Ugh, I think this is a terrible idea for heating.
I've installed 2 Mitsubishi hyper heat pumps in the past 5 years with 3 indoor heads totaling ~48,000 BTUs of heat capacity. I don't think people understand how much more expensive heat pumps are than a traditional natural gas furnace. I paid $25,000, and that was 5 years ago. This is for a small house of 1500 square feet. If you had a larger 3 or 4,000 square foot house, you can double or triple that price. In contrast, I know you can get a 250,000 BTU gas boiler for ~$20,000 with install.
Plus, electricity is still way more expensive than gas, even with the price shocks over the past year and even with the high efficiency of modern heat pumps. And it's not that green, given that you lose ~7% in transmission, and usually it's coming from a coal or natural gas plant. If you had solar to offset some of it, that would be great, but usually there isn't enough sun in the winter to account for all of your heating needs, at least without a gigantic array.
I think this is pretty impractical and misguided. I've tried to be green, but next time I buy a house, I'm going to try to go back to a gas furnace.
I've installed 2 Mitsubishi hyper heat pumps in the past 5 years with 3 indoor heads totaling ~48,000 BTUs of heat capacity. I don't think people understand how much more expensive heat pumps are than a traditional natural gas furnace. I paid $25,000, and that was 5 years ago. This is for a small house of 1500 square feet. If you had a larger 3 or 4,000 square foot house, you can double or triple that price. In contrast, I know you can get a 250,000 BTU gas boiler for ~$20,000 with install.
Plus, electricity is still way more expensive than gas, even with the price shocks over the past year and even with the high efficiency of modern heat pumps. And it's not that green, given that you lose ~7% in transmission, and usually it's coming from a coal or natural gas plant. If you had solar to offset some of it, that would be great, but usually there isn't enough sun in the winter to account for all of your heating needs, at least without a gigantic array.
I think this is pretty impractical and misguided. I've tried to be green, but next time I buy a house, I'm going to try to go back to a gas furnace.