> This floored me. One because in my mid Atlantic area nearly every house has a heat pump. When house shopping many years ago we never saw a listing that didn't

> This floored me. One because in my mid Atlantic area nearly every house has a heat pump. When house shopping many years ago we never saw a listing that didn't have one. In California, especially Southern California, many homes still have wall-mounted natural-convention gas heaters. Mainly because natural gas is plentiful (LA is basically sitting on top of an oil and gas reservoir) and heating isn't needed much of the year. Often they are placed in/on a wall between the two largest rooms, so that both are heated. The technology is actually pretty neat: A thermopile sits in the pilot light's flame, which provides electricity to hold open the main shutoff solenoid valve and run a thermostat, so it needs no external electricity.