Comparative Energy Use of Residential Gas Furnaces and Electric Heat Pumps

Comparative Energy Use of Residential Gas Furnaces and Electric Heat Pumps

Steven Nadel May 2016 Report A1602

? American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy 529 14th Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20045 Phone: (202) 507-4000 ? Twitter: @ACEEEDC myACEEE ?

FURNACE AND HEAT PUMP ENERGY USE ? ACEEE

Contents

About the Author ................................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgments...............................................................................................................................ii Executive Summary ...........................................................................................................................iii Introduction.......................................................................................................................................... 1 Methodology ........................................................................................................................................ 2 Energy Use Comparisons ................................................................................................................... 6 Economic Analysis .............................................................................................................................. 9 A Note on Water Heating................................................................................................................. 12 Summary and Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 13 References ........................................................................................................................................... 16 Appendix A. Detailed Analysis....................................................................................................... 18

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FURNACE AND HEAT PUMP ENERGY USE ? ACEEE

About the Author

Steven Nadel has been ACEEE's executive director since 2001. He has worked in the energy efficiency field for more than 30 years and has over 200 publications. His current research interests include utility-sector energy efficiency programs and policies, state and federal energy and climate change policy, and appliance and equipment efficiency standards. He joined ACEEE in 1989 and previously served as deputy director of the organization and director of ACEEE's Utilities and Buildings programs.

Prior to ACEEE, Steve planned and evaluated energy efficiency programs for New England Electric, a major electric utility; directed energy programs for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Massachusetts' largest environmental organization; and ran energy programs for a community organization working on housing rehabilitation in the poorest neighborhoods of New Haven, Connecticut. Steve earned a master of science in energy management from the New York Institute of Technology and a master of arts in environmental studies and a bachelor of arts in government from Wesleyan University.

Acknowledgments

This paper was supported with internal ACEEE funds. The author gratefully acknowledges the external reviewers, internal reviewers, colleagues, and sponsors who supported this report. External expert reviewers were Kathryn Clay and Richard Meyer, American Gas Association (AGA); Pierre Delforge, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC); Keith Dennis, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association; Tom Eckman, Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NPCC); Carla Frisch, US Department of Energy (DOE); Jim Lazar, Regulatory Assistance Project; Andra Pligavko, Peter Turnbull, and Marshall Hunt, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E); and Steve Rosenstock, Rick Tempchin, and Chuck Foster, Edison Electric Institute. Internal reviewers were Neal Elliott and Harvey Sachs. The author also gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Charlie Herron with graphics. External review or support does not imply affiliation or endorsement. Last, I would like to thank Fred Grossberg for managing the editorial process; Miranda Kaplan, Sean O'Brien, and Roxanna Usher for copy editing; Eric Schwass for assistance with the graphics; and Patrick Kiker and Maxine Chikumbo for helping to launch this report into the world.

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FURNACE AND HEAT PUMP ENERGY USE ? ACEEE

Executive Summary

This paper explores the question of whether we should be encouraging or discouraging natural gas use in residential space-heating and water-heating applications based on relative source energy use. Our analysis looks primarily at the relative energy use for different regions and types of heating systems, but we also include a simplified economic analysis looking at the same regions and system types.

Our analysis finds that electric heat pumps generally use less energy in warm states and have moderately positive economics in these states if a heat pump can replace both the furnace and a central air conditioner. Moderately cold states (as far north as Pennsylvania and Massachusetts) can save energy if electricity comes from the highest-efficiency power plants, but from an economic point of view, life cycle costs for gas furnaces in existing homes will be lower than for heat pumps in these states. (We did not look at new construction where using electric heat and hot water can avoid the need to install gas service.) For cold states further development of cold-temperature electric heat pumps and gas-fired heat pumps will be useful from an energy point of view. Likewise, heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) can save more energy than non-condensing and condensing gas water heaters if power comes from efficient natural gas combined-cycle power plants or renewable-power plants. The life cycle costs of HPWHs and new gas water heaters are similar.

We base this analysis on current conditions. The analysis should be repeated in a few years, as a number of evolving trends will affect the results.

We recommend the following next steps:

Further analysis at the state, local, and utility levels, as a more nuanced analysis at the utility or local level, based on specific rate schedules and climate zones, will more clearly indicate who might benefit from heat pumps and who will not

Continued work to develop good cold-climate electric air-source heat pumps and gas-fired heat pumps

Consideration of programs to encourage use of heat pumps in warm states, starting with further localized analysis and proceeding to pilot programs

More localized analysis is needed, but this analysis finds likely opportunities to save energy and money from electric heat pumps, particularly in warm states.

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FURNACE AND HEAT PUMP ENERGY USE ? ACEEE

Introduction

In the US residential sector, electricity and natural gas account for the vast majority of site energy use. According to the latest Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), natural gas accounts for about 46% of total site energy use and electricity for about 43%, while fuel oil and propane account for much of the remainder (EIA 2013).1 Natural gas is used primarily for space and water heating. According to RECS, of the natural gas used in the residential sector 63% goes toward space heating and 26% toward water heating.

There has been a long-running debate between the natural gas and electricity industries about which fuel is more efficient. For example, the American Gas Association (AGA) has published a variety of analyses that tend to depict natural gas in a positive light (e.g., AGA 2015). The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has published several analyses that portray electric applications in a favorable light (e.g., EPRI 2009), as has the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (e.g., Dennis 2015).

In the past few years growing concerns about climate change have led to research on how the United States could achieve very large reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, i.e., reductions of 80% or more relative to recent annual emissions. For example, the California Council on Science and Technology found that to achieve even a 60% reduction of greenhouse gases in California would require four key strategies:

1. Aggressive efficiency measures for buildings, industry, and transportation to reduce the need for both electricity and fuel

2. Electrification of transportation and heat wherever technically feasible to avoid fossil fuel use as much as possible

3. Developing emission-free electricity production with some combination of renewable energy, nuclear power, and fossil fuels accompanied by underground storage of the carbon dioxide emissions, while at the same time nearly doubling electricity production

4. Finding supplies of low-carbon fuel to power transportation and heat use that cannot be electrified, such as for airplanes, heavy-duty trucks, and high-quality heat in industry (CCST 2011)

The second strategy includes converting many homes from natural gas to electric space and water heating.

Similarly, Howland et al. (2014), in the Acadia Center's EnergyVision report for New England, propose four strategies for achieving deep carbon reductions:

1 Site energy use looks only at energy use at the customer level and does not include upstream energy losses such as in power generation, transmission, and distribution.

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