In cold climates like Massachusetts, high efficiency, cold-climate air-source heat pumps can provide 100% of a home’s heating and cooling needs. Two common myths are that air-source heat pumps cannot heat below freezing, and that they cannot heat homes without a backup heating source. In fact, cold climate air-source heat pumps provide heating below freezing temperatures and do not require a backup, especially in well insulated homes. If you want to hear more about New England homeowners running ASHPs through the winter, we recommend checking out NEEP’s case studies page to hear about how they tackled the cold with an effective and efficient heat pump system.
The Cadmus Group conducted research to assess the performance of whole home cold-climate air-source heat pumps in New York and Massachusetts, as well homeowners’ satisfaction with their systems, in between Fall 2020 and Fall 2021. Results showed air-source heat pumps were more than twice as efficient as electric resistance heating throughout the winter, even during cold snaps. Homeowners who participated in the study were “generally very satisfied” with the heating AND cooling capacity of their air-source heat pump system. Customers’ primary motivation to install air-source heat pumps was to increase comfort in their home and reduce their energy bills. Read more about this study.
What about during the summer?
Heat pumps are an energy efficient cooling device during the summer as well. They work like your refrigerator to take warm air out of a space and dump it in another location. In the case of air-source heat pumps in summer, they dump the warm air outdoors. Heat pumps can operate throughout the humid New England summer and dehumidify the air more effectively than most traditional air conditioners.
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