Pat and Steve Miller are spreading the gospel of heat pumps.
“It seemed like a magical appliance,” said Pat Miller. “It has no emissions, and it’s also three times as efficient as burning any kind of fossil fuel.”
The Middletown Township couple own four appliances powered by heat pumps, including a pool heater, a hot water heater, and a washer-dryer — all allowing them to be green and save green, they said.
“We have a 96% reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions in our house,” said Steve Miller, who has tracked his home’s energy usage and spending since introducing a pump into their home’s heating and cooling system in 2021. “In our case, we saved 13% on our total electric and gas combined.”
But now unless Congress takes action, federal rebates for the systems are likely to end this year.
“What’s happening right now in Washington is shameful. It’s dumb,” said state Sen. Andrew Zwicker (D-Middlesex), sponsor of a bill that would direct the state Board of Public Utilities to codify a program to give direct incentives for heat pumps.
“If we can take care of those upfront costs in a way that is affordable, it’s going to save New Jersey consumers hundreds of dollars a year,” he said. “This is exactly the right time for to get this done.”
According to a 2020 survey by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, about 3% of New Jersey households have heat pumps. Advocates say that number is likely a conservative count, as rebates have led to more people installing them over the past half-decade.
