How is it that a machine (like a heat pump) can consume 1kw of power and produce an amount greater than that of heat? What am I misunderstanding?
In: 320
Because you are ignoring the initial heat added.
Your thermodynamics professor would tell you to draw an energy boundary.
You have some amount of heat energy: heat source, and a heat sink (destination). If you add a heat pump between them, you would add electric energy to the heat pump to move the heat from the source to the sink. If you draw your energy boundary around the heat pump, you have: electric energy going in to run the pump, heat energy going in from the heat source, and heat energy going out to the heat sink (heat energy in + electric energy in > heat energy out).
Saying the COP is greater than 1 ignores the heat energy going in. They are simply saying (electric energy in < heat energy out). It is intentionally misleading.
To use another metaphor: this is a dude standing at the top of a waterfall, peeing into it, and pretending he’s responsible for the entire waterfall.
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