Electric heat pumps are a way to cool and heat homes at a much lower carbon cost than traditional air-conditioners and furnaces. As global warming fue

Are ‘Heat Pumps’ the Answer to Heat Waves? Some Cities Think So.

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2021-07-01 11:30:06

Electric heat pumps are a way to cool and heat homes at a much lower carbon cost than traditional air-conditioners and furnaces.

As global warming fuels deadly heat waves across the country, more Americans in places like the Pacific Northwest are rushing out to buy air-conditioners for the first time.

One common concern is that a surge in air-conditioning could make the planet even hotter, by increasing the need for electricity from power plants running on coal or gas, which produce emissions that drive global warming.

But some energy experts, as well as cities like Denver and Berkeley, Calif., have recently started exploring a counterintuitive strategy: Soaring demand for air-conditioning might actually be a prime opportunity to reduce fossil fuel emissions and fight climate change.

The idea is simple: If Americans are going to buy air-conditioners anyway, either for the first time or to replace older units, why not convince them to buy electric heat pumps instead? Although the name can be confusing, an electric heat pump is essentially an air-conditioner that is slightly modified so that it can run in two directions, cooling the home in the summer and providing heat in the winter.