Heat pumps are among the most economical and environmentally friendly heating devices. They draw energy from renewable sources and require relatively small amounts of electricity to operate. In the face of rising electricity prices, it is worth considering this alternative and considering a gas or electric installation. Residential communities and companies that will soon face drastic increases in gas and energy fees will benefit most from this solution.
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Costs of heating multi-family buildings and office buildings with heat pumps
When estimating expenses related to the use of a heat pump, a distinction should be made between investment and operating costs. While the former may be much higher than the prices of other heat sources, the latter can be balanced, for example, by a photovoltaic installation . Moreover, you must remember that the specific type of heat pump has a huge impact on the final calculations. So let's look at different cases.
The cheapest investment will undoubtedly be an air heat pump . Its purchase and installation can be estimated at PLN 30,000 - PLN 35,000. zloty. A ground source heat pump will be much more expensive, costing approximately PLN 45,000 to PLN 60,000 at a time. zloty. However, the profitability of both solutions will only be verified in the future. In the first case, energy is taken from a less stable heat source, which is air. Therefore, much more electricity is needed to process it than when using a more stable ground temperature.
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The above costs may discourage some private investors, but this should not raise any doubts among housing cooperatives or business organizations. These entities consume so much heat energy that the expense of purchasing and installing the pump will pay off after just a few years. The device uses only 20 - 25% of the electricity that would be needed to power the electric heating system. Against the background of rising energy and gas prices, this seems to be a negligible expense, especially since many investors are subject to much higher commercial rates.
For some entities, the operating costs of heat pumps can be further reduced by photovoltaic micro-installations . Although they involve significant investment expenses, they can be easily minimized thanks to various subsidy programs. As a result, you obtain free electricity, which will certainly be useful in the future to power a heat pump. If certain conditions are met, the building will become completely self-sufficient - both in terms of electricity and heat production.
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Heat pump and gas - comparison of heating costs for entrepreneurs and housing communities
So far, heat pumps have been compared with gas heating in terms of profitability. They should be chosen primarily by investors who do not have a gas connection. Its implementation was very close to the installation costs used when purchasing and installing a heat pump. This has now started to change completely.
All because of the drastically rising prices of natural gas. Moreover, in the face of recent geopolitical events, further significant increases should be expected. For this reason, gas heating may no longer be profitable, not only in terms of installation, but also subsequent operation.
The purchase of a gas boiler is approximately PLN 5,000 - PLN 10,000. zloty. If there is no connection, its installation is another expense of up to PLN 15,000. zloty. At this point, the costs are very close to the value of investing in an air heat pump. And this is just the beginning, because gas prices, which might have seemed attractive a year ago, are now twice as high. At this point, the accumulation of increases for many housing cooperatives will result in the need to increase rents for tenants. It will undoubtedly be less beneficial for them and may meet with their violent opposition.
Replacing gas heating with a heat pump should be considered not only by owners of newly constructed buildings, but also by people managing existing housing communities. Convincing tenants to make such a one-off investment may prove to be much easier than a drastic rent increase.
Heat pumps and electric heating in a multi-family building or company - cost comparison
The electrical heating installation converts electricity into heat in a 1:1 ratio, and the heat pump in a 1:4 ratio. Given the current (and still rising) electricity prices, we can consider the operation of an electric boiler to be completely unprofitable.
Investment costs cannot be ignored. The electric boiler and a special heat accumulator alone cost approximately PLN 8,000. zloty. Of course, there will be other elements of the central heating and hot water installations, but their prices will be exactly the same as in other heating systems. Let us once again emphasize the fact that it is impossible to clearly estimate the costs of heating a facility. The efficiency of an electric heat source will also depend on the type of building, the quality of insulation and even the personal preferences of the tenants. Therefore, you should use the technical data of specific heating devices and compare them with the specificity of a given facility.
Costs of heating with a heat pump compared to other heating systems in apartment blocks and commercial facilities
Currently, it is not easy to estimate the costs of heating rooms with solid fuels. It all depends on the quality of the fuel and the conditions in the building. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that operating a pellet boiler costs up to 20-30% more than burning coal.
The costs of purchasing and installing the installation will, of course, be lower than in the case of air heat pumps and gas heating of the building. Boiler prices start from PLN 6,000 to PLN 8,000 thousand. PLN, although they may also exceed PLN 10,000. zloty. It is certainly worth taking into account other issues related to solid fuel boilers. They are becoming less and less popular, mainly due to the introduction of restrictive ecological standards. Polluting the environment is simply becoming unprofitable from a financial point of view. We can therefore expect traditional heating systems to continue to be pushed out of the market. They will undoubtedly be largely replaced by renewable energy sources, also in the form of heat pumps.
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Based on the current prices of electricity and the most common fuels, i.e. gas, coal, biomass and oil, it is possible to estimate the unit costs of heating a building in various ways. 1 kWh of heat costs:
- PLN 0.165 in the case of a ground heat pump (cost of electricity),
- PLN 0.196 in the case of an air heat pump (cost of electricity),
- PLN 0.292 in the case of a natural gas furnace (gas cost),
- PLN 0.314 in the case of a coal-fired boiler (cost of coal),
- PLN 0.365 in the case of a pellet boiler (biomass cost),
- PLN 0.453 in the case of an oil boiler (cost of oil),
- PLN 0.667 in the case of an electric furnace (cost of electricity in the G11 tariff).
It is therefore easy to calculate what savings a heat pump guarantees and how long it will take to pay off the related expenses. If you manage a company or a housing community, do not waste time and prepare for rising heating costs! Check out the range of our online wholesaler, where you will find both air and ground heat pumps.
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