Benjamin Myklebust RødNov 23, 2023
Jan Rosenow

The Guardian asked me: “How did Norway become the world’s heat pump leader?”

My answer: “Norway ensured early on that fossil-fuel heating was the most expensive option, making heat pumps cost competitive.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/23/norway-heat-pumps-cold-heating

‘You can walk around in a T-shirt’: how Norway brought heat pumps in from the cold

Device installed in two-thirds of households of country whose experience suggests switching to greener heating can be done

The Guardian
Nov 23, 2023 at 7:50amWeb
Show threadKees van der LeunNov 23, 2023
@janrosenow Cheap hydro.
Show threadJan RosenowNov 23, 2023
@Sustainable2050 indeed that helped too. But taxing fossil fuels was critical also. Same in Finland, Denmark and Sweden. https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-how-heat-pumps-became-a-nordic-success-story/?_thumbnail_id=48213&utm_content=buffer302f3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Guest post: How heat pumps became a Nordic success story - Carbon Brief

A common criticism of heat pumps is that they do not work in cold weather. But how did heat pumps became a Nordic success story?

Carbon Brief
Show threadAndresNov 23, 2023
@Sustainable2050 @janrosenow Seattle has cheap hydro too, but the US's cheap oil has them still catching up on heat pumps.
Show threadTim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPENov 23, 2023
@janrosenow Compare and contrast the UK, where gas is four times cheaper than electricity but heat pumps are only three times as efficient as gas boilers.
Show threadMJ RayNov 23, 2023
@TimWardCam @janrosenow three and a half even for heat+water unless your installer is a total cowboy, but yes, the link between gas and electric prices needs correcting. At least we were on oil where worse efficiency, getting rid of price volatility (25p/kWh of heat anyone?) and getting rid of the toxic gases made it an easier choice.
Show threadTom RitchfordNov 23, 2023

@janrosenow Norway is also one of the world's largest exporters of oil.

This tiny country, with 0.06% of the world's population, exports 2% of the world's oil.

Show threadJan RosenowNov 23, 2023
@TomSwirly I don’t understand why the fact that Norway is a major oil and gas exporter means that we should ignore any lessons learned from their successful EV and heat pump roll out?
Show threadTom RitchfordNov 23, 2023

@janrosenow We should definitely learn from that!

But when you say, "taxing fossil fuels was critical also", in fact nearly all their fossil fuels were sold on the free market and does not have that tax, which only applies to heating oil sold domestically.

Like many other countries including the United States, Norway is making bank by destroying all of our futures. It should be pointed out in this environmentally focused article.

Show threadBasexperience 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Nov 23, 2023
@janrosenow that, and they have huge amounts of cheap electricity. 🙄
Show threadBashStKidNov 23, 2023
@janrosenow Unfortunately this needs to be reprinted about twice a week in the Mail, not the Guardian.
Show threadSmokeyGeoNov 23, 2023

@janrosenow Jan, the lengthier quote “they did this by taxing fossil emissions” is significant. Absent the taxes, a heat pump costs quite a bit more than replacing a gas fired boiler or furnace with a heat pump (even an air conditioner replacement isn’t a drop-in due to different duct sizing required). That tax increase is politically deadly most places - that it isn’t in Norway is anomalous. Do you have insight on that?

Where I live, in Massachusetts, our energy regulator concluded that operating costs for a heat pump alone would be considerably more than fossil energy, limiting enthusiasm for switching. It should be added that fossil electric generation dominates in New England so unlike Norway where hydropower is near 100%, a heat pump doesn’t really save that much emissions

Show threadrubbelNov 23, 2023
@smokeygeo @janrosenow
1/3 Gas fired was not really used much in domestic market appliances. Just for cabins and camping purposes. There have never been a distribution net for gas in Norway, at least not since the early 1900s. Most private homes are electrically heated. Larger buildings had furnaces, but when oil was no longer allowed you had to convert those boilers to bio-oil.
Show threadrubbelNov 23, 2023

@smokeygeo @janrosenow 2/3 The conversion wasn't attractive to many so they replaced the furnaces with heat pumps, electricity and geothermal energy. Some have added solar on top of that the last few years.

Hydropower used to be really cheap. It was ridiculous. But not so cheap anymore. Norway has gradually been connected to the Euro energymarket and it affects the prices significantly.

Show threadrubbelNov 23, 2023
@smokeygeo @janrosenow 3/3 The Russian invasion of Ukraine didn't help much. But it gave a nice opportunity to install green energy solutions like heat pumps, so sales went up. Scepticism was mostly gone by then. Heat pumps are old. Like the arguments sceptics make.
Show threadSmokeyGeoNov 23, 2023
@rubbel @janrosenow these are good observations - thanks. It sounds like the drivers in Norway are not too applicable to markets where fossil generation & heating widespread but could be helpful in France and Quebec where there's a ton of hydro & nuclear power, with a lot of resistive heating that could be upgraded
Show threadJuan Per¢ent,🇲🇽 🍉,🇻🇪Nov 25, 2023
@janrosenow Great. They factored in externalities of carbon by taxing oil, and magically heat pumps became a cheaper option. It’s the f*cking capitalist way to go about it , and works kind of. We are disregarding externalities, and even subsidizing companies that live off burning carbon. No wonder we are living trough such a hot mess.
Show threadJoanna Bryson, blatheringNov 26, 2023
@janrosenow That and having an order of magnitude more people than Iceland :-)