This post details our approach to measuring the performance of the two heat pumps in our two-family home in the current heating season.
Environment
airplane noise, carbon and climate, cell towers, flooding, land use issues, parks and recreation, pfas, waste/hazards, water issues
Learning from Maine
Recently, many have celebrated Maine’s achievement of 100,000 heat pumps installed. It’s really a good-news/bad-news story.
Tracking climate progress
We cannot assume that we are materially reducing greenhouse gas emissions just by putting heat pumps into homes at scale. Additional metrics are necessary to assure that we are benefitting the climate. Our climate report card should include those metrics.
Funding building decarbonization
I hope that the Climate Chief’s call for an economic analysis leads to a thorough review of the resources required to achieve our goals for decarbonization of existing buildings.
Energy conservation expectations
In existing homes, we are likely to have to get most of our carbon reductions by decarbonizing heating systems as opposed to improving building envelopes.
Building envelope improvements
Non-envelope improvements — electrification, burner efficiency, behavior changes — account for the majority of the observed decline in residential fossil energy use intensity before 2009.