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Energy & Renewables vocabulary · Energy Efficiency

Heat pump

Meaning in energy & renewables, with examples

/ˈhiːt pʌmp/nounCore term

In energy & renewables, heat pump means: An electric device that moves heat from the air, ground or water into a building to heat it, or out of it to cool it, delivering more heat than the electricity it uses.

In Turkish: ısı pompası

How it is used

Central to the electrification of heating. Types include air-source, ground-source and water-source heat pumps. Efficiency is given as the coefficient of performance (COP): a COP of 3 means three units of heat for one unit of electricity.

Example sentences

  1. Replacing the old gas boiler with a heat pump halved the building's heating emissions.

  2. Ground-source heat pumps cost more to install but work more efficiently in cold weather.

Common collocations

  • air-source heat pump
  • ground-source heat pump
  • install a heat pump
  • coefficient of performance
  • energy efficiencyUsing less energy to do the same job, for example to heat a building, light a room or run a machine, thanks to better equipment, design or habits.
  • insulationMaterial placed in walls, roofs, floors or around pipes to reduce heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer, so less energy is needed for heating and cooling.
  • energy consumptionThe amount of energy used by a person, building, machine, company or country over a period, for example a day, a month or a year.
  • decarbonizationReducing the carbon dioxide emissions of an economy, sector or company, for example by switching to renewable power, electrifying heat and transport and improving efficiency.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Energy Efficiency

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