this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2026
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You need a giant asterisk there. That "small temperature difference" is -40° to 120°F
I really don't get where those temperatures come from? I was referring to something like this. The higher the temperature difference between cold and warm side, to worse the COP gets. If you wanted to go from ambient to 200°C, the COP would drop lower than 1 and you'd be better off using an electric boiler.
My point is that the "small difference in temperatures" where it's worthwhile to run a heat pump is still wide enough to run an air-exchange heat pump cost effectively damn near anywhere on Earth outside of the poles. You're arguing the finges when almost nobody would be affected by it.
And if you're using a geothermal heat pump, your thermal sink continuously sits around 50°F (while homes tend to be kept at 65-75°F), which means it should always be efficient.
Quit this conservative-esque route of arguing. It's bullshit and you know it.