Without government aid, Su Balasubramanian would never have been able to pay the $27,000 needed to renovate her home from her salary as a social worker in the United States, where the government is banking on heat pumps to reduce CO2 emissions.
The environmentally conscious resident of southeast Washington began looking into the matter after installing solar panels and discovering aid programs, which have proliferated at both the federal and state levels in recent years.
By 2023, housing accounted for 18% of U.S. energy-related emissions, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA).
To tackle the problem, the Inflation Reduction Act, a vast aid and investment program for the energy transition adopted in 2022 at the initiative of the Biden administration, provides up to $2,000 in tax credits for the installation of a heat pump.
These electrically powered thermal energy transfer systems can replace air conditioning and heating, allowing significant savings in energy and money in a country where energy efficiency is struggling to infiltrate consumption habits.
– Sales up –
Increasingly widespread in Asia and Europe, thanks to similar programs such as MaPrimeRénov’ in France, heat pumps are gradually making their way into the United States.
Last year, more than 267,000 tax credit applications were submitted for air-to-air heat pumps and more than 104,000 for thermodynamic water heaters.
Lower-income and middle-class households also began to benefit from subsidies of up to several thousand dollars.
Su Balasubramanian, 44, was eligible for a program from the city of Washington to install a heat pump, a heat pump water heater, an induction cooktop and upgrade her electrical panel. Total cost: $27,000, fully covered.
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For households not eligible for subsidies, experts recommend replacing equipment over time, with heat pumps, which are increasingly popular, often being less expensive than replacing a gas boiler or hot water tank.
– More profitable –
A study published in April in the scientific journal Joule estimates that installing a heat pump would be profitable, even without public subsidies, for 59% of American homes because of the energy savings they allow. And their widespread adoption by the population would reduce the country’s emissions by 5 to 9%.
But there is still “a lot of work” to be done to raise awareness among the general public, says Rebecca Foster, head of Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, a non-profit organisation that has been promoting energy-saving systems in the United States since the 1980s.
“Electrification is really taking off among those who are highly motivated” by concerns about climate change, she says.
But a lot of potential customers need convincing, says Kalen Roach, a program manager for the city of Washington, D.C., noting that those who get the same benefits as Su Balasubramanian are often seniors on fixed incomes.
– Ecological conviction –
“I’m horrified when I think about the future,” Deane Coady told AFP. The retired schoolteacher is set to install a heat pump soon, both to help the climate and to reduce her bills.
In his home state of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States, the penetration rate of heat pumps is only 6%. This is higher in the southeast (40% by 2020 in South Carolina, for example), where the cost of electricity is lower, gas infrastructure is less common and the need for air conditioning is very strong, explains Panama Bartholomy, head of the Building Decarbonization Coalition organization.
The new housing construction sector is a major customer of heat pumps in these regions.
Entrepreneurs in the sector are also the subject of measures from the federal government, which has released an envelope to train them in electrification so that they can then spread the good word.
“Everyone has to do their part,” Su Balasubramanian said, adding that progress comes when “there is an impact at all levels.”
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