Nine states are teaming up to accelerate adoption of this climate-friendly device.

Death is coming for the old-school gas furnace—and its killer is the humble heat pump. They’re already outselling gas furnaces in the US, and now a coalition of states has signed an agreement to supercharge the gas-to-electric transition by making it as cheap and easy as possible for their residents to switch.

Nine states have signed a memorandum of understanding that says that heat pumps should make up at least 65 percent of residential heating, air conditioning, and water-heating shipments by 2030. (“Shipments” here means systems manufactured, a proxy for how many are actually sold.) By 2040, these states—California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Rhode Island—are aiming for 90 percent of those shipments to be heat pumps.

“It’s a really strong signal from states that they’re committed to accelerating this transition to zero-emissions residential buildings,” says Emily Levin, senior policy adviser at the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM), an association of air-quality agencies that facilitated the agreement. The states will collaborate, for instance, in pursuing federal funding, developing standards for the rollout of heat pumps, and laying out an overarching plan “with priority actions to support widespread electrification of residential buildings.”

  • @Heavybell
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    1710 months ago

    It kinda shocks me that the supposed wealthiest country has so many people who don’t have this super common technology. Basically everyone I know has had a heat pump where I live for the past 2 decades.

    • @[email protected]
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      10 months ago

      As a Canadian who just got a heat pump, it’s because natural gas is so cheap here in North America.

      My system has an auxiliary natural gas backup. Even though my heat pump works down to below -20°C, it’s set up to switch over to natural gas at around -6.7°C (stupid fahrenheit setting) because even at COP of ~2.0, 98% efficient natural gas is way, way cheaper.

      • @Leviathan
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        110 months ago

        As a Canadian, I’ve never seen anything but baseboard heaters. Which province are you in?

        • @[email protected]
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          110 months ago

          Ontario, but I also had cheap natural gas in Manitoba. Obviously you need access to it and only half the provinces are connected.

          Given this chart, I’m assuming you live in New Brunswick, Newfoundland, or Quebec?

          • @Leviathan
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            210 months ago

            Montreal! I’d be fascinated to see what the comparison in price for your heat pump/gas combo is vs my parents’ heat pump/baseboard heater combo.

              • @Leviathan
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                210 months ago

                I think you may have misunderstood. Heat pumps and baseboard resistive heaters compliment each other, they don’t work against each other.

      • @Heavybell
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        210 months ago

        Those little things can’t compare to a proper heat pump, surely.