Researchers from Sakarya University and ETA4 Engineering in Turkey have tested an air-source heat pump (ASHP) heating system designed for commercial poultry houses. This, they found, can not only save money on heating, but can also precisely control the environmental conditions necessary for raising chickens commercially at scale.

In fact, according to the researchers, using heat pumps can save around 44% in costs compared to comparable coal-fired heating.

“The annual cost comparison showed a reduction from $15,506.26 for coal heating to $8,692.48 for the heat pump system, corresponding to approximately 44% lower annual heating costs,” study author Zekeriya Parlak told PV Magazine in an interview.

“The comparative analysis also indicated that the heat pump offered additional cost savings of approximately 18% relative to coal, 42% relative to natural gas, 48% relative to fuel oil, and 65% relative to direct electric resistance heating under the evaluated conditions,” he added.

At present, most poultry houses use a combination of coal-, gas-, or oil-fired boilers to circulate heated air throughout them. While very effective, this can be a very costly enterprise, especially in colder weather. The team, however, wondered if a heat pump could be a viable alternative.

In case you are unaware, these work a bit like a refrigerator in reverse. Rather than generating heat by burning fuel, it extracts thermal energy from outside air, even when that air is cold, and transfers it indoors. The secret power of this setup is something called the coefficient of performance (COP).

A conventional electric resistance heater converts approximately one unit of electricity into one unit of heat.

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