Installing a Mitsubishi

Installing a Mitsubishi air-source heat pump in our new house

The indoor unit of our Mitsubishi minisplit heat pump. Click to enlarge.
Photo Credit: Alex Wilson

Thirty-five years ago, when I first got involved with energy efficiency and renewable energy, the mere suggestion that one might heat with electricity would be scoffed at by those of us seeking alternatives to fossil fuels.

Amory Lovins, founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, likened using electricity for heating to “cutting butter with a chainsaw.” Electricity is a high-grade form of energy; it doesn’t make sense to use it for a low-grade need like heating, he argued. It made much more sense, we all agreed, to produce that 75-degree warmth with solar collectors or passive-solar design.

So, it represents a bit shift that I’m now arguing that electricity can be the smartest way to heat a house. And that’s what we’re doing in the farmhouse we’re rebuilding in southern Vermont. I should note, here, that all of our electricity is being supplied by a solar array on our barn