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https://www.theverge.com/23951214/heat-pump-nycha-public-housing-electric-sustainable>
"For now, the window heat pump in apartment 1D sticks out like a sore thumb.
Set between off-white lace curtains, it looks like a brand-new oven installed
in a grandma’s living room.
The heat pump replaced a radiator — those rattling, hissing things that are
hallmarks of most old buildings in New York City. And if the heat pump proves
itself this winter, it could one day make its way into virtually every room in
every home in the city’s public housing system. And that could just be the
start for the future of home heating.
The prototype in this room at the Woodside Houses in Queens, New York, is
already an engineering feat that New York state has funneled tens of millions
of dollars into developing because nothing like it was on the market. Heat
pumps can both heat
and cool a home. To be sure, more complicated versions of
the appliance have been around for a while. This one is novel because it’s
simple. It can sit on a sill and plug into a wall like a window AC unit.
So far, the state has purchased 30,000 of them for New York City’s public
housing as part of its plan to tackle climate change. They’re supposed to save
energy, cut down utility costs, reduce pollution, and give residents access to
air conditioning that didn’t have it before.
But some public housing residents are already tired of the New York City
Housing Authority’s promises to make upgrades only to botch plans or backtrack
later. “Don’t use a human being for experiments, tell them that,” says Alexa
Cruz, who has lived in a public housing development in Manhattan since 1969.
This is, in fact, a huge testing ground for an appliance on which many other
governments are pinning their climate ambitions. The Biden administration
invoked the Defense Production Act last year to supercharge domestic
manufacturing of heat pumps. The European Union has a goal of deploying 10
million heat pumps over five years. And yet, one big barrier to adoption has
been the lack of a viable version of this technology for renters.
That’s something New York will see if it can change, starting with public
housing first. Ultimately, it’s not just the technology that’s being put to the
test but also the ability of state and local officials to center the residents
who have been the most marginalized in the past. Whether it passes those tests
could have repercussions for other renters also."
Via Kenny Chaffin.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
