Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
If you’re like most Rhode Islanders, more than a third of your greenhouse gas emissions come from heating your home.
Our winters can get pretty cold here, so we wondered, is it possible to stay warm and cut our emissions at the same time?
We had Max Kozlov + Dana K: from the Possibly team look into this question Welcome Max and Dana!
Max Kozlov: Hi Megan!
Dana K: Hello!
Megan Hall: So, what did you find out about home heating in Rhode Island?
Max Kozlov: Well, if you want to reduce the emissions that come from heating your house, the first thing you should do is make sure it’s insulated.
Dana K: Once you have a well-insulated house, the next step is to install the most efficient heating system you can find.
Megan Hall: Ok so what are the options for low emissions heating systems?
Max Kozlov: We talked with Dave Caldwell about this
Dave Caldwell: I’m the vice president of Coughlin Johnson Homebuilders and Remolders
Dana K: He recommends installing something that’s called a heat pump. It runs on electricity and works sort of like a refrigerator, except in reverse.
Dave Caldwell: If you see where your cat or your dog likes to lay at the bottom of the fridge because it’s blowing warm air out. The fridge is taking the air from the room, taking the cold out, leaving it in the fridge and exhausting the hot air at the bottom.
Max Kozlov: Instead of sitting in your kitchen, a heat pump sits outside your house. It transfers heat from the outside and brings it inside your home.
Dana K: That’s way more efficient than creating heat by burning oil or gas.
Max Kozlov: Heat pumps also work as air conditioners in the summer, removing heat from your house and dumping it outside.
Megan Hall: So how do these heat pumps circulate air through your whole house?
Max Kozlov: If your house already has ducts or central air conditioning, you just connect the heat pump to that existing system. That’s the cheapest option.
Dana K: But if a house doesn’t already have air ducts, you can install wall-mounted heating units in different rooms throughout the house.
Max Kozlov: This is more expensive, but it’s also more efficient.
Megan Hall: How much of a difference will switching to a heat pump make in terms of my greenhouse gas emissions?
Dana K: Well if you switch to heat pumps from an oil furnace, you’ll reduce your emissions by about 50%.
Max Kozlov: And because heat pumps run on electricity, you can reduce your heating emissions even more if you sign up for electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar power.
Dana K: That’s something you can do today.
Megan Hall: So, if I want to install heat pumps in my house, what should I do?
Dana K: First, get an energy audit to make sure your home is well insulated.
Max Kozlov: Next, find a contractor who has experience installing heat pumps. National Grid has a list of approved vendors and that’s a good place to start.
Megan Hall: Great! Thanks, Max and Dana!
That’s it for today. For more information or to ask a question about the way you recycle, use energy, or make any other choice that affects the planet, go to “the public’s radio dot org slash possibly.” Or subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts.
Possibly is a co-production of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society and the Public’s Radio.
Resources
- RISE engineering gives free home energy audits: https://www.riseengineering.com/home-energy-assessment
- National Grid’s list of approved contractors for installing heat pumps:https://www.nationalgridus.com/media/pdfs/resi-ways-to-save/rhode-island-electric-mshp-contractors.pdf