Great Barrington — This is the second column in a periodic series from the volunteer team of the Great Barrington HeatSmart program. In our inaugural column, we explained how the town is offering a limited-time group-purchasing discount on energy-efficient heating and cooling systems called “air-source heat pumps” or “mini-splits.” But since a picture is worth a thousand words, we would like to give you two — and one video — that really show the value of these systems.
First, there’s the question of energy cost. We all know that heating fuel prices go up and down. I personally can remember a time when oil was cheaper than natural gas. So when we say that heat pumps are cheaper than oil or propane heating, how real is that? And how lasting is it?
To answer that question, here is a comparison of what it would have cost to heat a typical 2,000-square-foot home in Great Barrington using these three fuel sources over the last eight years:
No matter how the fuel prices — or the temperatures — fluctuated, heat pumps have been consistently cheaper for home heating than oil or propane. Most of the time, they’ve been a lot cheaper.
You may have noticed that natural gas is not on this chart. That’s because natural gas is currently less expensive for home heating than heat pumps (There are other reasons why residents with natural gas heating may be interested in heat pumps, which is a topic that we will explore in a future column). But if you heat your home with oil or propane (or traditional electric baseboard or space heaters), you will save money with heat pumps consistently, year after year.
Here’s Mitsubishi heat pump distributer — and local heat pump-using homeowner — Michael Gamberoni explaining just how efficient these systems are:
If you are concerned about the environment, then you may also be interested in the carbon footprint of heat pumps. We have even better news on that front. Here is the comparison chart:
Because heat pumps are powered by electricity, they are only as green as fuel sources that the utility companies use to generate that electricity. In New England, we have pretty green fuel sources so, between that and the energy efficiency of the heat pumps themselves, heating with heat pumps in New England generates less carbon than oil, propane or natural gas.
But if you are lucky enough to live in Great Barrington, your electricity is even greener than the average for New England because the town’s selectboard instituted a measure called “utility aggregation.” You may know from the advertisements you get in the mail that, in Massachusetts, you can choose your electricity provider. Through utility aggregation, the town chooses the default electricity source. In other words, unless you choose to change your electricity provider, you will automatically be given the one chosen by the town. In a competitive bidding process, Great Barrington chose a default electricity provider that is both among the least expensive bidders and 100 percent wind-powered. Since heat pumps run on electricity, heat pumps that use Great Barrington’s default electricity provider don’t generate any carbon at all.
That’s right: If you live in Great Barrington and install heat pumps, you can have carbon-neutral heating and cooling. In the example from the chart above, switching from oil to heat pumps would provide carbon reduction that is roughly equivalent to getting rid of two family cars. And you can save money every year in the process.
The HeatSmart sale on heat pumps for Great Barrington residents runs through the end of August. You can learn more and sign up for your free, no-obligation assessment at www.heatsmartgb.org.
