Council urged to accelerate adoption of heat pumps

A city committee is urging council to partner with EPCOR to accelerate the adoption of ground-source heat pumps.

The Energy Transition Climate Resilience Committee, the board that advises Edmonton city council on transitioning toward renewable energy, recently wrote an open letter proposing that the city partner with EPCOR to fund and deploy heat pumps in new residential construction and retrofits of existing homes.

"This is the single most important upgrade we can make available for new homes and retrofits to reduce emissions from Edmonton's buildings," the letter said.

While a natural gas furnace burns gas to heat air and then forces that heated air through vents, a ground-source heat pump uses the earth as a source of thermal energy to heat a home, Dave Turnbull, president of Enerspec Energy Consulting, told Taproot.

"It's an air conditioner that goes forwards and backwards," Turnbull said. "There's always heat (in the ground and air), and what (a heat pump) does is it just transports heat from one place to another through a medium, which is the refrigerant that's in the units."

Financing programs like the committee has proposed exist in British Columbia with BC Hydro and Ontario with Hydro One. The committee has proposed that EPCOR would pay the upfront cost of installing a heat pump and the homeowner would repay that over a term of about 25 years through a monthly utility fee that is less than the typical cost of heating a home with natural gas.

Mattamy Homes, an Ontario-based homebuilder that has several developments in the Edmonton region, has used the Ontario program to achieve an 80% reduction in emissions and about 65% reduction in energy use across multiple developments in that province, the committee's letter said. Mattamy has achieved net-zero design on entire developments with a cost premium of less than $20,000, and the premium is paid by the utility, keeping the upgrade out of the price of the house, the letter said.

Buildings are responsible for more than one-third of greenhouse gas emissions in Edmonton. For the city to reach its emissions reduction goals, all new buildings will have to be net-zero by 2030 and all existing buildings will have to be retrofitted by 2050, the committee's letter said. "Our current progress shows we are not moving fast enough, especially considering that every new home that isn't built to be net-zero is adding to the long list of homes Edmontonians will need to retrofit and renovate," the letter said.

Coun. Michael Janz told Taproot he plans to introduce a motion at a future council meeting to direct administration to work with EPCOR to develop the program.

Some doubt the efficacy of ground-source heat pumps in cold climates like Edmonton. The first three weeks of February were colder than average. How did heat pumps fare? Taproot caught up with a homeowner who has used a heat pump for a few winters to find out.

Conrad Nobert started construction in 2009 on what he calls Edmonton's first attempt at a net-zero home. Heat pump technology wasn't quite ready to be used in cold climates back then, so he used electric baseboard heaters, but Nobert got a ground-source heat pump using a federal subsidy in 2021.

"It was fine," Nobert said when asked how the house handled the chilly winter weather. The heat pump has reduced the house's heating costs by between 40% and 50%, he added.

Turnbull's company consults with homeowners on energy-efficient upgrades. He said more people are interested in heat pumps thanks to the rebates and financing programs that are available, but there are other improvements homeowners should consider before a heat pump. "They are a step on the way to net-zero or low-carbon housing, but they're not the first steps people should take," he said. "Generally speaking, you can get a better return on the investment by adding insulation to most homes."

Turnbull said he recommends heat pumps sparingly if a home already has thick walls, is insulated, and is airtight, and he also recommends pairing a heat pump with solar to offset the electricity usage. "That's a really good one-two punch."

Because much of Alberta's power is generated by non-renewable resources, Turnbull said a heat pump without solar electricity won't have lower carbon emissions than a gas furnace, and without solar, energy costs will be higher with a heat pump than with a gas furnace. His company has worked to educate homebuilders on how to make heat pumps viable.

"What happens if we take just an average house, a new house built today, and we put a heat pump in it? It costs you more money for the machine, and it costs you more money to operate, and your greenhouse gas emissions are higher. So it kind of loses on all three fronts," Turnbull said.

But if the house is energy efficient with thicker walls, better windows, more insulation, and solar panels, then "it's a wash," Turnbull said. "You're producing as much electricity as you're consuming, so then you actually get a good benefit all the way around." He added that most homes will need some kind of supplementary heating system for temperatures below -30 C.

Nobert agrees that his heat pump was effective because his house is already very insulated and energy efficient. But he said if a homeowner can access a rebate, it doesn't hurt to install a heat pump, even if their house isn't very well insulated.

Homeowners who make a low-to-median income can currently access up to $10,000 to switch from oil heating to heat pumps through a federal program. The Canada Greener Homes Grant offered up to $5,000 for upgrades including a heat pump, but that program was fully subscribed and closed. The Canada Greener Homes Loan program offers interest-free financing of up to $5,000 to install a heat pump. The Clean Energy Improvement Program, which is delivered by the City of Edmonton and Alberta Municipalities, is fully subscribed, but a new round of funding is expected to open in May. That program allows homeowners to finance up to 100% of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects and repay the cost through their property tax bill.