Saving Green: Ready to make the jump to the more efficient heat pump
A desire for a more comfortable, affordable and sustainable home led us to heat pumps.
My wife and I purchased a small, 1920s house in Pullman about two years ago. While the home’s bones appeared sound, the facade looked a bit tumbledown with peeling paint. There were holes in the wall and the basement was dirty.
But it was a place we could afford as a middle-income couple in a competitive housing market. Not to mention it had a yard for our dog. Fortunately, we had the go-getter mentality of first-time homebuyers and were eager to get our hands dirty.
We’ve since painted every room in the house as well as the house exterior, given the bathroom a makeover, fixed some walls, replaced drafty windows in our bedroom and started a garden. Now we’re thinking how to make home more comfortable during all seasons and how to live more sustainably. A gas stove fireplace in the main living area supplemented by wall-mounted electric heaters in the two bedrooms serve as our sources of heat. But we have no air conditioning, which we found can be uncomfortable during hot summer days. We heard heat pumps are much more efficient than other forms of heating and have the added benefit of air conditioning. So, we decided to do some research.
As someone who likes to dive into details, I wanted to compare the cost of heating our home with an air-source heat pump to our gas stove fireplace. Gas is a cheaper form of heating in the Palouse than most other electrical equivalents. But since heat pumps on the market are two to three times as efficient as my fireplace, I calculated that I could save more than $100 on my heating bill each year. Additionally, new federal incentives through the Inflation Reduction Act make purchasing a heat pump much more affordable. The Inflation Reduction Act will provide about half the upfront cost of the heat pump for middle-income households and cover the full cost for lower income households. Additionally, all heat pump purchasers can receive a $2,000 tax credit. To find out what incentives you qualify for, visit rewiringamerica.org/app/ira-calculator.
In our current situation, we’d only qualify for the tax credit. But we like the idea of getting away from burning fossil fuels to heat our house in order to reduce our contribution to the climate crisis. Even though Avista still burns some natural gas and coal to generate our electricity, we already subscribe to Avista’s 100% clean energy program for a very small additional cost each month. While our individual contribution to the environment may feel small, we learned that switching from gas heating to electric heat pumps is key climate solution as electric grids will be increasingly supplied by renewable energy and gas can have significant climate impacts from methane leaks (see news coverage on the climate benefits of heat pumps versus gas n.pr/3YnBtYs). Additionally, using gas in the home has been shown to have adverse health impacts due to its byproduct nitrogen dioxide (find more information on the health impacts of gas inside the home at bit.ly/3qtbHFD).
A common criticism we’ve heard about heat pumps is that they don’t perform well in very cold temperatures (below 20 degrees Fahrenheit). But it seems as the technology has evolved, the performance of many heat pumps has improved in colder climates. In fact, heat pumps are currently used in the coldest parts of Europe such as Norway, Finland and Sweden by close to 50% of householders. In conversations with a few contractors, we’ve learned there are many different types of heat pumps and it’s important to find the right fit for your household. A heat pump can be connected to an existing duct system, and it can be installed as a single unit in one or multiple rooms. Additionally, heat pumps with inverters are more efficient than ones without an inverter because they modulate their output to match exactly the heating/cooling requirements of a building rather than over or under heating/cooling. The important lesson for us has been to talk to a few contractors in the area to learn more.
Given the tax incentives, environmental benefits and lower operating cost, my wife and I are ready to sign ourselves up for a heat pump. Now if only we can find an HVAC contractor without a backlog of work to install the system.
Witters Hicks has lived in Pullman for four years with his wife and dog. He enjoys biking on Moscow Mountain, taking walks around Pullman neighborhoods, and thinking about how to solve environmental issues. Saving Green (formerly Taking Action) is a column spearheaded by the Citizens Climate Lobby and city of Moscow’s Climate Action Working Group, working together to gather and share ideas residents can do to lighten our impact on the environment. With suggestions or questions about this column, visit the Citizens’ Climate Lobby-Palouse Chapter at cclpalouse.org.
