RMI Report: Replacing Electric Resistance Heating with Heat Pumps Could Cut U.S. Household Costs by $20 Billion Annually

One in five homes in the United States is heated primarily with electric resistance heating, according to a report from the nonprofit energy group RMI, as detailed by Grist. Replacing these devices with heat pumps would save households an average of $1,530 a year, amounting to $20 billion annually across the country.

These RMI calculations included only single-family homes, not multifamily units like apartment buildings.

Demand on the electrical grid would fall if homes switch to heat pumps for climate control and water heating, the report states. Total carbon emissions from such homes would plummet by about 40 percent. Heat pumps have a coefficient of performance, or COP, of around three, meaning they produce three units of heat for every unit of electricity used, while electric resistance heating has a COP of one and the most efficient gas furnaces operate well below a COP of three.

Gradient has been working with building owners and public housing authorities to deploy its heat pump units, which slip over window sills like saddles and plug into a standard wall outlet. The company installed 277 units in a Providence, Rhode Island public housing development that previously used electric resistance heating, completing the work in less than two weeks.

'It is very straightforward and a huge energy win for them,' said Vince Romanin, Gradient's founder and chief technology officer.

'You’re not just saving money. S. 5 million homes each year, with 200,000 of them equipped with electric resistance heating, according to RMI data cited by Grist. The country also installs a million AC units annually in homes with electric resistance heating.