While everyone’s been focused on accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles to cut carbon emissions, a technological hero has been rapidly ascending under the radar: the heat pump. Instead of burning natural gas or coal to produce heat, this fully electric device extracts warmth from outdoor air—even when it’s freezing outside—and pumps it inside to warm a structure.
Like with the first round of funding last year, the administration is invoking the Defense Production Act—a long-standing piece of legislation that grants the president the power to ensure the supply of materials needed for national defense. It’s being invoked here on the basis of climate change in particular.