Keep your family healthy and safe
- Gas appliances release carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and other harmful pollutants into your community’s air. Heat pumps emit ZERO pollutants.
- If your home has an older gas furnace or water heater, those pollutants may be leaking into your living spaces! With heat pumps, no worries about gas leaks, especially during earthquakes!
Shrink your carbon footprint
Combined, your gas furnace and AC make up about 47 percent of your home’s total energy use. Your gas water heater uses another 14 to18 percent.
When you replace those gas-burning, polluting appliances with heat pumps, you radically reduce your carbon footprint!
Save money
- Heat pumps are super energy-efficient! According to PG&E, residential customers can save up to $78 a month by switching from gas to heat pump technology.
- Electric heat pumps heat and cool your home. Depending on your current furnace and AC system, you could save $375-$1,000 per year switching from a gas furnace and a separate AC unit to a heat pump.
- Many rebates and cost-saving incentives are available. Quit Carbon, The Switch is On, or your contractor will have all the info.
Concord Vice Mayor Laura Nakamura is delighted with her heat pump water heater
Photo by Greg Colley, used with permission.
Plan ahead
The moment your gas appliance conks out is no time to start looking into alternatives. Be ready.
- If your furnace is more than 13 years old, the time to plan is now. Furnaces can last up to 20 years, but many don’t. Don’t wait until that furnace firebox cracks, allowing deadly CO2 into your home!
- If your water heater is more than 8 years old, look into replacing it. Most don’t last more than 10 years. Don’t wait until the tank cracks, causing a costly leak!
Free resources
Find all you need to know in these:
- A Guide to Home Electrification from PG&E
- A Pocket Guide to All-Electric Retrofits of Single-Family Homes from Redwood Energy.
- A Homebuyer’s Guide to All-Electric Living in a Newly Built Home from The Switch Is On
Explore products, incentives, and contractors at The Switch is On.
Get free, personalized, expert guidance and contractor referrals from Quit Carbon.
Get a good deal on a home energy improvement loan with Go Green Financing.
How heat pumps work
To learn about space heating and cooling, see How Heat Pumps Work in the Summer and Winter at Rewiring America.
To learn about water heaters, see PG&E’s Buyer’s Guide to Heat Pump Water Heaters.
Author: Emily Wheeler
Graphic credit: Emily Wheeler, used with permission