What is a heat pump? Why are they planet friendly? And why don’t more Americans have them?

Several months ago, Sam Calisch dressed up like a heat pump. Think white carboard, a spinning fan and a headpiece shaped like a vent.

The engineer, known as “Mr. Heat Pump,” talked to strangers on the streets of Washington, D.C., about the machines on behalf of Rewiring America, a nonprofit focused on electrification.

But few people Calisch spoke to were familiar with a heat pump.

Results from the stunt represent one of the biggest obstacles to deploying a key climate solution: a “lack of information” about heat pumps and a greater familiarity with fossil fuel technology, a Columbia University study found.

“[We’ve] got to tell people about heat pumps,” Calisch said.

Why heat pumps are more efficient than traditional heaters

A heat pump can heat and cool a house. It works like a refrigerator: the system extracts energy from outdoor air — or the ground with a geothermal heat pump – pumps it through refrigerant-filled coils, and converts it to heat for the home. There is a reverse valve for cooling.

Heat pumps move heat from one place to another, instead of burning fuel to create heat. That translates to major climate benefits.

The machines are up to four times more efficient than traditional heaters, with the potential to save anywhere from one to seven metric tons of carbon emissions every year. A ton of CO₂ is roughly equivalent to an international flight to Europe.

“You can heat your home using only electricity, instead of burning a fossil fuel like gas or fuel oil,” Calisch said. “Because heat pumps are so efficient, they can, even today, reduce emissions anywhere in the country.”

But the emissions savings will increase as the nation’s electricity becomes cleaner with more renewables, Calisch added.

Courtesy Flickr

Heat pumps extract energy from the air.

Heat pumps have a higher upfront cost than an air conditioning unit or a furnace, usually ranging from $2,500 to $10,000. But a heat pump replaces both systems — installing a heat pump is now cheaper than installing both a furnace and AC.

Since many people transition when either their furnace or air conditioning gives out, however, they rely on the annual savings from utility bills.

Heat pumps can save homes about $500 annually, on average, versus an electric resistance heater, and $1,000 annually compared to an oil heater, according to the Department of Energy.

For a natural gas furnace, the average annual savings drop to $105. But switching from gas to heat pumps has the highest potential for improved health: gas-powered furnaces can compromise indoor air quality and increase the likelihood of respiratory and cardiovascular disease and premature death, according to a University of California, Los Angeles study.

The federal government is about to offer a big discount for them

The Inflation Reduction Act seeks to make heat pumps more affordable. Homeowners can get up to $8,000 off the sticker price in a “point-of-sale” rebate, which means the rebate is automatically deducted from the price at the time of sale.

The rebates are offered based on household income. Rewiring America offers a calculator to determine an individual’s potential savings and tax credits from the new law.

If folks do decide to get a heat pump, Calisch recommends finding a contractor to help sort out which heat pump would be proper for their home.

Heat pumps will eventually become more climate-friendly

Heat pumps could further reduce climate pollution with an update in the types of refrigerants used in the machines.

At this time, the cooling fluids in heat pumps, fridges or air conditioners are hydrofluorocarbons, which are synthetic gases that are thousands of times more potent that carbon dioxide at heating Earth – and originally a solution to ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons.

The U.S. Senate ratified a treaty last week to phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons. Carbon dioxide represents one of the best solutions, due to the small amount needed for cooling. But with synthetic gases still a dominant industry, they’ll likely play a role in powering the small but mighty heat pump for the near future.