Catherine Gibson hopes she and her husband can age in place in their south Regina home.
That’s┬аone of the main reasons she installed an air-source heat pump this past summer.
“I had been hearing тАж about heat pumps and how they were the thing of the future,” said Gibson. “We had an old furnace and we had an even older air conditioner, so it seemed like a no-brainer.”
Gibson uses the electric-powered heat pump тАФ along with a┬аnatural gas furnace she purchased in 2022┬атАФ to heat her home in the colder months. It also cools her home, like an air conditioner, in the summer.
A heat pump┬аcools a home by absorbing the heat inside and releasing it outside, but┬аreverses that process in winter тАФ extracting heat from air outside, even when the temperature is well below zero, and transferring it inside.
Gibson says she noticed a drop in her power and gas bills with the new gas furnace, and she’s hopeful they’ll continue to drop now that her┬аpump is carrying part of her heating load.
Simon Landsman, a salesman with Regina Plumbing and Heating, has also noticed the growing popularity in the pumps. He estimates he’s sold about two dozen so far this year.
WATCH | Heat pump popularity in Saskatchewan:
Featured VideoMore Saskatchewan residents are turning to heat pumps to warm and cool their homes.
“A lot of people want to go greener [and get] a little bit better savings on your energy bills,” he said.┬а“It’s just clean energy.”
Landsman┬аthinks their popularity will only increase, especially since the outside units are smaller than an air conditioner.
Pumps can work in Prairie winters, say experts
In a statement to CBC, the Saskatchewan┬аgovernment says it won’t offer rebates through SaskPower and SaskEnergy for heat pumps because “they simply do not work as a primary heat source in the climate across the Prairie provinces.”
The government of Canada тАФ which offers up to $5,000 in rebates for pump installation┬аand now up to $15,000 for those switching from heating oil тАФ notes on┬аits website on heat pumps that┬аnewer models can provide heating in┬аtemperatures as low as┬атАУ15 C to тАУ25 C.┬а
“Below this temperature, a supplemental system must be used to provide heating to the building,” it says.
WATCH | Here’s how a heat pump works:
Featured VideoPeter Messenger with A1 Air Conditioning and Heating and University of CalgaryтАЩs Sara Hastings-Simon explain how heat pumps work.
But Sarah Riddell, a policy researcher in clean heat at Efficiency Canada, says laboratory┬аand real-world┬аstudies have found┬аnewer┬аcold climate heat┬аpump┬аmodels┬аcan heat to around тАУ30 C┬аbecause of improvements in technology. Even if the temperature drops further, their┬аbackup resistance heating will kick in.
“You’d still have a completely warm home that can heat to really any temperature that you’d ever see in Canada,” said Riddell.
- This week on Cross Country Checkup, our Ask Me Anything segment focuses on heat pumps and whether they’re an affordable and sustainable option for you. Fill out the details on┬аthis form┬аto get your questions in early.
There won’t be an immediate┬аstrain on electrical grids from┬аheat pumps, she said, because around 40 per cent of homes in Canada already use electrical heating through baseboards and boilers and heat pumps won’t be installed all at once.
Martin Luymes, a vice-president with the Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Institute, agrees heat pumps are an effective┬аreplacement for any other source of heating.
“To suggest that we cannot heat a home without natural gas or oil is false,” said Luymes. “Really, every household in the country should be at least contemplating purchasing a heat pump.”
Greenhouse emissions would increase in some cases: study
But in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Luymes said heat pumps may be┬аa “less attractive” option partly because electricity in both provinces┬аis generated from fossil fuels.
A 2022 Natural Resources Canada┬аstudy┬атАФ┬аusing data from 2020 тАФ found greenhouse gas emissions┬аwould actually┬аincrease if┬аa two-storey home built┬аafter 1980 in cities like Regina, Calgary and Edmonton switched from natural gas heating to a cold climate air-source heat pump.
Despite this, Riddell points to a 2022 report from the International Energy Agency that shows heat pumps still reduce emissions by at least 20 per cent worldwide compared to gas and up to 80 per cent in countries with cleaner electricity.
The Natural Resources report noted reductions in greenhouse gases are possible if Prairie┬аhomes switched to heat pumps from other electric heat sources (a reduction of up to┬а11.2 tonnes per household a year) and oil (2.7 to 12.2 tonnes┬аa year).
The report also notes yearly savings of over $3,000 on energy bills when switching to a heat pump from oil in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Cost was front of mind for Jake Dingman, who lives on an acreage near Saltcoats, Sask.
He┬аmade the switch this fall from oil heating to a ground-source (or geothermal) heat pump┬атАФ which uses heat from the sun stored in layers of the earth near the surface to warm a home.
He was paying nearly $4,000 a year to heat with oil.┬а
WATCH┬а|┬аDo heat pumps work in the Prairie climate?
Featured VideoSaskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has claimed heat pumps arenтАЩt viable in his province because it gets too cold, but some experts say newer models work in lower temperatures even if a backup is encouraged.
“I looked at natural gas but it’s about four miles to get it trenched in here, which was going to be $100,000 plus,” said Dingman. “I just decided to go with the geothermal because I figured at least the price would be flat once I have it in.”
After paying┬а$45,000 to have his pump installed┬атАФ with help from a federal government loan┬атАФ he believes it┬аwill cost him $100 to $200 per month on his electricity bill.
Savings with a heat pump compared to a natural gas furnace are not high on the Prairies, since a unit of energy for gas is┬аcheaper compared to electricity, according to the Natural Resources report.
“West of Quebec, the estimated costs of operating heat pumps and gas furnaces are approximately equal,” the report says.
A cold-climate heat pump would save┬аhomeowners in most regions┬а$50 to 150 per year compared to gas heating, it says.
A┬аCanadian Climate Institute report released earlier this year found a heat pump with a gas backup was about $100 cheaper per year than gas heating alone for single homes and townhouses in Edmonton built around 1980.
Gas was still the cheapest heating option for┬аa 20-unit building built around the same time.
The same report found upfront costs for air-source heat pumps across the country┬аrange┬аfrom┬а$5,000 to $19,000, while an air conditioning unit is around $5,000.
The cost for a natural gas furnace is between $4,000 and $6,500, according to a survey of customers on FurnacePrices.ca.
