The is
a huge deal – it is a revolutionary air to water heat pump
that will make combustion obsolete! We are getting a demo unit for
Living Local on Oct 3rd – first time this
unit has been shown in US outside a brief appearance in Chicago
in January. It will be released in October for sale.
Tthe Altherma will take outside air even in the middle of winter
and make hot water for domestic use or for radiant heating systems
– at half the operating cost of a 99% efficient fossil fuel
boiler – it is geothermal in a box! Next year, Daikin will
release the next version which will do water up to 180F which means
any home (baseboard heat, old radiators, etc) can have 50% reduction
in heating cost every year!
The Alterma uses the stored solar energy in the outside air to heat
water up to 130°F. This heated water can be used for radiant
heating systems and domestic hot water. The Altherma heat pump is
also designed to work with solar hot water panels to create a truly
energy efficient heating system.
Operating costs will typically be half the cost of operating
a similarly sized fossil fuel boiler – for example, if a
home currently used $4,000 in propane a year with a boiler or
furnace, the Altherma operating cost would be $2,000 in electricity
a year with no propane bill.
The efficiency of the Altherma meets or exceeds that of geothermal
heat pumps. Because with the Altherma there is no need for a geothermal
field, the installation price will be about half that of a geothermal
system. This heat pump represents a truly revolutionary advance,
and will be an essential part of the effort to make our island
energy efficient and all electric.
Since their introduction in the 1940s (view
a 1947 brochure about one here - pdf), heat pumps have been
used to heat and cool homes and businesses using the ground (geothermal),
water (open loop), and the air as the heat source.
All heat pumps work on the same principal; they use electricity
to run a compressor that concentrates a lot of low temperature
heat into a smaller amount of high temperature heat that can be
used to heat a building or make hot water.
Because this low temperature heat is free, the only cost is to
run the compressor to concentrate it. For every kW of electricity
put into a heat pump, it can concentrate between two and four
free kW of power from the Sun, and deliver between three and five
kW to a home or business.
Heat pumps are the fastest growing heat source in Europe and
Asia – globally it is recognized that using renewable energy
from wind turbines and solar arrays to power heat pumps will be
a very effective way to combat global warming.
European Boiler Makers Withholding Their Latest Technology From
the US Market:
Interestingly, all of the major European boiler makers (Viessmann,
Buderus, etc.) market their
own air to water heat pumps in Europe. Across Europe, heat pump
sales are growing every year as boiler sales shrink. These European
boiler manufacturers understand that introducing their heat pumps
in the United States would undermine their boiler sales here and
reduce the exports from their boiler factories.
As Daikin has no part of the boiler business, it has no vested
interest in withholding new technology from the US market. Currently,
the version of the Daikin Altherma that is for sale in Europe
heats water to over 180°F, more than hot enough to heat a
house using cast iron radiators or baseboard heat. Daikin expects
to bring this version of the Altherma over to the US next year.
Read more about this advanced system, try the Altherma information
here:
DAIKIN ALTHERMA BROCHURE -
pdf
ALTHERMA SHORT BROCHURE
- pdf
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