Chapter 2
Heat Pumps
How heat pumps work, how they can save you a lot of money, how they can dramatically cut your carbon-dioxide emissions, and how to get them mostly financed with zero-interest loans.
The picture above is of our heat pumps. The units are about four feet high and take the same space as our old AC units, which they replaced. Heat pumps cool your house in the summer, just like your AC units, but also heat your house in the winter. The heat pumps and new blower units together cut our energy use 55% and are saving us about $3,000 per year.
Modern heat pumps are fundamentally more efficient than burning fossil fuel for heating for two reasons. First, they move heat (such as from the outside of your house to the inside) rather than create heat. Moving heat around is about four times as efficient as creating it by burning a fuel like natural gas, heating oil or coal. Second, modern heat pumps come with blower fans that use variable-speed motors. Variable-speed motors are about four times as efficient at moving the air around your house as old-style fixed-speed blower fans. This is all explained in easy-to-understand terms in the book.
The following are the section titles within the chapter Heat Pumps in Zero Carbon Home:
Part 1: Heat heating and cooling the air.
Why install heat pumps to replace your heating/AC system?
How heat pumps work.
Why have I not heard of heat pumps?
How much do heat pumps cost and how much can I save?
What is the cheapest way to heat my house? Heating oil, natural gas or heat pumps?
How heat pumps saved us a lot of heating oil and a lot of money. They also cut our carbon footprint in half.
Heat pumps – ductless mini-split units.
If I do not have the cash available today, how can I finance buying heat pumps?
Other uses of heat pumps to save you money.
Summary for Chapter 2, part 1: Heat pumps.
Part 2: Variable speed blower fans.
Why install variable-speed blower fans?
How do variable-speed blower fans work?
How much do variable-speed blower fans cost and how much money can I save?
Summary for Chapter 2, part 2: Variable-speed blower fans.
Going Zero. Summary so far.
If you found this page intriguing you will almost certainly find the book, Zero Carbon Home, helpful. It is written in an easy-to-read style backed by a rigorous scientific approach and detailed financial analysis. The book costs $20 and is available by clicking here.