For the roughly half of U.S. households that rely on gas furnaces, heating costs are estimated to rise 28% to an average of $931 this winter, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Energy costs have been climbing across the board. Natural-gas prices have more than doubled in three years. And for the 12% of Americans who use propane, kerosene or firewood to heat their homes, heating costs are up 43% over the past three years, according to the consumer-price index.
Heat pumps are a potential solution. President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act recently thrust the devices into the spotlight as part of a string of clean-energy investments, promising rebates and tax breaks to help offset the cost of installation. One portion of the bill offers as much as $8,000 to low-income homeowners for swapping their furnaces for qualifying heat pumps. (States will need time to roll out these incentive programs.)
Heat pumps are available at a range of prices.
The least expensive cost roughly as much as installing a central-air-conditioning system plus a furnace, says Ben Schoenbauer, assistant director of research at the Center for Energy and Environment, an energy-efficiency nonprofit. Think about $10,000 for an average-size house, he says, for a heat pump likely to last about 15 years.
Higher-end models capable of operating in extreme cold can run as much as $20,000, with a more typical cost around $15,000, Mr. Schoenbauer says. One option, known as a geothermal heat pump, costs in the $20,000-to-$30,000 range to install, but promises to slash electric bills down the line. These models rely on a tube that runs deep into the ground, rather than drawing on the variable outside air. The Inflation Reduction Act provides a tax break of as much as 30% of the cost to install this type of heat pump.
Tesla is still looking to make its own smart and efficient HVAC system for homes and it’s on the “product list,” says CEO Elon Musk.
Tesla has been putting a lot of effort into improving the air quality inside its electric cars, and it went as far as integrating a HEPA filter into its HVAC system inside some of its higher-end electric cars.
The filter can theoretically remove 99.97% of dust, pollen, mold, bacteria, and any airborne particles with a size of 0.3 microns (µm), and it’s adapted into an efficient HVAC system in order to not affect too negatively the range of its vehicles.
When announcing that Tesla is working on a software update to make the HVAC system quieter in the new Model S last year, CEO Elon Musk was asked on Twitter about Tesla making a home HVAC system:
Oh man, home hvac that is super energy efficient, quiet & purifies the air would be great. We developed it for the car, but it can be scaled up for home use.
While Tesla’s home HVAC system may seem like an out-of-place product when compared to the company’s current offerings, the EV maker does have some experience in designing and rolling out efficient air filtration systems. The Tesla Model S, Model X, and Model Y, for example, are equipped with a Bioweapon Defense Mode that uses a large HEPA filter to ensure that passengers are able to breathe clean air in the cabin.
Numerous Tesla owners over the years have expressed their appreciation for the otherwise unique feature. During the Sandalwood Fire in California back in 2019, for example, several Tesla owners shared their experiences on Twitter, noting that Bioweapon Defense Mode has become a “life saver” in areas that were affected by the fire.
Tesla’s Bioweapon Defense Mode has been featured in some of the company’s marketing videos. This past January, for example, Tesla released a video on its YouTube channel showing a Model Y’s Bioweapon Defense Mode successfully taking on several smoke bombs inside a large bubble. With this in mind, if Tesla can pull off the same technology for a home HVAC system, the company could become a surprising leader in the HVAC industry.
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