1. Assemble basic information about your existing heating system, especially the date when  it was installed and a record of service indicating any emission tests or efficiency measurements. Also, review the quantity of oil or natural gas you have used each year, or the costs you have paid; this will help determine the size your heat pump system needs to be. Your energy use data will also be a useful input into a Home Energy Assessment or a plan to Insulate and Weatherize your home so as to reduce your heating requirements as much as you can before seeking a quote on a heat pump system. This will allow you to buy a smaller, less-expensive system (see Step 3).

2. Schedule an appointment with a professional home energy consultant from Abode Energy Management, which specializes in heat pumps and related technologies. The Town of Acton has contracted with Abode to provide these free consultations to Acton residents about heat pump technology and their specific homes and circumstances. UPDATE: As of 2023, you may also contact a volunteer Acton Energy Coach with this Coaching Request Form; see flyer below.

3. Look for heat pump contractors/installers with plenty of heat pump experience. The Abode expert will share names of contractors that may have experience most relevant to your type of home. Schedule visits to your home to get to know potential contractors, and ask them for local references. Ask for suggestions for size, configuration, and types of equipment, and request initial pricing, but make it clear that before you make any decisions you will be considering all the elements that could affect your heat pump purchase (see the next Step). Make sure that the heat pump installer you ultimately hire is eligible to access all the heat pump incentives from MassSave, MassCEC, and other sources.

4. Get information about other energy measures that could affect your heat pump decision, starting with any remaining opportunities to reduce your “heat loss” with insulation and weatherization (thereby reducing the size of the heat pump you would need, and thus, the cost). Ask your Abode consultant about this. Ensuring that you're reducing heat loss could also involve getting a Home Energy Assessment from MassSave and/or contacting a MassSave Home Performance Contractor, as described in the Insulate & Weatherize to the Max Action. And/or it might involve contacting a solar installer or looking into making your next car an EV and charging it at home. To install a whole-house heat pump system, you could need to upgrade your electrical service and panel, so you might as well design the new electrical supply to accommodate EV charging and/or a solar array.

5. Compare and choose between different types and configurations of heat pump system. Determine whether a ground source heat pump is feasible in your location. If so, this will be the most efficient type of heat pump with the lowest electricity use. The high initial price for installation may be an obstacle unless you take out a loan for it ( 0% HEAT Loans are available). Alternately, air source heat pumps are much less expensive to install, and offer the choice of installing one central air source heat pump to replace your existing furnace and use your existing air ducts, or configuring one or more "mini-split" heat pump units to serve one or two rooms each. Configuration options are discussed further under the Deep Dive tab.

6. Once you have identified what heat pump configuration will work best for you, get price quotes for a range of heat pump capabilities. For example, make sure you are looking at "cold climate" heat pumps that will work well in Acton's cold winter weather. Look for the highest HSPF (Heating Season Performance Factor) ratings, as well as the SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) rating; ask for model numbers so you can research independent information on the equipment. Ask your contractors to show you the NEEP (Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships) ratings of each heat pump model you consider. See additional information under the Deep Dive tab.

7. Once you have some options priced out, talk them over with independent sources of advice and sign a contract for the best option for your home. Energize Acton may soon offer references for coaching or local case studies but, in the meantime, contact your Abode energy consultant, the Energy Specialist who did your Home Energy Assessment, or other energy efficiency providers for suggestions of heat pump experts. If your Home Performance Contractor (HPC) provided both the assessment and the heat pump quotes, get competing quotes from other installers and ask questions of the competitors.

 8. If you are not yet retiring your existing fossil fuel equipment, sign the Acton Climate Coalition's Zero Emissions Pledge to stop burning fossil fuels in your home as soon as that existing oil or gas equipment needs to be replaced. Once you have selected a type of heat pump system for your house along, and a list of key equipment models, you will now have a ”Heat Pump Plan” that you can refer to when it's time to retire your existing heating system. Of course, technology evolves, so it's possible some updates might be needed if it's been a while since you made your plan, but at least you will have a starting point and can move quickly to get your new system installed.

9. Once you've transitioned to a heat pump system for your home, please write a Testimonial for this site with your story: what worked, what was difficult, how well contractors met your needs, and how comfortable and affordable your heat pump system has been. Thanks!

A primer/Q&A on heat pumps follows, below. Also, see the information on the Abode/Acton website. As of 2023, you may also contact a volunteer Acton Energy Coach with this Coaching Request Form.

What are heat pumps?

Traditional heating systems burn fuel to create heat; heat pumps work by “pumping” heat into or out of a building or home. Though they require electricity to operate, heat pumps use only 20–50% of the electricity that would be used by traditional electric resistance heaters. A heat pump can supplement your existing heating system or completely replace it. Heat pumps provide the greatest economic benefit if your home is currently heated with oil, propane, or electric baseboards, but many will find it affordable to replace gas heat now or in the near future. Here are some more-detailed resources on heat pumps:
• Energy Sage
• Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC)

How important are heat pumps for meeting Acton’s net zero carbon goal?

For most Acton households, the single most impactful Action to cut carbon emissions is to stop burning oil, gas, or propane for heat, and switch to an electric heat pump system. As the table below shows, this can cut an average of 3.2 tons of carbon (MTCO2e) every year; the reduction will be a little greater for homes previously heated with oil, and a bit less for those using gas.

Heat pumps are even more impactful when the electricity to power them is 100% renewably sourced — in Acton, e.g., renewable supply is readily available through Acton Power Choice GREEN. The emissions reduction realized by using 100% renewable, zero-emission electricity for your heat pump system will average about 2 tons annually on top of the 1.5 ton reduction from "greening" (using 100% renewable) the rest of the electricity used by the average household.

The Top 6 Actions for Cutting Household Carbon Emissions:
Average Tons Reduced/Year

Sources: MassEnergize Carbon Calculator Methodolgy, Energize Acton conversions to metric tons based on 2,204.62 pounds/metric ton. 

Reductions will vary from one household to the next, depending on the particulars, but if a household's members can do all the things in this table (there are 6 Actions listed; all the APC Green actions are counted as one), they would eliminate approximately 13 tons of carbon from their emissions each year. This is roughly 74% of the average 17.5 tons of emissions per household counted in the 2019 Acton Greenhouse Gas Inventory from home energy use and passenger cars in Acton. (Note: on-site solar was omitted from the 13 ton total because most of solar’s potential emissions reduction is achieved in this scenario by APC GREEN.) 

At the beginning of 2022, 138 Acton buildings had heat pump systems installed. Energize Acton has a goal of another 130 buildings converted to heat pumps by the end of 2022 as part of reaching net zero carbon emissions Town-wide by 2030, for a total of 268 by year-end.

What is the basis for the estimate of 3.2 tons/year emission reduction?

This estimate of emissions reduction is intended as an approximation of typical, average, or potential results in order to convey relative magnitudes of various Actions; this is not a prediction of actual results of individual heat pump installations. Using MassEnergize Carbon Calculator Methodology, MassEnergize estimated a 7,199 pounds/year reduction by assuming that an oil furnace is partially displaced by a high-efficiency, central ducted air-source heat pump, with energy savings from the Technical Reference Manual used for evaluation of MassSave programs. For this partial displacement scenario, it appears that this MassSave analysis had assumed HSPF (Heating Seasonal Performance Factor) values for heat pumps from 8.2–9.6, which are relatively inefficient (i.e., lower than the HSPFs up to 12 for ductless mini-split heat pumps [ductless mini-split heat pumps/DMSHP]).

Source: Energy Optimization Study, October 9, 2018, Table 3, page 7. More generally, it may be possible to achieve better emission reductions if existing oil burners are removed, even if electric resistance heat is used for backup during very cold hours/days.

How does the electricity emission factor affect the emissions reduction estimates?

MassEnergize uses an electricity emissions factor of 580 Lb/MWh from MassDEP. Energize Acton converted to metric tons using 2,204.62 pounds/metric ton. Notes on electricity emissions factor: The DEP factor of 580 Lb/MWh is for Massachusetts as of 2017. Energize Acton estimates that, since then, that factor should have dropped by about 11% through 2021, to 517 — based on trends of ISO-NE’s average emission factor for 2018 and 2019, and then adjusted for remaining years based on the increase in the RPS Standard (2% per year). The APC Standard option should be about 12% lower than 517, reaching about 454 Lb/MWh, based on its additional renewable content above RPS. Based on these trends, the emissions reduction estimates for air-source heat pumps could be reduced by 21.7%, to reflect the change in emissions factor from 580 to 454 — from 3.2 to 2.5. However, Energize Acton is not making this change for three reasons: (1) the ISO-NE factors for 2017 — 682 Lb/MWh average and 654 marginal — are higher than the 580 Mass DEP factor and better represent the regional wholesale market from which Acton Power Choice buys electricity; (2) we expect that heat pump performance will have improved since the MassSave estimate was derived; and (3) we want to use consistent impact estimates to allow future comparisons with other MassEnergize towns.)

What incentives are available for heat pumps?

All homes qualify for heat pump incentives from MassSave. Some homes may qualify for additional incentives from Massachusetts state agencies. Make sure to obtain the most-current information on incentives because they may change. For ground source heat pumps there are rebates of up to $10,000 and a generous federal tax credit, with higher incentives for low- and moderate-income customers.

What is the difference between “air source” and “ground source” heat pumps?

There are two basic types of heat pumps:

• Air-Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs) exchange heat with the air outside your home. Some ASHPs are efficient down to sub-zero outdoor temperatures. ASHPs for homes that already have ducting are called central heat pumps, while so-called ductless "mini-splits" are suited for homes that don’t have existing ducting. All ASHPs provide energy-efficient heating and cooling for your home. ASHPs use 30–50 pecent as much electricity as traditional electric resistance heaters, such as electric baseboards. Download the NEEP Air-Source Heat Pump Buyers Guide  for more information. 

• Ground-Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs) can provide highly efficient heating, cooling, and water heating by utilizing the nearly constant temperature underground to heat or cool your home. GSHPs are typically the most efficient type of heat pump, but installation is more complex and the initial cost is somewhat higher than for ASHPs. See more here. 

 What are the different types and configurations of heat pump systems?

There are three main options. Experienced heat pump professionals can help you compare the pros and cons of these configurations.

• Install one central heat pump (air-source or ground-source) to take the place of your existing furnace and use your existing air ducts.
• Configure a heat pump system with one or more "mini-split" heat pump units to serve one or two rooms each.
• Retain your existing furnace or boiler (if it's not too old) and start by installing one mini-split to supply one or two rooms that are used frequently. This will provide you some experience with heat pumps, and may help when you eventually complete your heat pump system by removing your fossil fuel heating equipment — at which time you can install a central heat pump and/or multiple mini-splits, as appropriate.

Once you have an idea what general heat pump configuration you think will work best for you, dig into the following details before getting price bids:

• Be sure you are looking at "cold climate" heat pumps that will work well in Acton's cold winter weather. Look for the highest HSPF ratings, as well as the SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) rating, and ask for model numbers so you research them and get independent information. 
• If you are retaining a fossil fuel heating system (at least temporarily as a backup), make sure you get careful estimates of how much fuel will be used, and ask for a set of smart or "integrated" controls that will manage the multiple heat pump(s) and other systems (to prevent potential inefficiencies). 
• If you are not retaining your old system, ask if your new heat pump(s) will include internal electric resistance heating for the coldest hours of the winter, or whether the heat pump(s) will operate at our coldest temperatures (e.g., 0°F or below). 
• Make sure any price quotes specify that the outside compressor unit(s) will be located appropriately for air flow, elevated to protect them from snow, and kept out of the way of any dripping water or ice.