Craving cooling? There’s a heat pump for that

In cooling mode, the system takes the heat from the indoor space and moves it outside; in heating mode, it takes the heat from outside (even on very cold days there is heat in the air) and moves it inside. And it makes these transfers using a relatively small amount of energy.

Heat pumps are not a new technology and they’re actually very common worldwide, but until recently they were mostly confined to the warmer parts of the US where they’re primarily used in cooling mode. Thanks to gains in efficiency in the past decade or so, cold-climate heat pumps are capable of heating a home in temperatures below -10 degrees Fahrenheit, while providing cooling in summer as an added benefit. In our mountainous region, it wouldn’t make sense to install a heat pump for A/C alone, but with federal rebates expected to become available soon, it can be cost-effective as a combined heating and cooling system.

There are some misconceptions about heat pumps that are worth clarifying, because this technology has the potential to help a lot of people with their indoor comfort and their utility bills.

We hear the question sometimes: electricity is more expensive than natural gas, so why would anyone switch to an electric heating system? It’s true that in Colorado, we pay less for a BTU (a unit of heat) from a natural gas furnace than a BTU from conventional electric heating equipment. But the cool thing about heat pumps is that they’re a lot more efficient than conventional electric heat.

A brand-new gas furnace is typically 96% efficient, which means it converts 96% of the energy it uses into heat. A heat pump on the other hand can be as much as 300% efficient! How? The energy it uses to produce the heat is much less than the amount of heat produced. So if you spend $1 on natural gas in that furnace, you get $0.96 worth of heat, but if you spend $1 on electricity to run the heat pump, you get up to $3 worth of heat. And, we’re not even taking into account that electricity rates are less volatile than those of natural gas.

Another common misconception is that heat pumps don’t work well in our climate. As mentioned, the technology has gotten much better. Some HVAC installers still misleadingly advise homeowners that they need a separate heating system to serve as a backup to the heat pump. But while a heat pump’s heating capacity does go down in very cold temperatures, that can be remedied with a simple resistance coil attachment that warms the air up slightly before it reaches the living space.

Lastly, we often hear that the greenhouse gas emissions savings of heat pumps must be insignificant because Colorado’s grid is fossil-fuel-heavy. This was true in the past, but the portion of the grid powered by renewables is increasing every year. The percentage varies by utility. Glenwood Springs Electric, for its part, purchases 100% renewable energy for its subscribers. Xcel Energy and Holy Cross Energy are currently at 45% and 76% renewables respectively, and they’re expected to hit 80-95% by 2030. Thus a heat pump in a Glenwood Springs home is already nominally zero-emissions, and one installed in either Holy Cross or Xcel territory is pretty clean now and will become substantially cleaner over its lifespan.

Heat pumps are a technology that heats and cools, costs less to run, reduces harmful greenhouse gas emissions, and often comes with rebates and tax incentives that make the upfront costs more palatable. They tick a lot of boxes for people considering upgrading their heating and cooling and downgrading their bills.

Homeowners who are thinking of adding air conditioning are advised to beef up their insulation first. Insulation is the ounce of prevention that’s worth a pound of A/C – it’s way cheaper and more efficient to keep the heat out in the first place than it is to get rid of it once it’s come in.

But after adding insulation, if you still have your heart set on adding A/C – and especially if your furnace is old – then we highly encourage you to consider a heat pump. Call our energy coaches and they’ll make sure you’ve got all the info you need to make a good decision for you and your home.