Page 25 - GB Building Science Ebook 2019

important to treat natural gas as a
transitional fuel. It’s also important
to understand that natural gas is not
as “clean” as its marketing. About
64 percent of U.S. gas is extracted
INDUSTRIAL
through unsustainable fracking. Gas
may be necessary for now, while
we’re building the infrastructure
for zero energy solar living, but this
ELECTRIC POWER
time can and must be used wisely
by manufacturers to refine electric
heating and cooling equipment to
COMMERCIAL
work best with renewable sources.
RESIDENTIAL
TRANSPORTATION THE HEAT PUMP
INVASION
One of the key innovations making
Dead Wrong. The government’s forecast for “more of the same” in terms of how fossil fuel consumption will possible the switch to all-electric
look in 2050 ignores the reality of solar’s rise, in our view, especially in the residential and transportation living is the ever-improving heat
sectors. PV panels have reached price parity with gas. Why choose a polluting, more expensive alternative pump. Capable of both heating and
that requires high up-front capital and decades of mechanical maintenance?
cooling, these units represent an
efficiency leap forward from the
GAS: THE LONG GOODBYE electric resistance heaters of the past. Contractors frequently ask us
We still need natural gas--for now, as a transitional fuel to cross if heat pump HVAC is “worth it” in terms of efficiency.
the gap between fossil fuel dependence and a fully renewable- The simple answer is yes. In broad terms, a heat pump operates at
powered grid. about a 3:1 level of efficiency, compared with an electric resistance
But with solar’s cost parity, government mandates and Climate baseboard heater (or hot water heater) which operates at a 1:1 ratio.
Change impacts in play, solar has already begun to erode the An example offered by one reseller is “A single 12,000 BTU heat pump
argument for status quo gas-powered energy. However, you need can usually run for the same cost
to look at what’s happening on the ground, not what government as a single 1000 watt baseboard
lobbyists and their fossil fuel cronies assert will happen. If you read but replace up to 4-6 baseboards
last year’s energy report on gas from the U.S. Energy Information in an area of your home.”
Administration, for example, they make it sound like 2050 will
look just like 2020 in terms of gas consumption. We think they’re A Smarter Heat Pump. With a
way off target. The market is shifting to renewables. Anything else variable speed compressor,
the Carrier Infinity 20 Heat
would be economically ignorant. Pump optimizes electricity for
The housing industry also seems trapped in the current moment, heating or cooling with minimal
when gas is still king. Sales of gas hvac equipment increase yearly. noise and a wider range of
This is understandable, given the relatively low cost of gas, but it’s operating temperatures.