, Batteries

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From This Is Not Cool with Peter Sinclair:

In fact, California seems to have reached a level of storage that is creating some kind of a phase-change in the grid, yielding benefits that are surprising even expert observers. More and more days where renewables supply greater-than 100 percent of California’s power – enabling exports even under these challenging conditions.

Critics have long downplayed the benefits of EVs, heat pumps, induction stoves, and heat pump water heaters. They argue that our electrical grid can’t handle all of these new cars and appliances. Which is true! But that doesn’t mean we can’t do anything about it!

This is the most frustrating thing about this argument. This mostly comes up with EVs since they have been around longer and are becoming more accessible. They say there isn’t enough charging infrastructure. To that I say, do you think all these gas stations popped up overnight?!

This news that California’s electrical grid was able to withstand these recent heat waves due to the availability of more clean energy and energy storage through batteries is our best argument against naysayers who say the grid cannot support it.

More of this please.

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Trane Mitsubishi Launches New Light Commercial Heat Pumps

In Linked By Jay Torres On

Introducing the expansion of the S-Series (PUMY) outdoor unit lineup to include Hyper-Heating INVERTER® (H2i®) technology.Part of the CITY MULTI® family, the H2i® PUMY is a single-phase heat pump ideal for light commercial applications including banks, churches, schools, server rooms, retail centers and more.

I think the HVAC industry would benefit from proper marketing departments. Not sure when these launched but I saw these in an industry trade magazine. An actual physical magazine that our office received in the mail. I searched on the web for these and all I got was the block quote above which links to the engineering submittal site. No mention of the small footprint, tonnages, and ideal applications.

As far as I know, LG and Mitsubishi are the only manufacturers who make this style heat pump. I would be shouting this from the mountaintops.

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Gen Z Plumbers and Construction Workers Are Making #BlueCollar Cool

In Linked By Jay Torres On

Many posts tout the wages blue-collar workers can make. Pay for new hires in construction now outstrips pay for new hires in professional services like accounting, according to ADP data. Skilled-trade influencers say they’re also trying to combat decades of stereotypes in which practitioners were seen as grease monkeys or stuck in low-end careers. 

I appreciate what these folks do out in the field. No shame in earning a pretty decent living in the trades. Also grateful for my knowledge worker job in this industry.

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Nation’s 1st all-electric hospital coming to UCI Health medical campus

In Linked By Jay Torres On

The all-electric Central Utility Plant is where facility operations will be monitored. That includes running the air source heat pumps. Brothman said the moderate temperature in the coastal region is key.

“Much like a traditional heat pump that is used in residential or other office buildings, these can run in forward or reverse to use the ambient outside temperature to heat or cool our heating and ventilation components in this facility,” Brothman said.

Proud to see my alma mater going all electric for its new medical center.

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At Paris Olympics, some athletes distrust an unusual cooling system

In Linked By Jay Torres On

Paris has been gearing up for the Summer Olympics for some time. I did not know this about their plans.

For all the steps Paris organizers have taken to put on the greenest Olympics ever, their boldest measure — the one they’ve touted again and again — pertains to the dorms in the Athletes’ Village. The rooms don’t have air-conditioning.

That is not exactly true. They’re not using “traditional” air conditioning where there is active air cooling a space. They plan to use chilled water systems with piping in the floors to “cool” athletes’ rooms.

The bid to forgo air-conditioning was just a tiny part of the overall Paris plan to reduce the footprint of a massive event. But it is highly symbolic, as it has forced participating countries to consider whether they want to participate in a sustainability experiment — abandoning conventional, energy-intensive privileges in the name of green goals. The collective decision of some of the largest countries also raises questions about equality: Portable air-conditioning represents a cost that some delegations from poorer countries might not be able to afford, meaning athletes in the same Olympic Village might be sleeping at different temperatures.

Did Paris unknowingly give “richer” countries an advantage since they could afford giving portable air conditioners to their athletes? I’d love to see the Post follow up with an analysis after the games.

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Blond designs “attractive and desirable” heat pump system for Electric air

In Linked By Jay Torres On

Electric Air is another company looking to make their mark with heat pumps in the HVAC residential market.

“Heat pumps, condensers and other home heating and cooling products tend to be fairly unconsidered in terms of their aesthetics because they’re often hidden away in a loft or basement,” Blond director James Melia told Dezeen.

“We felt that if you’re going to spend a significant amount of money making a big change to your home infrastructure it helps if the objects you’re buying are attractive and desirable.”

One way to help heat pump adoption among homeowners is to make them look nice. Quilt here in the US is trying to do the same thing.

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Don’t Believe the Biggest Myth About Heat Pumps

In Linked By Jay Torres On

Matt Simon on Wired.com:

If heat pumps don’t actually work in frigid weather, no one told the Nordic nations, which endure Europe’s coldest climates, with average winter temperatures around 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees F). As of 2021, Norway had heat pumps in 60 percent of households. In 2022, Finland installed more of the appliances per capita than any other country in Europe, while Sweden has similarly gone all-in on the technology. In the United States, heat pumps are selling like hotcakes in Alaska, and last year Maine announced it had reached its goal of installing 100,000 of the devices way ahead of schedule. These places ain’t exactly perpetually sunny California. (US-wide, heat pumps now outsell gas furnaces.)

I will professionally die on this hill. I’ll go as far as to say that people who say that heat pumps don’t work in cold climates is on par with people who don’t believe in climate change, that the world is round, etc.

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Quilt rides heat pump heat wave with hefty $33M Series A

In Linked By Jay Torres On

Quilt says its heat pump will address those concerns, promising a sleeker design that can be installed in more places around a room than competitors’ offerings. The company has only released a teaser image so far. It looks promising, but we’ll have to wait until it unveils the finished product on May 15 to pass final judgment. The company engineered the core of the system in-house, though it’s working with a manufacturing partner to produce the units.

Design isn’t the only challenge facing traditional heat pumps. Many customers have been turned off by the way they operate. In most homes, a single mini-split (known as a “head”) handles both heating and cooling for a single room. Each head gets its own thermostat or remote, which means if someone wants to adjust the temperature for the whole house, they need to visit every room.

This is the first that I’ve heard about Quilt, but apparently they raised a seed round last year. I admire what they’re trying to do. The HVAC industry is a traditionally “non-sexy” industry where the incumbents have been stagnant for a long time, in terms of product design, marketing, and innovation.

On the flip side, D2C companies aren’t as trendy as they were 5–10 years ago. Who can remember Casper and all those mattress companies? Allbirds went public at $29 but the stock is at $0.58 today. Turns out, going direct to consumer isn’t the best strategy in some industries.

I’ll be looking forward to May 15.

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