In Australia we call them reverse cycle air conditioners and they've been common for like 20 years. But then all our electricity comes from coal power plants so they're still fossil fuel powered anyway
this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
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Still a net benefit due to CoP
🌈 thermodynamics 🌈
Somewhere, Alec Watson just looked directly into the camera and said, "Told ya."
cue woodwind melody
Personal anecdote; had a house in a northern US state with a natural gas baseboard heater. Had a mini split heat pump installed for AC in the summer. Installers insisted we wouldn't need to use the natural gas heater in the winter anymore because "the heat pump is way more efficient." First slightly cold weather arrived and we used the mini split. About a month later the utility bill arrived. It had gone orbital. Several times what we would normally pay, even in colder months. Immediately turned that thing off and turned the gas heater back on.
Thankfully, now we're in a slightly warmer climate with a geothermal system for both summer and winter and loving it.