Page 63 - Green Builder Magazine Spring 2018 Awards Issue
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ENERGY S0LUTIONS
Sustainable Power From This Day Forward
CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
Hot property. Heat pumps like this sewer line-based unit from manufacturer Stadwerke Amstetten offer an emissions-free, green energy-powered way to
heat and cool homes.
prevent discomfort and reduce emissions. pumps are easy to adopt, well understood
Combine them with thermostat settings that and already in use around the world. They
are a few degrees warmer in summer and a can supply indoor heating, cooling and HVAC’s
few degrees cooler in winter, and the energy hot water—all from one integrated unit.
benets are exponential. When it comes to efficiency, heat pumps Heavy Impact
One technology stands out from the rest: have a singular advantage: For every unit of
heat pumps. These could address the world’s electricity consumed, an equivalent of up to EATING AND COOLING OF
heating and cooling needs and eliminate ve units of heat energy is transferred. residential and commercial
almost all emissions if powered by renewable According to the International Energy H building space requires more
energy. Most people have a variation of Agency, a 30 percent penetration of the than 13,000 terawatt-hours of energy
a heat pump in their homes already: a building sector by appropriate heat pumps and is estimated to increase to more
refrigerator. The working principle is the could reduce worldwide carbon dioxide than 18,000 terawatt-hours by 2050.
same. Al refrigerators and heat pumps have emissions by 6 percent. This would be one This energy use comes from on-site
a compressor, condenser, expansion valve and of the larger contributions of any technology fuel combustion and electricity-based
evaporator, and both transfer heat from a cold now on the market. systems—from gas furnaces to air-
space to a hot one. When paired with renewable energy conditioning units. High-efficiency
In winter, that means pulling heat from sources and building structures designed
outside and sending it into a building. In for e¤ciency, heat pumps will do more than heat pumps reduce fuel consumption
summer, heat is pulled from inside and sent move warm air. They will move Earth toward to zero and use less electricity to
out. The source or sink of heat can be the drawdown. GB generate heating and cooling.
ground, air or water. Air-source pumps work Current adoption is low at .02
best in temperate climates, as efficiency Paul Hawken is executive director of Project percent of the market, but rapid
drops o when outside temperatures drop Drawdown, a coalition of researchers, growth is expected as costs continue
below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. However, scientists, graduate students, policymakers, to decrease by up to 25 percent by
newer technology is effective down to 5 business leaders and activists who assemble 2050. For a cost of $119 billion in
degrees if a building is well insulated. In and present the best available information addition to what would be spent on
areas such as Scandinavia and northern on climate solutions and their benecial conventional technologies, operating
Japan, ground-source heat pumps are the nancial, social and environmental impact savings could reach $1.5 trillion over
technology of choice, taking advantage of over the next 30 years. He is also editor of three decades and $3.5 trillion over
the Earth’s relatively constant temperature Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan the technology’s lifetime. Emissions
underground. Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming. reductions in this scenario come to
While cost can be high and efficiency He may be contacted at paulharken@ 5.2 gigatons of carbon dioxide.
¨uctuates depending on local climate, heat drawdown.org.
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