by Bob Ciesielski, Chapter Energy Committee Chair
Advances in electric heating, cooling, and appliances are amazing. Electric heat pumps capture existing heat from the ground in geothermal systems. Heat pumps can also capture existing heat from the outdoors to provide heating in cold weather air-to-air systems. Both geothermal and modern cold weather air-to-air heat pumps provide comfortable heating in sub-zero weather. The systems can also cool indoor temperatures in warm weather.
Cold weather air-to-air heat pumps are now operational in homes in Maine, Minnesota, and upstate New York including the Adirondacks. Heat pumps are not a fringe phenomenon - last year heat pump sales in the U.S. exceeded those of gas furnaces. Modern cold weather air-to air heat pumps provide operational heat down to 13 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Maine, a state with fewer than 600,000 occupied housing units, has already issued some 116,000 rebates for cold air heat pumps. These cold weather air-to-air heat pumps are operating in northern Maine, replacing the extremely expensive propane and oil heating in the area, despite push back from the fossil fuel industry.
Heat pumps are much more energy efficient than burning gas, oil, coal or propane at thousands of degrees to gain 10 to 20 degrees in warmth. The organization Carbon Switch has found that converting from a gas furnace to a cold weather heat air-to-air heat pump would save the average U.S. household $557 a year in heating bills. On the climate change front, carbon emissions could be cut up to 53% if all gas furnaces were replaced.
Apartment-usable air-to-air cold weather heat pumps are being developed. Public Housing complexes in NYC are being retrofitted in a pilot project with “saddle-bag” air-to-air heat pumps which can be suspended over window sills in apartment units.
Geothermal heating, which captures ground heat through subsurface heating lines, is being installed in homes and large-scale apartment complexes. The old Pierce Arrow automobile factory in Buffalo has been converted to 126 apartment units and one large restaurant. The 158,000 square foot building is completely heated and cooled by a geothermal system, which also provides 100% of the domestic hot water. Tenants have resided in the building since April 2021. In general, the efficiency gains of geothermal heat pumps may make them more cost-effective than air-to-air heat pumps over a 15 year or longer timeframe.
Induction cooktops and stoves use technology that generates energy from an electromagnetic field below a glass cooktop surface, which then transfers the current directly to magnetic cookware. A March 2023 study by Consumer Reports found that the new cooktops and ranges “generally out-perform every other kind of range” in Consumer Report’s tests. Every induction model tested delivered the best cook-up heat and superb simmering.
Purchasers of geothermal heating and cooling systems, cold weather air-to-air heat pumps and induction stoves may be entitled to financial incentives from the Federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and also from New York State. The IRA provides for a 30% tax credit for a heat pump up to $2,000. A special provision for lower income households with earnings below 80% of the median area income covers 100% of the cost of purchasing and installing a heat pump up to $8,000. Consumers should check for both rebates and tax credits. Energy savings result from less usage by all these units. And electrification reduces greenhouse gas emissions to help reduce global warming and mitigate climate change. (More information here)
Sources:
“The heat pump revolution is here. Here is what you need to know.”, The Guardian, March 11, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/11/heat-pump-revolution-what-you-need-to-know
“Heat pumps are defying Maine’s winters and oil industry push back”, Washington Post, February 7, 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/02/07/maine-gas-industry-heat-pumps/
“As Heat Pumps Go Mainstream, a Big Question: Can they Handle Real Cold”, New York Times, February 22, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/02/22/climate/heat-pumps-extreme-cold.html
https://carbonswitch.com/stoves/
https://carbonswitch.com/heating-and-cooling/