Did you know that gas heat pumps can run at efficiencies beyond 100%, which can help you save you money on your utility bills and reduce the CO2 emissions from your energy use?
Not surprisingly, given how cold Canada is, space heating accounts for the highest proportion of energy use in Canadian homes, at nearly 64% of total energy use. Most Canadians heat with high efficiency gas furnaces. Heat pumps however, can be even more efficient. Though electrically driven heat pumps are currently the most common, gas heat pumps (GHP) are emerging as a viable alternative, and offer unique advantages.
Fundamentally, a gas heat pump operates in the same way as an electric one. It absorbs heat from the ambient outside air and transfers the heat indoors; as such, it can run at efficiencies beyond 100%. The main difference, as the name implies, is that a natural gas heat pump uses natural gas as its energy source instead of electricity. But a gas heat pump is cheaper to use — as direct gas energy use is much cheaper than electricity — and a gas heat pump can function in colder temperatures because it is thermally driven — meaning it has higher reliability in our cold Canadian winters.
Energy reductions
According to NRCan’s Office of Energy Efficiency, an average residential home in Canada that has natural gas uses an average of 95 GJ per year for space and water heating. Switching to a natural gas heat pump could reduce annual energy consumption by 24 GJ / almost 620 m3 — a 25% energy reduction when compared to a natural gas furnace. In 2022, this would have resulted in average cost savings of $330 per household. Furthermore, it equates to CO2 emission reductions of more than 1.2 tonnes per household per year.
Deployment projects
Gas heat pump manufacturers and many of Canada’s natural gas utilities have been piloting this technology in a variety of different applications throughout the country:
Enbridge Gas:
Enbridge Gas installed a 65kW absorption gas heat pump in 2022 to augment the domestic hot water supply for a multi residential building in Toronto. The monitored results to date show an estimated 25% annual natural gas saving.
FortisBC:
In 2022, FortisBC launched a pilot project to install gas heat pumps in 20 residential homes. Participants of the program could be estimated to save up to 40 GJ per year, equating to cost savings of $500 and emission reductions of nearly 2 tonnes.1
As the projects outlined above have shown, Canada’s gas utility companies are working diligently to support innovative technologies and bring gas heat pumps to markets. The next time you need to replace your home heating system, consider a gas heat pump. As consumers, we often need to consider the energy trilemma: affordability, energy security, and emission reductions. And a gas heat pump may just check all the boxes.
1 FortisBC brings high-efficient gas heat pumps into B.C. homes for the first time” (26 May 2022), online: FortisBC <www.fortisbc.com/news-events/media-centre-details/2022/05/26/fortisbc-brings-high-efficient-gas-heat-pumps-into-b.c.-homes-for-the-first-time>.