Gas Heat Pumps: Another Tool in the Toolbox for Decarbonization

Gas Heat Pumps the world’s oldest commercially successful heat pump. No longer a technology “has-been”, they are now poised to make a major comeback, focused particularly on cool and cold-climate heating. Several companies are in or entering the market with modernized versions that have a much lower cost and improved performance. Positioned to serve both residential and commercial building heating markets, these products take aim at replacing furnaces, boilers, and water heaters with cost- and climate-effective solutions. While they utilize natural gas or propane today, this technology also accelerates the transition of the gas system towards net-zero-carbon molecules and represent an additional resource to rapidly achieve large-scale progress in decarbonizing key parts of the building sector. Learning objectives include an overview of the category of gas heat pumps, how they work, their modern applications, economics, and how they help crack the difficult-to-solve problem of decarbonizing winter heating loads.