Europe Beats Soaring Gas Prices with Heat Pumps

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The story

An article from European outlet euronews — reporting that more and more households are beating soaring gas prices by installing heat pumps — drew a wave of responses on the overseas forum Lemmy’s c/europe. Heat pumps have long been common in the Nordic countries, and in recent years cold-climate models that keep running even at -30°C have appeared. In Denmark, wind power supplies 60% of electricity, and the government even subsidizes switching from gas to heat pumps. On the other hand, some pointed out that rising grid costs might cancel out the benefit of falling gas prices.

European countries are beating soaring gas prices by installing heat pumps

Source: euronews.com / Original article here

What people said

4Anonymous2026-10-02 07:30
The nice thing about heat pumps is you can run them on solar too. There are plenty of days that are sunny but not all that warm, and mine basically runs 'free' almost the whole day.
15Anonymous2026-10-02 11:25
But… but… the economy, though (wry laugh)
5Anonymous2026-10-02 08:23
Yeah yeah, I bet someone's about to show up and say 'this doesn't work in places where barely anyone lives.'
12Anonymous2026-10-02 13:18
Heat pumps have been a thing in the Nordics forever though
16Anonymous2026-10-02 13:31
The current cold-climate models are rated down to -30°C now
21Anonymous2026-10-02 17:59
That was a solid joke comment, but a lot of people clearly didn't get it (lol)
9Anonymous2026-10-02 08:42
Denmark gets 60% of its electricity from wind power
13Anonymous2026-10-02 08:34
Electricity can be generated almost infinitely, relatively easily. But gas will inevitably run out someday.
14Anonymous2026-10-02 09:21
What matters is cutting gas dependence one step at a time. That way, when the forced transition eventually comes, it'll hurt as little as possible.
17Anonymous2026-10-02 12:41
Well, maybe, but… (posts an article about Sweden upgrading home heating systems to hit its emissions targets)
18Anonymous2026-10-02 18:41
That said, plenty of gas furnaces are still around even in Denmark. I actually switched from gas to a heat pump recently myself, and the government gives a subsidy for the switch.
25Anonymous2026-10-02 19:01
Nice. I'm still on a gas stove too — couldn't switch to an induction (IH) cooktop because my home's wiring doesn't match the required type.
19Anonymous2026-10-02 19:53
It says 'if gas demand falls, gas prices will fall too,' but I wish gas prices actually behaved according to the simple supply-and-demand theory you learn in middle school.
22Anonymous2026-10-02 16:30
Grid costs already make up about 20% of the total. Even if falling demand brings gas prices down, rising grid costs will probably cancel that out. That's assuming gas stays cheap and there's no trouble with LNG supply, though.
24Anonymous2026-10-02 15:30
That's a pretty interesting piece of tech.
26Anonymous2026-10-02 18:31
That's literally my life right there…

Background and Key Points of This Discussion

European countries have been working for several years to cut their dependence on Russian gas, and the spread of heat pumps is part of that trend. The thread’s main point of debate was whether heat pumps are actually practical in cold climates — commenters cited the Nordic countries’ long track record of adoption, along with the latest cold-climate models that keep working even at -30°C. There was also pushback against the logic that ‘falling gas demand means falling gas prices’: since grid costs make up roughly 20% of electricity bills, rising grid costs could offset any such drop. Some countries, like Denmark — which gets 60% of its electricity from wind — even offer subsidies for switching away from gas.

*This article is excerpted from the overseas forum Lemmy c/europe thread “Europeans are beating high gas prices by installing heat pumps” and freely translated into Japanese by our editorial team. Our site is responsible for the translation.

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