Death is approaching for your old gas furnace. And the killer is the humble heat pump.they already In the United States, it exceeds gas furnaces, And now a coalition of states has signed an agreement to make it as cheap and easy as possible for residents to transition from gas to electricity.
Nine states have signed a memorandum of understanding stating that heat pumps should account for at least 65 percent of residential heating, air conditioning, and water heating equipment shipments by 2030. (“Shipping” here means systems manufactured and is a proxy for that number) These states are California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Rhode Island. We aim to have 90% of our shipments be heat pumps by 2020.
“This is a very strong signal from the state that it is committed to accelerating the transition to zero-emission residential buildings,” said the Northeastern States Regulated Air Utilization Management (NESCAUM), an aviation industry association. said Emily Levine, senior policy advisor. The quality agency that facilitated the contract. The states will work together, for example, to pursue federal funding, develop standards for installing heat pumps, and develop a comprehensive plan “including priority measures to support widespread electrification of residential buildings.”
Instead of burning natural gas, which causes global warming, heat pumps heat buildings by transferring heat from outdoor air to interior spaces. When operated in the opposite direction, it can cool the interior of a building. A heat pump acts as both a heater and an AC unit. Since the system is electric, it is increasingly powered from the grid using renewable energy such as wind and solar. Even if you need to run a heat pump with electricity from a fossil fuel power plant, it is much more efficient than a furnace because it moves heat rather than creating it.
Heat pumps can save the average American household more than $550 per year. According to some estimates. They have become so efficient that even when it’s cold, they can still bring out the warmth Heat your home from the air. You can also install a heat pump system. warm the water. “We really want to send the message that there is a real need for consumers to transition from dirty heat to clean heat, and that heat pumps are really the best way to go,” said Maryland Secretary of the Environment Selena McIlwain. “I’m doing it,” he says. She says, “We have homeowners who are getting ready to replace their furnaces, but if they don’t know about it, they’re not going to replace it with a heat pump.”
The coalition’s announcement comes just months after the federal government doubled its commitment to heat pumps, announcing $169 million in funding for domestic production of the systems. The funding comes from the Inflation Control Act of 2022, which also provides American households with thousands of dollars in rebates and tax credits for switching to heat pumps.
These states aim to further collaborate with heat pump manufacturers by tracking sales and overall progress and subsequently signaling the industry to increase production to meet demand. The companies will also collaborate with each other on research and share information with the public to work towards the best strategies to achieve the transition from gas to electricity. Essentially, they are pursuing a kind of standardization of policies and regulations to manufacture, buy and install more heat pumps, and other states outside the Union may also eventually take advantage of this. be.