What's stopping America from going all-in on heat pumps?

Nothing. I have an 8 unit building that is relying on heat pumps in New England. Tomorrow workers will start installing a solar thermal array to complement an existing solar PV array.

I'm doing it to minimize the growth of utility cost in the future. The only reason it's not wide spread is inertia and poorly informed consumers.

This only reason this works for me is a large investment in insulation.

Investing in insulation, renewable energy, and heat pumps. That is all it takes.

Re: What's stopping America from going all-in on heat pumps?

#8

Post by Macha » Mon, Jun 30, 2025, 3:20 PM UTC

New builds here in Ireland for the last few years have been financially incentivised to use heat pumps to the point they basically all are, and there’s talk of making it mandated over fuel based heating systems

Re: What's stopping America from going all-in on heat pumps?

#9

Post by theultdev » Mon, Jun 30, 2025, 3:23 PM UTC

same reason people don't have A/Cs in some places.

although you'll get heatwaves sometimes, it's not worth it overall.

similarly, although these may be more efficient than what you already have, it costs money upfront to install new stuff. money people don't have.

Re: What's stopping America from going all-in on heat pumps?

#10

Post by looofooo0 » Mon, Jun 30, 2025, 3:24 PM UTC

In Switzerland there is some neat established method for finding out the needed heating power. Consumption/year x Efficiency / 2000h/year = Max heating power. This should work for most moderate climates, although you should consult your local climate table. https://pubdb.bfe.admin.ch/de/publication/download/2781

Further even if you undersize your heat pump to only 70% of the max heating power, then you still will get out 99% from your heating from the heat pump on average.