Oregon makes dual-purpose heat pumps default appliances
Oregon has adopted new rules to boost cleaner heating and cooling systems, making dual-purpose heat pumps the default appliances for heating and cooling homes. The regulations surfaced from last month’s Building Code Division’s Residential and Manufactured Structures Board vote, 7–1, to adopt energy-efficiency standards that encourage builders to equip new homes with air conditioning to use dual-purpose heat pumps instead of conventional central ACs.
Heat pumps are 200% to 400% as efficient as conventional gas furnaces and using them to heat homes is often cheaper than using fossil-fueled appliances.
“The code update is an upgrade in both comfort and affordability,” said Eleanor Ponomareff, city council president of Talent, Ore., in a statement. “The increased energy savings for new construction will benefit every Oregonian who moves into one of these new homes for years to come.”
