Energy Efficient Heating and Cooling With a Heat Pump

Heat Pump

If you’re looking for a more environmentally friendly way to heat your home, consider getting a heat pump installed. Heat pumps combine heating and cooling into a single system that operates on clean hydroelectricity to deliver energy-efficient, comfortable heating year-round. They’re up to 300% more efficient for heating than electric baseboards and up to 50% more efficient for cooling than a window air conditioner. And they operate at a fraction of the cost of natural gas furnaces or electric air conditioning.

The key to a heat pump’s efficiency is that it exploits one of the laws of thermodynamics. This law states that hot always wants to move toward cold. That’s why when you put a frozen bag of soup in a bowl of hot water, the soup will thaw. It’s the same idea with a heat pump. Heat pumps capture energy from the outside air by making their coils very cold, which attracts your home’s warmer air and moves it to them. The coils then revert to their original state, and the thermal energy is carried back out to your house’s exterior.

When it comes to choosing the best Heat Pump for your home, look for a model with a high Heating Season Performance Factor (HSPF) and a high Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating (SEER). These ratings measure how much heating or cooling a system produces per watt of electricity. In addition, it’s a good idea to have your home assessed by a Home Performance Contractor Network (HPCN) member before you get a heat pump. The HPCN will conduct a heat load analysis to ensure the system is correctly sized for your home.

If your home is poorly insulated, it will be difficult for a heat pump to provide adequate heating. Consider having it insulated prior to getting a heat pump, and you could save even more money with an even better-performing heat pump.

Keep in mind that you’ll still need to maintain your heat pump on a regular basis. For example, dust, dirt, and pet hair can build up in the heat pump’s filter and blockage its ability to circulate air. So it’s important to change your filters regularly and have the heat pump checked by a professional at least once every other year, or more often if necessary.

If you think a heat pump might be right for your home, contact a top-rated pro to get free, no-commitment estimates from experts near you.