To protect the planet from catastrophic climate change, the best U.S. strategy boils down to the rapid deployment of three key technologies: electric vehicles (EVs), solar panels, and heat pumps.
The first two technologies are well known, heat pumps may not be as visible as solar panels and electric cars, but they are just as important, sometimes at a fraction of the investment cost. Currently, two-thirds of a building's energy is used for heating and hot water, while heat pumps consume a quarter of the energy of other technologies and can run on electricity generated by renewable energy sources.
Heat pumps can often replace old, inefficient electric heating or natural gas, but in the Northeastern United States, heat pumps can also replace oil heating. Maine is a leader in heat pump installations and conversions in the United States, and the rest of the United States and the rest of the world can replicate its success. Maine illustrates the potential of shifting heating systems from fossil fuels: 60% of Maine's 1.4 million residents, or 450,000 households, rely on oil for heating and hot water.
Maine gets 79 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, and by using this renewable electricity in heat pumps to heat homes and water, it costs half as much as oil and one-third as much as propane, showing that the state and the country as a whole huge opportunity. Electricity is not only cheaper, but better for the planet's climate.
60% of water heaters sold in Maine are heat pump water heaters. The Maine project is successful because it addresses two of the current barriers to transitioning to this critical technology: cost and visibility.
Heat pump water heaters will save homeowners an average of $3,500 over 10 years, but few people want to spend the extra cash on a water heater that costs $1,000 or more. This upfront cost poses a major hurdle, so the Maine Energy Efficiency Agency has partnered with distributors and large retailers to offer discounts and incentives to bring the price of heat pump water heaters down to the price of conventional water heaters.
In terms of visibility, Maine promotes heat pump water heaters in a targeted and effective manner. Instead of advertising it broadly, it targeted customers who searched for water heaters on Google, as well as customers walking the water heater aisle in stores. They put up banners at hardware stores, trained hardware store employees across the state and provided contact details for hundreds of installers.
Maine's success shows what it takes for a national and even international strategy to transition to heat pumps. Get heat pumps into homes through rebates, advertising, and a number of other strategies to help low-income Maines.
Like Maine, the rapid deployment of heat pumps has important implications not only for the climate, but also for the geopolitical situation we find ourselves in. About one-third of heat pump water heaters sold in Maine had their oil-fired boilers replaced, while the other two-thirds had propane, natural gas and electric heaters replaced. If you multiply Maine's 15,666 oil-fired water heaters converted to heat pumps by the roughly 128 gallons of fuel saved each year, you get 47,000 barrels of oil per year, enough to run nearly 4,000 cars for a year.
Converting all of the oil-fired boilers serving U.S. homes and businesses to heat pumps could save 120 million barrels of oil per year.
