As electric and natural gas costs increase and cities and states pass energy standards and renewable energy tax credits, sales of energy-efficient technology — like heat pumps — get a boost.
In the U.S., shipments of air-source heat pumps increased 14.8 percent from January 2016 to January 2017, 12.9 percent from January 2017 to January 2018, and 9.1 percent from January 2018 to January 2019, according to the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). Ground-source heat pump sales rose 37 percent from 2017 to 2018, due largely to the reinstatement of federal tax credits for geothermal — although geothermal remains just 1.7 percent of the market, according to Doug Dougherty, president and CEO of the Geothermal Exchange Organization (GEO).