If you’ve been spending more time in air-conditioned rooms over the past few summers, you’re definitely not the only one.
As our communities experience extreme weather effects due to climate change, more people are looking to lower greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring their homes are resilient to extreme heat. Turns out, you can take steps to tackle both of these at once!
Residential energy use accounts for roughly 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Currently, many homes use natural gas, heating oil or propane for heating, and air conditioning units for cooling.
Residents in Massachusetts are lucky to have renewable energy incentives that open up opportunities to reconsider how we power our homes and buildings. The technology that is frequently chosen is the heat pump.
Heating AND cooling
It is a common misconception that heat pumps only heat your home. In actuality, they provide both heating and cooling!
To cool the building, the technology pulls heat and humidity from the inside and transfers it to the outside. It works just as well as a traditional air-conditioning unit.
To warm the building, it does the reverse: It pulls heat from the outside and transfers it to the inside.
Modern cold-climate heat pumps can operate efficiently well below freezing. Even when it’s very cold out, there is heat in the air that can be extracted and brought indoors, which is much more efficient than generating new heat.
Heat pumps typically deliver two to four units of heat for every unit of electricity consumed, whereas generating new heat only delivers under a single unit of heat per unit of electricity.
There are two main parts of the system: the source side, where heat is gathered from, and the load side, where the heat is being delivered to the building.
Heat pumps can be air-to-air systems but also air-to-water systems, which provide domestic hot water in addition to heating and cooling.
There are also water-to-water or water-to-air systems, which require geothermal drilling yet are still options that you can consider so that your system is tailored to the needs of your home and finances.
Choose your style
Heat pumps can be installed in a variety of buildings, such as single-family homes, apartments, schools, offices, hospitals and industrial facilities. There are both ducted and ductless heat pumps, allowing them to be suited to homes or businesses with or without existing ductwork.
We’ve already mentioned that there are multiple installation types, but they can also be installed in newly constructed buildings or used to replace existing furnaces, boilers or electric resistance heaters. You can choose to use a heat pump or mini-split for one room or the whole house.
Cost competitive
Heat pumps are already widespread technology. They are found in water heaters, pool heaters and even in some electric vehicles for optimal energy efficiency.
The upfront cost of installing a heat pump is comparable to a new furnace or boiler and central air conditioning. Plus, costs of a heat pump system can be offset by the savings in your monthly utility bills.
If you have solar panels, you are the supplier of the energy that the heat pump uses, which drives down those monthly costs dramatically. You likely won’t find these kinds of savings with propane, oil or electric resistance as your chosen source.
Further, rebates may be available to you, and Sustainable Marblehead can help you figure out if you qualify.
If you would like to learn more about heat pumps, the opportunities available to you, and how to install one in your home, sign up for a free consultation with Sustainable Marblehead’s trained, local volunteer energy coaches at sustainablemarblehead.org/energycoachform or visit sustainablemarblehead.org for more information.
Jessica Valatka is a summer intern for Sustainable Marblehead.
