It is said a lie repeated often enough eventually becomes the truth.
Otago Regional Council chairman Stephen Cairns (ODT, 11.8.09) quite innocently continues the lie about heat-pump efficiency that has now become pretty much gospel when he states that the heat pump is the most efficient form of heating of which he knows.
This lie has obviously been welcomed by the heat-pump industry but it was most probably brought about by the simple carelessness of a few users or reporters in the interests of brevity.
The true statement should be that the heat pump is the most efficient form of electrical heating.
To compare the efficiency of different forms of heating becomes quite significantly more difficult and enters the realm of saying that bananas have more taste than apples.
My vote for most efficient heating would have to be a nuclear fission reaction that can turn a few kilograms of uranium into enough heat to either provide the hot water for home heating in a sizeable city or, when put into a bomb, can just simply melt that city.
Lewis Cross
Balclutha
This week's winner, Lewis Cross, of Balclutha, receives a copy of Bruce Ansley's A Long Slow Affair of the Heart, Longacre Press, $39.99.
