In Woodinville on Friday, CM Heating’s Remis Jankauskas (left) and Trent Pickford put the heat pump in place while working on the home’s HVAC system.(Ryan Berry/Herald)
What are the effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?Heat pumps, advocates say.New building codes may require them.
When Julie Langabeer and her late husband purchased a 1925 Craftsman-style home in North Everett, they replaced its heat source — a monstrous gas fireplace and old wall heaters — with a gas stove.That was 12 years ago.
“I didn’t think about running out of gasoline at the time. Climate change wasn’t my biggest concern at the time,” Langabeer said.”Now I feel guilty every time something happens.”
This fall, the retiree is replacing an aging furnace with an electric heat pump.The gas line to the house will come out.
While the gas industry describes heat pumps as “not a panacea,” many do see them as their primary weapon in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.Not only do heat pumps provide efficient space heating, but they also double as air conditioners because they can send hot air in either direction.When forest fire smoke invades the area, they can provide protection from heat waves and allow people in the Pacific Northwest to close their windows and breathe filtered air.
It’s not uncommon for homeowners to ditch natural gas entirely, but the heat pumps that Langabeer buys are growing in popularity.Policy is moving in this direction.The Washington State Building Codes Board is expected to approve proposals requiring heat pumps for space and water heating for new residential buildings.
Climate campaigners want the council to ban gas entirely in new homes, as it has done for future commercial buildings.
“The fastest growing source of emissions is our built environment,” said Washington State Climate Solutions director Kelly Hall, adding that it only makes sense to stop building homes that use fossil fuels.”We can’t keep digging the hole deeper.”
If final approval is given in November, the new residential regulations will take effect in July 2023, the same as the commercial building gas ban.Both changes are consistent with state regulations requiring incremental action to reduce emissions by 2031.
The Northwest Gas Association, which represents six utilities and four pipeline companies, opposes policies that promote or require all-electric buildings.
“We need climate action,” said executive director Dan Kirschner, but not a push for “one path at the expense of the other.”Reducing or limiting the number of customers will increase fuel costs for those still using natural gas, he said.
Kirschner added that Washington state has a 45,000-mile natural gas delivery system.The pipelines could transport “renewable natural gas” such as methane captured in landfills, which he said could make up 5% of total gas supplies.These pipelines could one day also carry liquid hydrogen, a carbon-free alternative that holds the most promise as a transportation fuel.
Trent Pickford, CM Heating’s chief installer, made sure the new HVAC coil was level at a Woodinville home before fixing it in place on Friday.Coils are capable of pumping hot and cold air through a home’s ductwork.(Ryan Berry/Herald)
An estimated 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to buildings, while half of a home’s energy needs go to space and water heating.While some homes still use oil or propane, most fossil fuel heating is produced from less expensive natural gas.The adjective “natural” originally meant that it came directly from underground deposits of decaying organic matter, without chemical additives.
The gas piped into homes is mostly methane, which is one-third of the human-caused climate change.It is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide.Global methane emissions are increasing despite 110 countries pledging to reduce emissions by 30 percent by 2030, according to a new analysis.
Methane is released into the atmosphere during the production, processing and distribution of natural gas and from abandoned wells.Most of Washington’s supply comes from drilling operations in British Columbia and Colorado.
Washington’s abundance of carbon-free hydropower makes it a logical choice to move away from residential natural gas, said Sean Denniston of the Portland-based nonprofit New Buildings Institute.
“Electrification is not always decarbonising,” he said.”In Washington, it’s a dunk option.”
Denniston authored three residential code proposals considered by the Building Code Committee this year.The first, as submitted, would completely ban the use of natural gas in new residential construction.In June, the committee’s technical advisory group denied the claim and would not go ahead with the committee’s full approval.The second will require an electric heat pump for space heating and a third for the water heater.These have been approved but modified to allow for gas heat pumps, but are not yet widely available for domestic use.
Among those opposed to the all-electric push is Puget Sound Energy.It is a regional provider of natural gas and electricity, although it only supplies gas to customers in Snohomish County.They buy electricity from the county’s utility district.The PSE has set an ambitious goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions from natural gas sales by 2045 – customers’ use in homes and businesses – with a mid-term target of a 30 percent reduction by 2030.
“That’s a good question,” said Josh Jacobs, PSE’s vice president of clean energy strategy.”We don’t have all the answers, we still have a lot of work to do.”
Strategies identified so far include fixing leaks in the distribution system, emphasizing energy efficiency, and offering customers incentives to reduce natural gas use.The company also envisages greater use of renewable natural gas.So far, it’s buying methane captured at the Klickitat County landfill, and if customers pay $5 a month to support the project, they have the opportunity to get a credit on their fuel bill.
Jacobs noted that natural gas helps the region get through the peak winter power supply.He questioned whether enough electricity would be available if customers forgo gas heating.
At Snohomish PUD, senior power manager Garrison Marr is more concerned with providing enough energy to the growing number of EV chargers.
Jacobs expects many customers to opt for the hybrid heating option, which kicks in when the temperature is too low for some electric heat pumps to handle.Or they could buy a heat pump to replace the air conditioner, which might have happened in his own Snohomish house.”We’ve had back-and-forth discussions about how to keep calm,” he said.
He also raised two common concerns about heat pumps: noisy equipment and extreme cold weather restrictions.Such talk frustrates Denniston, who says even contractors often don’t realize how much heat pump technology has advanced in recent years.
As with all mechanical things, you get what you pay for.Less expensive units work fine until it’s almost freezing outside.High-end units will keep the house comfortable in cooler temperatures.
Langabeer paid extra for more efficient, quieter equipment.It will cost her $20,000, including a new spare electric stove.She started buying heat pumps from the Snohomish PUD website, where she found a list of contractors and got three estimates.She is not eligible for the $1,500 to $2,500 PUD rebate, which is only available to customers who replace their electric stove with a heat pump.
Hall, director of climate solutions, said the state needs to start encouraging the switch from gas to electric heat pumps.One way to do this is to use funds from the state’s Climate Commitment Act, which will begin generating revenue in 2023 from some of the largest greenhouse gas emitters and industries.
“The vast majority of these funds are not mentioned, and that’s going to be a big topic in the legislature next year,” Hall said.
Julie Martinson, a member of the 350.org climate action team, also hopes state or federal funds, such as the COVID relief fund, can be used to help low-income people buy heat pumps.After all, her reasoning was that air pollution and smog aggravated health conditions such as her asthma and her late husband’s lung problems.
In 2012, Martinson and her husband bought a $7,000 heat pump with a Snohomish PUD loan after getting tired of lugging bags of firewood pellets into their Everett house.
“We immediately appreciated its warmth and efficiency, and it was only later that we forgot about its cooling function,” she said.”It’s like a charm to cool the house down and we’ll shut it down completely when it’s not needed.”
Michael Pompeo, sales and marketing manager for CM Heating, one of Snohomish County’s busiest installers, said the growing number of Northwest heat, including the infamous climate-driven “heat dome” in 2021, is persuading Homeowners buy heat pumps.Customers often decide reluctantly that they need help with the 80s and 90s temperatures, he said.
“They said, ‘I’m going to keep going as long as I can. Here, I’m 50 or 60 (years old) and I can’t take it anymore,’” Pompeo said.”And people did mention smoke.”
Supply chain kinks have plagued the heat pump industry so much that President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to speed up manufacturing.If a unit they want happens to not be available, customers could wait months, Pompeo said.
Jeanine SanClemente’s family installed a heat pump in their Maltby home.As the founders of the Snohomish County Climate Alliance anticipated, San Clemente also has a new solar array for power generation and an electric vehicle.Eliminating fossil fuels would save about $200 a month, she said.She raved about the heat pump.
“I don’t think it’s loud, and we’re the only ones in our neighborhood that cool off in the summer,” she said.”We’ve been concerned about heating on the coldest days, so we kept the gas stove, but we haven’t needed to use it for the four years we’ve had the system.”
Retrofitting a home, especially a multifamily or apartment complex, with a heat pump can be tricky.There may be insufficient plumbing; there may be no place for an outdoor unit; separate units may be required on different floors; homeowners association rules may need to be changed.It’s easier to build new buildings from scratch.Builders have installed heat pumps in 90 percent of new homes thanks to government energy efficiency incentives, Denniston said.
“The requirement for an all-electric home is expected to add approximately $15,000 to the home’s final sale price,” said Janelle Guthrie, communications director for the Washington Building Industry Association. “About 85 percent of homes in the state are sold out, new or otherwise. With rents skyrocketing, now is not the time to make housing more expensive.”
Her estimate of the cost increase is based on a national homebuilder study of whole-home electrification in four U.S. cities.In Denver, where conditions are thought to be closest to Washington, the additional cost of an all-electric vehicle ranges from $11,430 to $15,100.This includes heat pumps for space and water, vehicle chargers and induction ranges, but excludes the cost of installing gas plumbing, which is usually paid for by developers and incorporated into home costs.
In contrast, a report just released by the Washington Department of Commerce concluded that electrification of residential new construction is cost-effective statewide, largely due to lower up-front costs and the potential to avoid the costs of new natural gas connections.According to its calculations, going all-electric can save $2,000 in upfront costs compared to a new hybrid home that requires air conditioning.When you add electricity savings, “an all-electric new home can save $1,000 per year over the life of the equipment.”
The report, The Financial Impact of Fuel Switching on Washington Consumer-Owned Utilities and Customers, noted the advantages of replacing air conditioners and gas furnaces with electric heat pumps, but concluded that replacing gas furnaces with heat pumps alone would not go out.One reason is the low price of natural gas, although future energy costs are always unknown.Energy experts say natural gas prices are often more volatile than electricity prices.
Denniston of the Institute for New Buildings believes people don’t care about where their heat and hot water comes from, but about how much it costs and how it works.They typically feel more strongly about cooking with gas, but that is changing as more people become aware of research linking gas stoves to asthma, he added.The Washington Building Codes Board is considering requiring better ventilation above gas stoves.
Denniston said natural gas use in homes is approaching a tipping point, similar to the transition from natural gas to electric lights.At first, gas lighting got brighter to compete with Thomas Edison’s new light bulbs.But eventually, the gas lights went out.
Julie Titone is a writer for Everett and can be reached at julietitone@icloud.com.Her story was supported by the Herald’s Environment and Climate Reporting Fund.
Trent Pickford, CM Heating’s chief installer, made sure the new HVAC coil was level at a Woodinville home before fixing it in place on Friday.Coils are capable of pumping hot and cold air through a home’s ductwork.(Ryan Berry/Herald)
A combination cooler and heater hung on the wall at Julie Martinson’s home in Everett on Wednesday, top center.(Ryan Berry/Herald)
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