Heat Pump magic Science
Heat pumps don't create heat — they move it. Put in 1 kWh of electricity and get 3–5 kWh of heat back, not by breaking physics but by pulling the rest for free from the outside air, even when that air is cold.
COP vs. outside air temperature
real heat pump
Carnot ceiling
gas furnace, 90%
Outside air TC
warmer TC → higher COP
−20°Ccolder outside · less free heat20°C
Efficiency
%
delivered (paid)
free (outside air)
lost (waste)
Try
Coefficient of performance (COP) is heat delivered divided by electrical work: COP = QH/W, which can honestly exceed 1 because QH = W + QC — the extra comes from outside air, not from breaking energy conservation. The dashed line above is the Carnot ceiling, TH/(TH−TC) in kelvin — the best any heat pump could do, climbing without bound as outdoor and indoor temperature converge (hence the arrow where it runs off the top of the chart). The solid curve is a real machine, read off Daikin Quebec's published COP table (one product line, not a universal curve; the −20°C and +20°C ends extrapolate its nearest slope). Gas furnaces don't move ambient heat, so they sit flat near 90% — the rest is lost up the flue, shown above as the loss arrow when that device is selected. Electric resistance heaters are flatter still, pinned at exactly COP 1. Try all three from the toggle above. Indoor target fixed at 21°C throughout.
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