Canadian Study: Heat Pumps Are Better Than Efficiency For CO2 Reduction From Existing Buildings

From Clean Technica's Michael Barnard's article, "For CO2 Reduction From Existing Buildings, Heat Pumps Are Better Than Efficiency," dated December 28, 2020:

For well over a year, I've been pulling on a specific thread of CO2e emissions reductions related to existing building stock. Back in September of 2019, I did an assessment of efficiency vs electrification gains for buildings, and asserted that electrification would deliver more CO2e value, and that efficiency would become simply a building budget management issue.

...[H]eat pumps are the winners on the lower carbon grids across the province. I'll remind you that all grids are decarbonizing and will do so even faster now that the carbon price is going to increase to $170 [CAD] per ton. By 2030, my projection is that Alberta's grid carbon intensity per kWh will be down around the median for Canada today. ...[T]hat means heat pumps are going to be CO2e winners in Alberta in the coming years as well. …From a governmental policy perspect

ve, the lesson is clear. Heat pumps and decarbonization of grids are the climate change winners for existing buildings. For building owners, the annual cost savings are greater, sometimes much greater, for efficiency measures. That means governmental action to bridge the fiscal gap for building owners for heat pump intervention and grid decarbonization are highest priority, and that efficiency measures should be left to building owners.

Read the full article here.