We are just back from the ACI conference in Austin. Many good discussions regarding PHIUS and the strong push that we are seeing towards, not just energy efficiency, but net-zero project. One of the products that we are seeing entering the market at reasonable prices are the Domestic Hot Water heaters using very efficient Heat Pumps. Some of these have COPs of 3.7, such as the Stiebal Eltron ( the highest efficiency model that we are seeing), also GE and Rheem are making them. One thing to remember regarding these units is that they are removing heat from whatever enclosure they are in. So placing one of these within the thermal envelope of your house will be great during the cooling season, but increase the demand of the heating system during the winter. We are looking at ways to capitalize on this characteristic by perhaps routing excess heat from the dryer to the heat pump location or by designing high airflow solar preheaters. We will see.
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