Exergia

Heat pump tradeoff

COP Is Not a Business Case

COP is a performance indicator, not a decision model. Useful heat, utilization, electricity price, integration cost and reliability decide the project.

COP in context

A high COP at a test point can be irrelevant if the heat source is intermittent, the sink temperature rises during operation or the heat pump operates at low load.

The useful metric is seasonal useful COP after auxiliaries, controls and real operating patterns.

Decision model

A business case needs gas displacement, electricity cost, grid charges, CapEx, subsidy, maintenance, backup heat and avoided emissions.

Engineering FAQs

What COP should be used in screening?

Use a conservative COP based on source and sink temperatures, then test sensitivity. Avoid using supplier best-case values as the financial base case.