Heat Pumps

Wave goodbye to fossil fuels and say hello to affordable, clean, and hassle-free heating and cooling. In order to achieve net-zero emissions, we need to reimagine the traditional ways that we do everything — including how we heat our homes and buildings. One avenue to do so is through heat pumps.

Think of a heat pump as a refrigerator working in reverse. In very simple terms, in cooler months a heat pump pulls heat from the outdoor air and transfers it inside. In warmer months, it pulls heat out of the indoor air to cool your space.

Heat pumps do not create heat they simply transfer it from one place to another. Here’s a breakdown of how they operate from Energy Star:

Step 1) Refrigerant is pumped through an indoor coil. Air from inside the house is blown across the coils and energy is absorbed by the refrigerant causing the liquid refrigerant to evaporate into a gas.

Step 2) The gas refrigerant is now passed through a compressor that pressurizes the gas. This process heats the gas which is then moved through the system to the coil in the outside unit.

Step 3) A fan in the outdoor unit moves outside air across the coils. Since the outside air is cooler than the gaseous refrigerant the heat is transferred from the refrigerant to the outside air. This causes the refrigerant to condense back to its liquid state as it cools. The warm refrigerant is pumped through the system.

Step 4) The pressure is released from the liquid refrigerant which cools it significantly and it is pumped back to the indoor unit to repeat the cycle again.

The Engineering Mindset breaks it down in more detail in their video “Heat Pumps Explained” video.

Bloc Power and Gradient are leading the heat pump transition — check out their incredible technologies.

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