Press inquiries<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you are a journalist and want to interview someone at Carbon Switch about this report, please email michael@carbonswitch.co.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

House and Senate Democrats are currently working to pass two bills that represent one of the biggest climate policy opportunities in more than a decade. Amidst the debate over what should and shouldn\u2019t make it into these bills, there\u2019s been much discussion about solar, wind and electric vehicles. And for good reason: to prevent catastrophic climate change, we need to deploy these technologies at unprecedented speed. But very little attention has been paid to another essential climate solution that can deliver similar emissions reductions: heat pumps<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) our team looked at what would happen if every home in America replaced their heating and cooling systems with heat pumps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highlights from this report<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

• Single-family home emissions would be reduced by 142 million metric tons per year. <\/strong>Given that homes currently emit about one billion metric tons per year and total energy related emissions in the United States is about 5 billion metric tons, this would lead to a 14% reduction in the sector and ~3% reduction in the country\u2019s total emissions.<\/li>
• The average homeowner would save $557 per year on their utility bill.<\/strong> In Senator Joe Manchin\u2019s state of West Virginia, the average homeowner would save $887 per year.<\/li>
• 6.6 million jobs would be created in counties all over the country. <\/strong>Once again if we turn our attention to West Virginia we see that 52,000 jobs would be created across the state (compared to the 33,000 jobs currently supported by the coal mining industry).<\/li>
• Cold climates aren\u2019t preventing heat pump adoption; the biggest barrier is cheap natural gas.<\/strong> In Maine, one of the coldest states, the average homeowner can save $718 per year. Yet in relatively moderate Colorado the average homeowner would only save $182. This data underscores the importance of eliminating fossil fuel subsidies and properly pricing carbon in order to drive heat pump adoption.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

  Single-family home emissions would be reduced by 142 million metric tons per year. <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

  According to the Energy Information Agency (EIA)<\/a>, home energy is responsible for just under 1 billion metric tons of carbon pollution every year (20% of our country\u2019s total energy-related emissions). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In single-family homes 54%<\/a> of total energy goes towards heating and cooling (43% goes towards heating and 8% goes towards cooling). That\u2019s why improving the way we heat and cool our homes represents such a large opportunity for carbon reductions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Broadly speaking, the way to decarbonize the housing sector is to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Electrify all equipment and appliances…<\/li>
  2. …with the most efficient technology available <\/li>
  3. And transition to a 100% renewable grid<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

     Today 65 million single-family homes (88%) use either fossil-fuel powered equipment or inefficient electric heating and cooling technology. Only 8.9 (12%) million use heat pumps<\/a>.\u00a0As we’ll cover below, one of the main reasons for this relatively small market share is that heat pumps cost<\/a> more than inefficient systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Because heat pumps also act as air conditioners<\/a>, it\u2019s important to look at how Americans currently cool their homes. The table below shows the percentage of homes currently cooled with heat pumps (which includes mini-splits<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     54.9 million (74%) homes use inefficient air conditioning systems, whereas 14.8 million (20%) homes use either a ducted heat pump<\/a> or ductless mini-split<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Heating fuel market share<\/h3>\n\n\n\n