Heat Pumps Aren’t Sexy
By: Chris Wade
I was recently listening to a public radio broadcast here in Vermont on residential energy efficiency. The point of the program was to offer homeowners advise on how to reduce their utility bills through weatherization. In addition there were discussions of new technologies such as solar heating for hot water, space heat or electric, and wind energy.
Late in the show a question was asked about heat pump water heaters. Of the two “experts” on the show, one was utterly unfamiliar with the technology but tried to answer the question anyway. The second expert seemed to understand the question but answered it based on performance ratings that were at least a few years old.
I understand that it’s hard to keep up with everything that’s been going on in the energy business lately. New technologies, incentives, confusing price fluctuations, greenhouse impacts and a myriad of other issues seem to swirl around at an ever-increasing pace. However I am dismayed that Efficiency Vermont, which is a large, publicly funded organization that is paid to understand these issues had virtually no understanding of this core technology as it might apply to our state.
I know that solar and wind energy is really sexy right now. We seem to have a strong appetite for investing in these systems, which do provide substantial benefits, but at an enormous financial cost. As a result they offer only marginal financial benefits at best (ROI). I believe that these technologies should be nurtured so that they can mature into systems that can provide long-term solutions to our energy and climate challenges.
However, our focus on these systems is causing us to loose site of our real goals. As a society we also need to invest in technologies to that provide the strongest results per dollar invested so that our limited capital resources will provide the greatest reduction in emissions, and the most energy savings to our population.
Today both solar and wind energy fail on this scale when compare with less glamorous but better performing technologies like heat pumps. Refrigerant technology can reduce domestic hot water or space heating costs in Vermont more than any other “automatic” system including solar energy (an automatic system is one that operates on its own without owner interaction…. cutting and burning your own wood still can be a great money saver). In particular newer air source heat pumps are extremely affordable when compared to other technologies and can offer financial rates of return and environmental benefits that are vastly better than any wind or solar system.
The point is not that solar or wind is not a good idea – they are. The point is that we if also consider more affordable technologies that offer much better results per dollar invested then as a State we will reach our energy goals much sooner.
I applaud the efforts of Efficiency Vermont over the years, but I am disappointed that they had such a poor understanding of important technology in this instance.
i distribute the geyser , domestic hot water heat pump .
and my teritory is atlantic canada , but the parent company is based Maine .U.S.A.
By North Road Techknowledgys .
i am not suprised to here that the govering body that is intrusted to inform the public , knows very little about the dhwhp .
i am also finding the same responce here in N.B. Canada .
but all is not lost , these dhwhp’s work so good that very few people belive it’s results to be true .
i one case i have had a unit installed in a home , one with a singel mother and 5 children .
they use oil as a home heating source , and electric hot water tank before , and after with a dhwhp saved about 75.00 dollars a month @ .098 cents / kwatt .
the unit sells here for 1750.00 canadian but is much less in the usa .
please don’t let go of the things that work so well . we need to reduce , and reuse the energys we waste in the every day use in the home .
thank you for your time .
the geyser is ulc , and csa appoved .
and will pass both blumbing and hvac building codes .