...AND CHEAPER...:

Electrifying homes and office buildings is going to be important to reduce the world's reliance on fossil fuels. The big frontier in this area is heating and cooling, which in most parts of the world still relies on gas boilers and energy-hungry air-conditioning.

Heat pumps, which can run on renewable electricity to heat and cool indoor spaces, are a promising way to reduce building emissions. But they cost more than gas or oil furnaces and are expensive to operate because their energy efficiency decreases in cold weather.

A new type of energy-efficient heat pump technology could reduce those costs. Reported in the journal Communications Engineering, the new heat pump in theory uses 20 percent less power than conventional pumps.

"The technology will enable heat pumps that are more energy efficient and flexible, and thus more cost-effective than current designs," says Zhibin Yu, professor of thermal energy at the University of Glasgow, and lead author of the paper. "That could facilitate the uptake of heat pump technologies, contributing to heat decarbonization."

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