Revealed: Media Blitz Against Heat Pumps Funded by Gas Lobby Group | Hacker News Reader

Revealed: Media Blitz Against Heat Pumps Funded by Gas Lobby Group

desmog.com

78 pointsdoener16 comments

OP is a story about UK publications, but I've also seen a rash of US-based stories that have a "generated from outrage-tuned talking points" quality. They accompany a parallel faux narrative about gas stoves.

It's frustrating to see cheap PR tactics used against new technologies that are part of the solution to both burning fossil fuels, and indoor air quality.

It's hard to tell but, you seem to be implying that you think pro-gas stove talking points seem to be fake. To be perfectly honest _both_ sides of that argument seem to be "generated from outrage-tuned talking points". The loudest people from both perspectives are obnoxious and full of it and the whole thing seems to be a stupid waste of attention.

I'd say that many of the pro-gas-stove talking points seem exaggerated (i.e., some pro-gas points are true in some senses, but induction stoves do exist and address essentially all of these concerns -- that's the "novel technology" I mentioned).

And more so, the pro-gas side seems to be funded and organized in a coordinated way.

Yes, it's generally a waste of attention.

Have a heat pump that was grafted into our central air in Montana. We absolutely adore it. It doesn't work every day of the year - winters can get bitterly cold. But it works for somewhere around 320 days out of the year. We kept our gas heater as backup, and it rarely kicks in.

In germany we have active politicians rallying for "so called technology openness" and "net zero e fuels"... sponsored by the gas lobby... it's a shitshow :(

Because what Germany is currently doing is working out so well. Looking at the emissions, Germany is an absolute clown show. But you can always bet on one thing: The politicians who _now_ make the wrong decisions will blame the bad outcome of their removed-from-reality decisions on the last government.

The headline here is misleading. It is not a "Gas Lobby Group" - it is an industry group for appliance installers and technicians. By the author's own admission this includes installers for heat pumps.

Looks like the headline is more accurate than the organization:

https://eua.org.uk/igemeua-announces-winners-of-gas-industry...

(Also: https://eua.org.uk/french-heat-pump-costs-blow-hole-in-nonse...

And in general they seem to be centered on the heating network, a.k.a. gas lines, so electric heating pump installers would kind of be scabs in their gas industry coalition.)

Why am I not surprised?

it's going to be a really grim next fifty years :/

The just stop oil people should be breaking windows at these peoples offices, not blocking traffic.

If I was an evil but incredibly smart person and part of the gas industry, if I wanted to create a campaign to discredit the pro-environment side, Just Stop Oil is exactly what I would have hoped to create in my dreams.

What an awfully dumb organization. They’ve achieved absolutely nothing other than turning the public against pro environment policy. As an upshot, they’ve made it easy for the intellectually bankrupt Tory leaders to now turn away from one of the handful decent things Boris Johnson had done, which is to have some sort of environment policy.

Really keeping busy spreading messages against heat pumps and gas stoves.

Personally, after going to Germany this past June heat pumps do suck. I don't work for the gas companies and have no stock in them. I'm for greener options but I never could get the room to the coolness that it was set for. I also have no proof as I didn't have a thermometer. So take my statements as purely anecdotal and no scientific proof. But I would definitely be interested to know if anyone here has a heat pump and if they are working for you.

I'm a bit confused here, are you suggesting that heat pumps don't make for good AC? With few exceptions (evaporatorive coolers) heat pumps and air conditioners are essentially the same thing, exact same process, technology efficiency, etc. The heat pump is an air conditioner that can run in reverse too.

In general when people criticize heat pumps it's comparing them to resistive or gas heat.

To answer your question, I'm based in Idaho and my heat pump is great. For the few days that it actually gets cold enough, it has a heat strip in the indoor unit to give it a boost, but most of the time it's just running the heat pump.

I think a unit in Germany would be sized for heating requirements and probably set with a limiter in a hotel, etc. There's very little interest in oversized AC and an awareness of how harmful temperature shock is.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com