Heat Pumps Are Key To Home Electrification -- But Will Americans Buy In?

Washington, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Sep, 2024) On a hot summer day, contractors snake wiring through the basement of a townhouse in southeast Washington to install a heat pump, a key component of the United States' multi-billion Dollar push towards greater home electrification.

Less sexy than an electric car, more obscure than solar panels, heat pumps are an energy-efficient system for replacing both a heater and air conditioner in one appliance. Heat pump hot water heaters also exist.

And the clunky-looking machines are seen as a crucial weapon in the war to manoeuvre the United States into more climate-friendly habits.

Common in Asia and Europe, the technology has had slow uptake in the United States -- something the White House is hoping to fix as part of a multi-billion-dollar spending and subsidies plan.

Su Balasubramanian, who spoke as contractors drilled in her home below, told AFP she previously "didn't know much about it," despite being environmentally minded.

In 2023, residences accounted for some 18 percent of energy-related US CO2 emissions, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) -- a number that less gas and greater electrification can reduce.

Hoping to spur heat pump uptake, the Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden's 2022 landmark climate bill, provides up to $2,000 in tax credits for those installing either type.

Thousands more IRA Dollars in rebates are additionally being rolled out for low- and middle-income households purchasing a heat pump. On top of that, individual states provide their incentives.

Balasubramanian qualified for Washington's Affordable Home Electrification program, which provided her with total home electrification at no cost.

The 44-year-old social worker is receiving a heat pump air source, heat pump hot water heater, induction stove and a "heavy up" electrical panel amperage upgrade, worth about $27,000.

Balasubramanian said she would "definitely not" have been able to afford the project on her own.

Rather than tackling so much electrification at once, which can be financially prohibitive, advocates recommend electrifying one appliance at a time when it breaks.

Heat pumps can, in many instances, be more affordable than a gas furnace or hot water heater.

An April report published in the scientific journal Joule estimated that heat pump air systems would be cost effective without subsidies in 59 percent of US households.

"Within the early adopters, those who are very motivated by climate, I think electrification is taking off," Rebecca Foster, CEO of the energy-focused nonprofit VEIC, told AFP.

But she added, there is still "a lot of work to do to raise awareness."

In Balasubramanian's program, for example, participants are more often "seniors on fixed incomes," Kalen Roach, marketing and communications manager for the DC Sustainable Energy Utility program, told AFP.

"I would say a decent bit of customers do need some convincing," he added.

Full adoption of heat pump air systems in the United States would reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by five to nine percent, according to the April Joule report.