It appears America is falling in love with heat pumps, which is a tall order for an appliance. They use tricks of physics to extract warmth from wintry air and bring it inside, a far more efficient way of staying toasty than with gas furnaces. (It’s better to move heat from one place to another, instead of generating it by burning fossil fuels. Cold-climate heat pumps can still do this in the most frigid of places.) As a bonus, in the summer a heat pump reverses the process to act like a traditional air conditioner, providing comfort in all seasons.
According to a new report from the nonprofit Building Decarbonization Coalition, over the past 15 years, heat pump sales have doubled. In the first quarter of this year, the appliances outpaced shipments of fossil fuel furnaces by 32 percent, and narrowly missed beating out AC units. And in 2024, 46 percent of new housing included a heat pump, compared to 47 percent that went with forced-air furnaces. (This includes models running on natural gas and electric versions that work like giant hair dryers.)
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