Save Energy With a Heat Pump

Conserving Energy

By building energy efficient home systems homeowners can conserve energy to reduce on utility costs, increase the value of their home, and help the environment. Making your home more energy efficient can pay off in more ways than one. One thing you can do to reduce costs and increase efficiency is install a heat pump. Heat pumps can offer energy efficient solutions for your heating and cooling needs, and can outperform most traditional heating or air conditioning systems. Listen below to hear The Housing Hour's podcast on heating and air from their energy efficiency series.

How Heat Pumps Work

Heat pumps don’t work like traditional heating systems that convert electricity into heat. Instead, it
retains heat and warmth from the environment, multiplies it, and transfers it to the home. During hotter weather, the pump functions as an air conditioner. It moves heat away from the house, or out of the air,creating a cooling effect. There are many reasons to install energy star components in your home. Stream or download this podcast from The Housing Hour on Energy Star components for your home.

Heat Pumps for Heating

As the name suggests, heat pumps are great for heating and providing warmth. They can quickly and efficiently increase the temperature of the room. Efficiency is the key when it comes to heat pumps. If you put your heat pump on “reverse cycle,” it will then act as a refrigerant, cooling the air in the same fashion as a refrigerator does.

Heat Pumps for Cooling

As mentioned, the “reverse cycle” can make the heat pump work backwards. When you heat pump
works in reverse, it is extracting heat from your home, and pumping it outside. This is exactly how a
fridge works, by using sound waves to condition the air adjacent to the pump. Commonly, this is known as air conditioning.

Heat Pumps Control the Climate

With a heat pump, you are the one who controls the weather in your house. Most people are
comfortable living within a certain range of temperatures, but with a heat pump you don’t have to live within that range. Theoretically, you could turn up the air in the summer just to light a fire, although we don’t recommend it. With a quality heat pump, you can easily control the climate of your house to make it more comfortable. For more ideas on home energy solutions, stream or download more of the podcasts from The Housing Hour's special series on energy efficiency.