With electricity in Norway generated almost entirely from hydro power, government and utilities in Norway are working hard to encourage consumers to switch from fossil fuels to electricity. But, as the world's most intensive user of electricity, Norway is also taking measures to promote efficient energy systems suchas district heating and cooling using heat pumps.
Field experiences show that air-to-water heat pumps require special attention to the entire system when installed in cold climates. Generally, equipment manufacturers provide installation and start-up instruction manuals on their factory-assembled heat pumps. Most manuals describe installation methods, precautions and warnings as to unit handling for example, but they normally cover only limited information about special applications of the units. Neglect of manufacturer's instructions will often lead to such serious troubles as repeated compressor failures and insufficient heating.
Ontario Hydro expects that about 25% of its generating plants will have retired by the year 2014. Rather than simply building new generating plants Ontario Hydro wants to diversify its approach by reducing growth in demand as well as increasing supply. Heat recovery is one of several demand-side options with potential for displacing electrical energy in buildings. Where space heating, cooling and service water heating in existing buildings is provided by electricity, savings both in electrical energy and demand are possible through heat pump heat recovery.
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