Thursday, 23 November 2023

Norway Brought Heat Pumps Out For the Cold

Heat pumps are currently the 'greenest' way of heating European homes. Norway has a population of circa 5m folk and gets pretty cold in the winter. An extraordinary 66% of its households have currently installed heat pumps. Most home owners made the conversion from fossil-fuelled heating, purely because heat pumps are cheaper (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/23/norway-heat-pumps-cold-heating). The 1973 oil crisis, led to the Norwegian government to impose carbon taxes, making fossil fuels the most expensive form of home heating. This situation has been subsequently maintained. Heat pumps are easy to manufacture but a trained workforce is needed for home installation. A trained workforce (well-paid jobs) was provided for the task. It seems that Norway has achieved an outcome, giving them resilience from most fossil fuel price hikes. Weirdly, of course, it also means that more of their North Sea oil and gas production, can be sold to less enlightened folk in cold and draughty parts of the continent.
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