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The Solved Problem

Currently, about 85% of heating energy derived from fossil energy sources. With according to EIC data. (International Energy Council) , we spent (globally) for water heating about 6,100 TWh and cause to GHG emission amounted as 2.2-3 billion ton of CO2. 

he emission of a billion tons of CO2 can have significant and wide-ranging impacts on the environment and climate. Here's a breakdown of the potential damages caused by such a large amount of CO2 emissions:

  • Climate Change Acceleration: CO2 is a potent greenhouse gas, and its accumulation in the atmosphere traps more heat from the sun, leading to global warming. A billion tons of CO2 would significantly contribute to this effect, accelerating climate change. This can lead to more extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, floods, and droughts, and longer-term shifts in climate patterns.
  • Ocean Acidification: Approximately 30-40% of the CO2 released into the atmosphere dissolves into oceans, rivers, and lakes, leading to acidification. This can harm marine life, particularly organisms with calcium carbonate shells or skeletons, including oysters, clams, sea urchins, shallow water corals, and deep-sea corals. Ocean acidification can disrupt marine ecosystems and the livelihoods of people who depend on them.
  • Melting Ice Caps and Rising Sea Levels: The accelerated melting of ice caps and glaciers due to global warming contributes to rising sea levels. This can lead to the displacement of coastal communities, loss of habitat for species that depend on ice environments, and increased flooding in coastal regions, affecting millions of people worldwide.
  • Impact on Agriculture and Food Security: Climate change can alter rainfall patterns, increase the frequency and intensity of droughts, and lead to more extreme temperature events. These changes can affect crop yields, reduce food security, and increase the risk of hunger and malnutrition in some regions.
  • Loss of Biodiversity: As habitats change or disappear due to rising temperatures and changing weather patterns, species that cannot adapt quickly enough face extinction. This loss of biodiversity can disrupt ecosystems, affecting ecosystem services upon which humans rely, such as pollination, water purification, and disease control.
  • Economic Costs: The impacts of climate change can have significant economic costs, including damage to infrastructure from extreme weather events, increased healthcare costs due to heatwaves and climate-related diseases, and losses in productivity and economic output in sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, and tourism.

According to calculations by Germany's Federal Environment Agency, emission of 1 ton of CO2 causes damage of $180. It means, emission of 2.2-3 billion ton of CO2 caused by water heating causes damages 400-550 billion USD annually.

The problem of greenhouse gas emissions from heating water for space heating and hot water supply can be partially solved by using a heat pump. However, current heat pumps do not work efficiently enough due to the fact that almost all of them are based on air conditioners or chillers, using the same compressors and refrigerants. However, what is good for an air conditioner is not suitable for a heat pump, so heat pumps based on air conditioners or chillers have the following disadvantages:

  • Existing heat pumps do not work efficiently at temperatures below 40◦ F (+7◦ C);
  • Existing heat pumps have difficulty heating water above 130◦ F + (+55◦ C);
  • Due to the low efficiency of existing heat pumps and limitations of the electricity infrastructure, they are often impossible to use during the cold season, consumers are forced to use fossil fuels, and we are losing the opportunity to solve the problem of climate change. In addition, using fossil fuels is usually more expensive for the consumer than using a heat pump.

Actually, existing heat pumps can be divided into 3 groups:

  1. Monoblock is a type of heat pump in which all the structural elements are combined into one block. Advantages: simple, cheap, works well in warm climates. Economical for heating water up to +45 °C in summer. Disadvantages: large energy losses due to the fact that the hot elements of the system (compressor, condenser, receiver, hot pipes) are located outside. And even the best insulation is not able to prevent these losses, especially in conditions of high humidity and wind. Problems with the operation of the monoblock begin at temperatures below +7 °C. The evaporator freezes with blockage of heat exchange channels, which leads to a sharp decrease in heat output and the occurrence of heat losses

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  2. Split heat pump. Higher energy efficiency - due to reduced losses in the hottest elements (they are located indoors). However, the design elements of the air conditioner are the same, but the freezing problems are similar to the previous ones. In addition, and this is a common problem for all single-stage (non-cascade) heat pumps, the inability of one compressor (even the best one) to work effectively with a large difference in temperature between the outside air (evaporation) and the heated water (condensation). The high required water temperature (+55 °C and above) leads to high condensation pressure, and at low outside temperatures this leads to a high compression ratio. A single-stage heat pump cannot cope with this, so manufacturers resort to a trick, indicating a high COP of the system at a low water temperature at the inlet to the heat pump, thereby reducing the pressure in the condenser and allowing the pump to somehow provide "nice" experimental parameters. The problem is that it is completely unsuitable for heating domestic hot water according to the simplest sanitary standards.

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  3. Cascade heat pump. The most advanced and efficient scheme for operation at a large temperature difference. It solves the problem of a large difference in evaporation and condensation pressure by dividing it between two stages, which allows heating water to a high temperature at low outside temperatures. However, the thermal efficiency (COP) of such a scheme is much worse than that of single-stage pumps, and their use is justified only at a high pressure increase (more than 15), which corresponds to a temperature difference of about 70 degrees.

 solution3

Key findings:

  • Using air conditioner parts for the outdoor unit is a cheaper alternative to refrigeration equipment, but leads to the same problems as simpler options. Rapid freezing, clogging of the evaporator heat exchanger with ice, will lead to a sharp decrease in efficiency. Most manufacturers (and this is typical of the vast majority of designs) treat heat pumps in the same way as air conditioners. All attempts to make the air conditioner work at low temperatures (for which it is not designed) are initially unsuccessful: it is not designed for this.
  • Design of a cascade according to a traditional scheme: the condenser of the lower stage is simultaneously the evaporator of the upper stage. Such an organization obliges to install a significantly greater power on the compressor of the upper stage than on the compressor of the lower stage, which leads to a decrease in efficiency (COP).
  • The coefficient of performance (COP) of a traditional cascade system is quite low. Cascade heat pumps have significantly expanded the geography of application "to the north", to colder zones, but they have not become a 100% effective replacement for fossil fuels throughout the year, requiring backup heat sources, which not only increases the cost of the system, but also leads to many consumers refusing to install a duplicate heating system both due to high capital and operating costs (including maintenance, additional area), and due to the low reliability of the heating system, requiring constant monitoring by personnel for timely activation of alternative heat sources in the event of a decrease in the thermal performance of the heat pump below the required level.

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