Heat Pumps Can Reduce Carbon Emissions Even with Dirty Grids

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Heat Pumps,Carbon Emissions,Dirty Grids

Switching to heat pumps for heating and cooling can significantly reduce carbon emissions, even if the electricity comes from coal-fired thermal generating stations. A study conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that heat pumps lower emissions in every state of the US, regardless of the future scenarios for grid decarbonization. The findings suggest that heat pumps are a viable solution for reducing carbon pollution.

There are lots of people who think it does no good to electrify things like cars and home heating equipment if the electricity they use comes from coal-fired thermal generating stations. After all, it is widely understood that coal plants create more carbon emissions than any other thermal generation technology. Do heat pumps lower emissions if they run on electricity from a dirty grid?.

They modeled the entire US housing stock and found that, over the appliance’s expected lifetime of 16 years, switching to heat pumps for heating and cooling slashes emissions in every one of the contiguous 48 states. In fact, heat pumps reduce carbon pollution even if the process of cleaning up the U.S. grid moves slower than experts expect. The NREL team used six different future scenarios for the grid, from aggressive decarbonization (95% carbon-free electricity by 2035) to sluggish (only 50% carbon-free electricity by 203

 

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