Heating will be expensive this winter, but it will be less… | Rare Techy

Rising energy prices will make it more expensive to heat American homes this winter. But homes with new heat pumps can save you more money than you would believe.

That’s the message Rewiring America is trying to get across in a grim winter forecast released by the US Energy Information Administration this month.

News reports on the THAT’S ITThe latest data highlighted the increase in the costs of heating and electricity – ;“No matter how you heat your home, the cost of that heat will increase,” the statement said CNN Business.

But those costs will be significantly lower for homes that use electric heat pumps efficiently, and they will soon be eligible for thousands of dollars in tax credits and federal incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act, according to and Rewiring America CEO Ari Matusiak.

Crossing that mark ;“It’s more important today than ever because we’re talking about now, where electric cars are becoming more and more of an option for consumers in the market,” he said in an interview. . ;“It is important that we see what those benefits are in real time as the market unfolds.

THAT’S ITWinter heating data changes heat pumps

THAT’S ITThe presentation of heating cost data in its winter outlook has two problems, Matusiak said.

First, for electric heating, THAT’S IT combines the most efficient heat pumps with the most efficient resistance heating systems. Resistance heaters — ;“the ones that are heated with bracelets, a technology from the 1950s,” says Matusiak — is very ineffective at converting electricity to heat. Heat pumps, which compress chilled water to move heat from the outside in the way air conditioners work, use less than half the energy of resistance heaters. , according to the US Department of Energy. That is the only construction ;“hundreds and hundreds of dollars of difference” in winter heating costs, Matusiak said.

Second, though THAT’S IT His vision to check heating costs, still uses numbers for the total consumption of the house for electricity, gas and other fuels – a fact that is written on the second page, but not before. This model does not show the different ways in which households use these energy sources. Most of the air used in homes goes to heating, while the rest goes to things like cooking and drying clothes. But electricity is used for many other things – lights, refrigerators, dishwashers, televisions, other appliances and electronics, and electric cars. So when THAT’S IT winter wind use and winter power use are different, this is far from the ;“apples-to-apples” comparison, Matusiak pointed out.

Correcting for these two errors results in a better cost estimate for homes heated with heat pumps, according to an analysis by Rewiring America. His analysis uses fuel price data from the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association (NEADA), representing the state managers of low-energy assistance programs, considering the use of heat pumps and ;“warm up seasonal work” (HSPF) of minimum 10 — an efficiency level comparable to the Energy Star certified heat pumps available.

Managing those numbers can make it less expensive to use a heat pump throughout the winter months of October 2022 to March 2023the time covered by THAT’S ITThe winter scene. Instead of $1,359 for electrical heating predicted by the THAT’S ITRewiring America estimates that homes with heat pumps will run out of $596 depending on the temperature at that time.