If you’re not a fan of heat pumps, you either don’t have one (yet) or aren’t familiar with the many ways these machines are improving energy efficiencies while reducing carbon emissions.
Suffice it to say these two big benefits are making heat pumps wildly popular with home and property owners and governments alike. (It’s safe to say the planet is probably a big fan as well.)
But there are other reasons as well, including:
Net-Zero: The U.S. has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, a hugely ambitious goal for the world’s biggest economy. Because 13 percent of those emissions are produced by homes and buildings (through heating, cooling, cooking, etc.), it’s of paramount importance to replace polluting power plants with more efficient systems like heat pumps.
Costs: Heat pumps not only are 3-5x more energy efficient than more traditional systems, ongoing technology advances are leading to still higher levels of energy efficiencies. One study by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) showed that, depending on a heat pump’s efficiency level, 62-95 percent of homes would experienced reduced heating bills with heat pumps.
Incentives: For many homeowners and property owners, the tax credits and savings for switching to heat pumps can be substantial. Federal tax credits, for example, can reach $2000 for equipment and installation. And many states are also incentivizing these change overs, with Massachusetts offering a $10,000 rebate on installation costs.
Value: Home values can actually increase with heat pumps. Some studies have shown that energy-efficient homes sell for 4-7% more than their counterparts.
So what’s standing in the way of more property owners transitioning to heat pumps? That same NREL study said installation costs need to come down more to make it feasible for many if not most. The good news: governments and utilities alike seem inclined to help.
