Why upgrade to a Heat Pump?

Heat pumps are good for the world—and, in many cases, for your wallet, too.

They’re the most energy-efficient way to handle both heating and cooling in your home; they may also be the most affordable choice in the long term, once you factor in the decreased utility bills and the potential tax credits and incentives, depending on the state you live in. Heat pumps are usually better for the environment, too, and are generally considered to be one of the best ways for homeowners to reduce their carbon footprintwithout sacrificing comfort. They also happen to rank among the quietest and most comfortable options available for home heating and cooling.

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The research

What is a heat pump, anyway?

Heat pumps are essentially two-way air conditioners. In the summertime, they work like any other AC unit, removing heat from the air inside and pushing cooled air back into the room. In the cooler months, they do the opposite, drawing heat energy from the air outside and moving it into your home to warm things up. The process is especially efficient, typically using up to a quarter of the energy compared to other home-heating sources. Or, as David Yuill of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln told us, “You could put in a watt of electricity and get [the equivalent of] four watts of heat out of it. It’s like magic.”

Unlike magic, however, there’s actually a very simple explanation for this result: Heat pumps have only to move heat, instead of generating it by combusting a fuel source. Even the most efficient gas-powered furnace or boiler never converts 100% of its fuel into heat; it’s always going to lose something in the conversion process. A good electric-resistance heater gives you 100% efficiency, but it still has to burn watts to produce that heat, whereas a heat pump just moves the heat. More than 92 percent of American homes could reduce their utility bills with a heat pump, according to a 2024 study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which places the median annual savings in the range of $300 to $650, depending on efficiency and weatherization.

Electric heat pumps can also help to reduce carbon emissions in every US state by up to 93 percent, while still providing two to five times more heating energy than the energy you put into it, on average. As a result, a heat pump is an environmentally friendly HVAC system that will also save you money. Most heat pumps also use inverter technology, which lets the compressor run at more nuanced and variable speeds, so you’re using only the exact amount of energy necessary to maintain comfort.

Who this is for

Almost any homeowner could potentially benefit from a heat pump.

Consider the case of Mike Ritter, who moved into a 100-year-old two-family home in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood with his family in 2016. Ritter knew the boiler was running on fumes even before he bought the house, and he knew they’d have to replace it soon enough. After getting a few quotes from contractors, he was left with two options: He could spend $6,000 to install a new fossil-fuel-based system in the basement, or he could get a heat pump. Although the overall cost of the heat pump looked to be about five times higher on paper, the heat pump also came with a $6,000 rebate and a seven-year, zero-interest loan to cover the rest of the cost, thanks to Massachusetts’s statewide incentive program to encourage heat pump conversion.

Once he did the math—comparing the costs of natural gas with those of electricity, as well as factoring in the environmental impact, alongside the monthly payments—the choice was clear.

“Honestly, we were shocked that we could do it,” said Ritter, a freelance photographer, after four years of heat pump ownership. “We don’t make doctor or lawyer money, and we wouldn’t have expected to be the kind of people with central heating and cooling in their house. But there’s a million ways you can spread out the costs and get rebates and get energy credits. It’s not much more than what you’re already spending on energy right now.”

Despite all the benefits, as recently as 2021 there were still more Americans buying one-way ACs or other inefficient systems than there were buying heat pumps each year. After all, when your old system fails, it’s logical to simply replace what was there before, as the Ritters might have. We hope this guide can help you plan and budget for a true upgrade. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck with another inefficient, carbon-intensive HVAC for the next decade. And that’s not good for anyone.