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Extreme Weather Poses a Challenge for Heat Pumps
Stronger winds, bouts of extreme low temperature, and higher humidity pose difficult but surmountable challenges for heat pumps.
Multiple studies have explored this possibility recently, including one published last year, which suggested AMOC collapse could begin to unfold as early as 2025—though that particular analysis indicated it might not actually start until the end of the century. AMOC collapse aside, it’s worth noting that climate change is generally expected to make winters warmer—but the coldest days, for example in California, will probably still be just as cold, says Duncan Callaway, a professor of energy and resources at UC Berkeley. Grid operators need to balance energy generation with consumption in order to avoid blackouts, but heat pumps could actually be a useful tool here, says Johanna Mathieu, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan.
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