ABC7 Solutions: Electric heat pump one way to keep home warm, reduce carbon footprint

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- American homes and businesses that burn natural gas to heat water or living space generate almost a tenth of all US emissions.

The solution for lowering that footprint can be found in technology almost a century old but getting more efficient every day: The electric heat pump.

"Heat pumps have certainly arrived," says Friday Apaliski, communications director for the nonprofit Building Decarbonization Coalition.

Anyone with a refrigerator has a heat pump in their home. A liquid refrigerant cools the air inside and the warm air you feel on your feet. Electric heating, ventilation and air conditioning, or HVAC system can work in reverse, pumping that warm air inside during the winter and providing consistent temperatures year round.

"A heat pump is going to deliver to you the correct temperature of air all the time. So you're not oscillating between really hot and really cold and really hot and really cold. You instead have this very consistent temperature all the time," explains Apaliski.

In new home construction or major renovations like the Farestveit home in La Canada, an electric HVAC system can help the environment and the homeowner's costs because there's no need to buy a furnace, and any upgrades to the electrical panels are part of the build.

"You pay a little more for electricity, but you give up the use of gas and since we're gonna be on solar we have more than enough electricity, so it was an obvious choice for us," says Craig Farestveit of his decision to use an electric HVAC system.

Heat pump water heaters and dryers do cost significantly more upfront, but expanded rebates and tax credits help offset the cost. And with a reliable, increasing green electric power grid in California, many have grown to embrace the idea of going all electric.

Knowing gas-powered water heaters and furnaces fail every 10-15 years makes planning ahead essential.

"You don't want to have to do an emergency replacement because then running the new electrical, space consideration and constraints - you might not have the ability to do that and so you might be stuck with another gas unit for another 10-20 years," says Genaro Bugarin, who went all-electric at his home in Whittier.

Many who've made the switch to electric heat pump water heaters like the Bugarin family, haven't noticed a performance difference at all and add the driers are easier on clothes because the heat isn't as intense. But the electric HVAC system takes some getting used to because the rooms are always at a consistent temperature. Bugarin points out, "If you're saying that 'Oh, I liked when my old unit was blowing air,' but that was your perception of something working but it was inefficient and it was costly and it was harmful."

If you want to learn more about what might be possible, Switch Is On has a Find a Contractor tool on their website to aid homeowner in finding installers ready to work with heat pumps.

"This is not a situation of the 8-track tape," Apaliski says. "Heat pumps are real. They are here to stay so there's nothing to be afraid about. There's no reason to shy away from a heat pump."