HEAT PUMP NEWS
Heat pumps are keeping homes warm in Maine
Manufactured — or mobile — homes make up about 8% of the housing in Maine. Most of them are heated with oil, kerosene, or propane.
Mistro: “And all of these are relatively expensive heating fuels.”
“We had two days last year where it was 15 below … but we were fine. You know, I was very comfortable, so it worked well.”
Marianna Casagranda
Casagranda of Freeport was one of 10 mobile homeowners who received a heat pump system in the first year of the program. She’s used it as her sole source of heat since January 2022.
UK Government Holds its Nerve on Heat Pumps as Clean Heat Policy Confirmed
Energy efficiency minister Martin Callanan praises DeSmog’s investigation uncovering “false and misleading stories” planted by the gas boiler industry as he reaffirmed the policy in parliament. A cornerstone of the UK’s plans to slash the use of gas in home heating has survived a bitter backlash from the gas boiler sector.
“It’s highly welcome to hear Lord Callanan confirm that the Clean Heat Market Mechanism will go ahead – despite ferocious lobbying and media speculation.”
Juliet Philips, programme lead at energy think tank E3G
Gas boilers currently heat around 85 percent of Britain’s homes, and introducing low-carbon heating from electricity-powered heat pumps is essential to the UK meeting its climate targets. However, the clean heat plans have been under attack from the UK’s gas boiler sector – and from politicians.
VIDEO: Energy efficiency minister Callanan & Baroness Emma Pidding commend DeSmog’s heat pump investigation
In October, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak weakened plans to phase out the installation of gas boilers in new homes amid a backlash on green policies that was welcomed by anti-net zero and climate science denial groups.
“It’s good to see the government holding its nerve on heat pumps, in the face of the most disgraceful predatory delay tactics by the UK gas heating industry.”
Michael Liebreich, energy analyst and founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance
Judge Denies Industry Challenge to Delay Implementation of Washington’s New Climate and Health-Friendly Building Codes
OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON — In another legal win for Washington’s new climate-friendly building codes – among the most progressive in the nation – a state judge today denied a legal challenge from gas and homebuilding industry petitioners seeking to block their implementation.
Today’s ruling means the new statewide building codes, which allow flexibility while incentivizing electric heat pumps over polluting methane gas in all new commercial and residential buildings, will take effect as planned on March 15, 2024.
“Today’s ruling is a huge win for our clean air, our climate, and our communities.”
Dylan Plummer, Sierra Club
The long-awaited code update is viewed as a critical solution to improve public health and combat climate change. It will also help Washington meet its goal of zero fossil fuel emissions from buildings by 2031, set by state law.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries debuts air source inverter heat pump
Conceived for residential, commercial, and industrial applications, the Hydrolution PRO heat pump has a coefficient of performance of up to 3.47 and a seasonal coefficent of performance of up to 4.59. It uses difluoromethane (R32) as the refrigerant. Dubbed Hydrolution PRO, the new product is available in three models with sizes of 50 kW, 75 kW, and 100 kW.
How Heat Pumps Could Save Most Americans Money on Energy
It’s the latest report demonstrating the energy-saving value of heat pumps, the all-electric, highly efficient appliances that can replace both fossil-fuel-burning furnaces and less-efficient air conditioners.
The NREL study focused on air-source heat pumps, which are less expensive but also less efficient than their geothermal cousins. Air-source heat pumps cycle a refrigerant between your in-home unit and the air outside, capturing thermal energy from outside (even when it’s cold) and using it to heat your home in the winter and doing the opposite in the summer to cool your home off.
Geothermal heat pumps do the same, but run the refrigerant underground to tap into the warmth below the surface.
What I Learned From My First Winter With A Heat Pump
Since my wife and I installed an electric heat pump and a high-efficiency electric water heater (with a tank) in the summer of 2022, we’ve used a total of 17 cubic metres of natural gas. By way of comparison, in March 2022 alone, we burned 357 cubic metres. It had been a cold month, and our furnace, that troll-ish contraption huddled in a dim corner of the basement, was running full out.
However, there’s been a far more edifying pay off. In March 2022, our home emitted almost 700 kg of carbon by operating a gas furnace and a gas water heater. By striking contrast, in the three-quarters of a year that elapsed between July 2022, and March 2023, our emissions were just a shade over 13 kg—a 98 percent reduction. Not quite net zero, but encouragingly close.
The US Saw Record Percentages Of Heat Pump & Electric Water Heater Sales In 2023
2023 saw the highest sales of electric water heaters in the past 20 years. 4.9 million electric water heaters were shipped in the US in 2023, a record 613,000 more than the 4.29 million gas water heaters.
Electric water heaters are opening up an unprecedented and potentially permanent lead over gas water heaters and now have 53.3% of market share.
Furthermore, gas water heater sales were 2% below their 20-year average in 2023, while electric water heaters were 15% above average. The Department of Energy has also proposed new standards to phase out electric resistance water heaters over 35 gallons by 2029, so nearly all electric water heating is likely to move to much more efficient heat pumps in the near future.
National Park Service: The Magic of Heat Pumps – The Transition Away from Burning Fossil Fuels
Heat pumps help cut down on fossil fuel emissions because they rely on electricity instead of burning fuels like propane and natural gas. Golden Gate National Recreation Area already purchases renewable electricity through two community choice programs, Clean Power SF and MCE Clean Energy.
Not only are heat pumps more environmentally friendly, they are also energy efficient — using half the electricity of other electric home heaters and returning 2-5 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of heat for every one kWh used. This creates a lower cost of operation over time compared to gas and other electric heaters.
Additionally, natural gas and propane prices fluctuate, while electricity prices are more stable, making it easier to track expenses related to the use and installation of heat pumps. Another benefit of many heat pump models is that individual zones can be manually controlled, ensuring that energy is not being wasted to heat or cool unoccupied spaces.
Heat pumps outsold gas furnaces again last year — and the gap is growing
Americans bought 21 percent more heat pumps in 2023 than the next-most popular heating appliance, fossil gas furnaces. That’s the biggest lead heat pumps have opened up over conventional furnaces in the two decades of data available from the trade group.
As electric appliances, heat pumps help slash planet-warming emissions from a major source — space heating — while also letting consumers ditch the health-harming fumes from gas and heating oil in their homes. They’re almost magically efficient; they can routinely produce the same amount of heat as a fossil-fired system using just a third or a quarter of the energy.
The Feds Just Bet Even Bigger on American-Made Heat Pumps
The US Department of Energy is announcing another $63 million to supercharge domestic manufacturing of the devices—in the name of national, energy, and climate security. After years of stealthy, steady growth, heat pumps are now outselling gas furnaces in the United States.
Basically, the federal funding is aiming to nix the use of gas in a home wherever possible, working toward residences going fully electric. The humble heat pump is so much more efficient than a gas furnace that even if you’re forced to power one with a grid running on fossil fuels, you’re still better off.
According to one estimate, switching to a heat pump will save the average American household over $550 a year.
New report details how traditional HVAC systems are taking a backseat in the Northeast — here’s why that’s important
Heat pump enthusiasm continues to grow in New England. Vermont led the region in per capita installation rate through last year, with 97 per 1,000 residents. Maine was right there with 94 per 1,000 residents and more than doubled the Green Mountain State’s total with 131,000 more heat pumps.
Vermont added 63,000, though its population is less than half of Maine’s. Massachusetts, New England’s most populous state with seven million citizens, has had 30,000 heat pumps installed, or just 4 per 1,000 residents.
The trend stretches across the United States. Heat pumps were 21% more popular than gas-powered furnaces last year, staking a 54.7% market share.
In Northwest Arctic, federal grant will bring heat pumps to homes, solar energy to villages
Under a newly announced federal grant, every household in the Northwest Arctic Borough would receive a heat pump to alleviate the cost of energy, and every village in the regionwould have a solar energy system — and an additional source of revenue.
“The heat pumps are exciting to get people off of diesel fuel and kind of move towards more electrification of heat.”
Chad Nordlum, energy project manager at the Native Village of Kotzebue
In late February, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded rural and remote communities across the country funds to lower energy costs and support the deployment of clean energy. The money will be used for all 11 villages in the Northwest Arctic region where the fuel prices are some of the highest in the nation.
The Energy Age 