Fuck fossil fuels.
Who would have guessed that importing overpriced fossil fuels is bad?
😮
Certainly not Germany and Poland. Gas cucks. I just want affordable heat. Renewables are cheaper, why are policymakers resisting cheap energy, during an energy price crisis?
Money.
Lobbyism.
Yeah in Central Europe we don’t have corruption, we have ✨ Lobbyism ✨
Central Europe
Tell me you’re from Eastern Europe and hate Russia without telling me you’re from Eastern Europe and hate Russia
Huh?
People living in the parts of Europe that were dictatorships until ~35 years ago (everything to the east of Germany, more or less) don’t like their region to be called “Eastern Europe”, even though that is what everyone called it for 50 years. There was Western Europe, and Eastern Europe. But since Eastern is connotated with dictatorships, Russian occupation, poverty and things like that they’ve invented a new term wich is “Central Europe”.
So now you’ll hear people from Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, etc refer to their parts of Europe as Central, because they don’t want to be called Eastern, and they especially absolutely do not want to be associated with Russia in any way. Which is completely understandable.
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nothing beat maintaining the systems that keep those in power wealthy and powerful.
Heat pumps are much bigger investment upfront
Perhaps it surprises you but a lot of people are such oil brained corpo shills they cannot fathom not burning the planet down to the ground. They call free energy ideologically driven in an obvious attempt at projection.
Which is to say that sadly a lot of people would never guess importing fossil fuels just to burn them might be a terrible idea actually.
Won‘t stop the tidal wave of heat pump installations though because most people actually like saving money.
Its becoming more common here in Central Europe, most new builds family houses have them.
They have a couple drawbacks, like the high upfront cost (in my country a mid-range pump can cost between 3-8K Euros) and they work best with well insulated buildings, but once its installed they can save a tons of money, especially when paired with solar panels or wind turbines.
For a flat I once had, to have 24 degrees I paid 2000 € in just gas for one year. It may seem high, but it gets profitable pretty quickly.
Where would that be? My sister in Germany just got an offer for a heat pump+installation for 42k Euros in Germany.
That sounds like a quote for a ground source heat pump. Air source heat pumps are far more popular and much cheaper to install.
Labour is the main cost. Ours was about €11k. Future replacements would cost as much as a boiler upgrade since the pipework and radiators are already there.
We got quoted 12 and 14k for our two respective estimates and it was getting an eco-friendly coolant box manufactured in Germany so it was easily repairable. Not the best money could buy but not the Bauhaus version either.
Unfortunately the landlords rejected every proposal we made because landlords are leaches on society.
It’s even a quote my boss gave me. I work in HVAC and plumbing but I do different things and I want it planned right.
I haven’t looked at the details but a boiler is also included and it’s+8k for deinstallation of the old one.
As far as I know the problem is with government subsidies because they just get slapped on the price. Plus there is a list of companies that are eligable for subsidies and the big German companies lobby to exclude other players. Plus German hvac companies usually have a partner that they get their heat pumps from and they don’t like to switch. The typical German HVAC company has maybe 5-10 employees.
Thats a lot. My whole water installation was under 5k (plumbing without appliances + floor heating) for a 110 m2 family house, plus got mutiple offers for heat pumps (install+setup) between 4k - 8k with different mid-ranged models (air-water) after stating my budget. Of course there are high-end models for 10-20k, but I have no reason to choose smart features and buzzwords for the premium price.
Location is Slovakia, but prices in Hungary and Czech Republic are similar. All prices are from 2025-2026, with government support program for energy saving appliances.
My parents installed geothermal heating in their house, that saved a shitload of electricity.
I did the same. Best investment ever.
Meanwhile in the Netherlands we are still terrified of air conditioning for whatever reason
What kills me if in America, especially in New England, is we still have tons of people, if not a majority a huge percentage, burning #2 heating oil during the winter. It used to be so cheap as to hardly think about filling the tank before winter, but it’s almost as much as gasoline now. My thought is “how hard can it be to convert those burners to biofuel, either reclaimed vegetable oil like diesel or with a mix of ethanol from corn to lower the cost.” Because if there’s one thing America has the capacity to produce a shitload of, it’s ethanol.
If somebody with a better grasp of the subject has an answer for that I would be very grateful.
I’m back from the Internet with knowledge to share!
https://www.northeastbiodiesel.com/heating-with-biodiesel
So it does exist, requires no retrofit up to 20% biodiesel, and with minor retrofit can go to pure BD, but it congeals around 45°f so some amount of petroleum as a stabilizer is required for winter heating. Apparently ethanol from corn does not produce more energy than is required to create it, but biodiesel already being partly made for another purpose and otherwise wasted brings its creation energy down a lot.
Laughs in firewood
Do you know that particulate matter from open fireplaces is very bad for health and is suspected to contribute to early dementia?
Try to take a sip from the heatpumpwater then.
There is a difference. One is released into the air of your home and the surroundings, the other is not.
When i make a fire there is minimal to no pollution inside the room. Stichwort: “Luftzug”
Removing most of the heat along with the waste products doesn’t sound like heating
You guys are lost. Maybe its better you stay with your heatpump.
Ad hominem