What’s Cooler Than a Heat Pump?

A cleaner environment depends on homeowners choosing all-electric heat pumps when the time has come to replace their furnace or air conditioner.

Heat pumps provide both heating and air conditioning by moving heat. During cold weather, heat pumps move heat indoors. In hot weather, heat pumps move heat from the indoors to the outdoors.

Have we piqued your interest? Welcome to the club. Heat pumps are regularly featured in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, popular magazines, radio segments and podcasts. Most of the attention relates to how heat pumps empower us to heat our homes without using fossil fuels (there’s no propane, oil, gas or coal required), making them essential for reducing air pollution and emissions. But let’s look at the other side. All-electric heat pumps are also a better way to air condition your home. Sustainable by design, they far outperform conventional air-conditioning options.

Basic air conditioners are heat pumps (but less cool)

Think of air conditioners as one-way heat pumps. They can only pump heat out of a space. Besides lacking the ability to provide heat, basic air conditioners are also limited in their ability to provide energy-efficient and precise comfort control compared to a VCHP.

Get ready to upgrade your air-conditioning experience.

VCHPs can be up to 40 percent more efficient than conventional air conditioners. Equipped with INVERTER-driven compressors, VCHPs maintain your preferred indoor temperature or set point using minimal electricity, even as your conditioning needs change with the weather, occupancy or the time of day. Also, your contractor can help you divide your home into zones, so your heat pump can provide room-by-room comfort control. Each zone can have a unique set point to match how you and your family use the space.

Heat pumps are the answer to heatwaves

As the global temperature rises and heatwaves become increasingly common, more people will need to add air conditioning to their homes. This includes homeowners in places like Seattle where 46 percent of single-family homes are currently without air conditioning. The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) modeled the performance of a typical air conditioner, a high-capacity air conditioner and a VCHP for a Seattle home during a three-day heatwave where temperatures soared as high as 108° F. RMI’s analysis showed how the typical air conditioner failed to maintain a safe indoor temperature during the heatwave, and the high-capacity air conditioner struggled to maintain the set point on the hottest day. In contrast, the heat pump consistently maintained a pleasant indoor temperature while using less electricity than the other solutions.

VCHPs from Mitsubishi Electric can provide energy-efficient air conditioning and gas-free heating for homes across the United States. If you’re ready to improve your home’s comfort and sustainability year-round, visit MitsubishiComfort.com.