> But those old places are heated with oil, they're leaky wood construction, they have no option for cooling because there are no vents.

Ductless mini split style heat pumps are a common retrofit option for older buildings without vents aren't they?

> I didn't read the article - tired of all the American articles in the press promoting ac for some reason.

When a heat pump is used for cooling it's effectively the same as an AC. The main difference AFAIU is that a heat pump can reverse for heating as well. I think when Americans promote AC they probably consider a heat pump to be just another AC variant.