Guest Post by Tacy Lambiase, Director of Climate Solutions
Just in time for the holiday season, we’re welcoming a new addition to our family. (And no, before you ask, it’s not a baby or a puppy. But it IS something we worked to acquire over the course of about nine months and we are thrilled to see it come to life!) Please put your hands together for…our shiny new heat pump!
Caption: Our heat pump is a heating and cooling system in one, and it looks very similar to our previous air conditioning unit. What a beauty!
When my husband and I bought our house more than two years ago, we knew we wanted to eventually electrify everything. We purposefully looked for a house with an electric stovetop to avoid toxic indoor air pollution and existing ductwork that would make it easier to transition heating and cooling systems from natural gas to electricity. After we moved in, we didn’t have a specific timeframe in mind for when we were going to make the switch from our aging gas furnace to an electric heat pump. We simply (and in hindsight, somewhat naively) put “heat pump” on our home improvement wish list and figured we’d get to it down the road.
As we’ve learned as first-time homeowners, however: You cannot control when things break. So, here’s how we knew it was time to say goodbye to gas.