>The electricity to run a heat pump that moves heat where you want it is cheaper than the gas you need to burn to make an equivalent amount of heat. On the very

>The electricity to run a heat pump that moves heat where you want it is cheaper than the gas you need to burn to make an equivalent amount of heat. On the very coldest days the efficiency of a heat pump can drop enough for this not to be the case, but over the course of the year an electric heat pump will save you money over burning gas. I am not arguing any point you're making other than this. This statement is heavily dependent on how cold your winter is and the relative costs of electricity and natural gas. Some years it might pencil out, but some years it won't . I'm not sure without looking at historical data I could say the ratio between the two with certainty, especially given the typically very cheap natural gas over the last decade (although recently of course this calculus changes!) I'm just arguing for some nuance - the linked article is breathlessly claiming things that I think we should charitably say are bending the truth a bit. If I had to install a heat pump tomorrow I would do it and it wouldn't impact me, even if it cost a few buck throughout the year. I think most people on HN are probably in that same class. There are a large swatch of people, on the other hand, for whom a few dollars is very meaningful and a temporary tax credit is great and all but when they expire if we are asking those people to shoulder the cost of this decision we should do so carefully.