Comment by avianlyric
2 months ago
> Nope. That's precisely wrong. Tl;dr heating normally uses less efficient technology than cooling and has to work across a higher temperature difference.
That’s moving the goal posts. You can always use a heatpump to heat a space.
Any space you want to keep comfortable will always be easier if the outside is cooler than your target temperature. Everything in that space is going to produce heat as a natural consequence of expending energy into any form. It’s always possible to add insulation to minimise the amount of energy you loose into the surrounding environment, and you can always modulate how much additional energy you let escape using a simple opening in that insulation.
On the other hand, if the external space is hotter, then you must always expend additional energy to move waste heat energy accumulating in the space into the high energy space outside. There is no passive manner that can allow you to cool a space surrounded by a hotter space, you’re always fighting against the temperature gradient. And if you want your living, heat producing, organisms to keep living, then you need to get rid of the heat they produce.
> You can always use a heatpump to heat a space.
I covered that in the rest of my post. Most of the time, heating involves a much bigger temperature gradient than cooling. And even though you can use a heat pump, most houses don't use one. (I love the tech personally). Meanwhile cooling always uses a heat pump, so almost every air-conditioned house is using more efficient tech than a heated house. While operating on a smaller temperature delta.
> There is no passive manner that can allow you to cool a space surrounded by a hotter space
Insulation works just as well to keep heat out as it does to keep heat in.