Unity EarthCare Tip of the Month

June 2025

Use an electric heat pump to cool and heat your home. 

This is a follow-up to our April Tip of the Month and to our April 13 Earth Day service presentation by Caron and Steve Wenzel, entitled, “Decarbonize Your Life.”

What is a heat pump? 

A heat pump system is an energy-efficient way to heat and cool your home year-round. Because heat pumps are powered by electricity rather than by fossil fuels, they are considered an environmentally friendly alternative to the standard furnace and central air conditioning system – another way to Decarbonize Your Life.

Like your refrigerator, heat pumps use electricity to transfer heat from a cool space to a warm space, making the cool space cooler and the warm space warmer. 

• During the cooling season, heat pumps move heat from your house to the outdoors.

• During the heating season, they move heat from the cool outdoors into your warm house. Yes, even in the dead of winter, there heat is present in the air.

Because they transfer heat rather than generate heat, heat pumps can efficiently provide comfortable temperatures for your home. 

What are some things about heat pumps to be aware of?

There are different forms of heat pumps, and an expert HVAC professional would need to evaluate your house to recommend the optimal type of heat pump system based on the specifics of your situation.

• “Air Source” Heat Pumps delivers heat from the outside air. “Ground Source” Heat Pumps deliver heat from the ground, where well below the surface, the temperature remains fairly constant. 

• Heat pumps are ideal to use in conjunction with electricity powered by the sun or other non-fossil fuel electricity sources.

Disadvantages include possible inefficiency in a house that is drafty rather than well insulated.