I have been clearly aware of the energy/Russia-Ukraine war relationship. All kinds of articles are cropping up about buying Russian oil and gas and yet wanting to be using a completely different source. It truly points to our addiction to fossil fuels. How much are we willing to destroy ourselves with damage to our way of lives with both war and climate destruction? My wife and I have just implemented in our small part of the world a heat pump to enjoy our home in Michigan at a much higher energy efficiency and much higher comfort level. The quality of the home heating and air conditioning is much better than I expected.
In the above picture, the heat pump is sitting on a stand about a foot from the house. My retired electrician brother and I did the electrical work of bring the power to the unit. We have 3 different indoor wall mounted units that condition the air inside the cottage. As you can see there are different channels on the wall entering the house. Two are in bedrooms and the other goes through our attic to the opposite side of the cottage to heat and cool our living room.
It was a cool day outside in the 50s while the installers were finalizing the installation of the heat pump. He was testing the unit heating the indoors. An air conditioner will send the heat outdoors while this unit is doing the opposite by sending the outside heat indoors. Standing in front of the fan running I was getting a cool breeze off the heat pump. That’s because the heat is being sent inside. Although I understand how the pump works in general, it was an experience to feel the cold instead of heat. Totally the opposite experience.
SEER stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio
The higher the SEER rating, the more efficient the air conditioning side of the heat pump. Our new air conditioner just was installed in our Frankfort house and it has a SEER rating of 14 replacing our old one with a SEER rating of 10. Our Michigan cottage unit has an air conditioning SEER rating of 21. Just an outstanding difference. The heating side of this has a different acronym and is rated at a 10.
Compared to base board heat, we will get about 4 times the energy into the cottage for the same amount of electricity fed into the heat pump. This is part of the global warming solution. This is what Europe needs to do to get off of Russian natural gas and also to meet climate goals of no fossil fuels. We need to do the same in the United States.
I have much more to say and not enough space to say it in. We can have a better life, sustainable climate, together. I want to thank everyone for being part of the conversation about energy and climate change.
Jeff Green, Green Sanctuary Team
