Everyone's Pumped About Heat Pumps

Everyone's Pumped About Heat Pumps

People everywhere are hot for heat pumps. These electric appliances—which perform the same heating and cooling tasks as traditional HVAC systems, just much more efficiently—have been outselling gas furnaces over the past couple of years. Their proliferation seems to be pointing more towards an energy-conscious electric future in people’s homes. And, four months ago, nine states in the US signed a memorandum of understanding that says that heat pumps should make up at least 65 percent of residential heating, air conditioning, and water-heating shipments by 2030.


But, what exactly is a heat pump? How does it work? How much does it cost to replace your furnace with one, and how much money does making the switch actually save you in the long run? Let’s also consider the same question we’re asking about AI: how much will this change or displace existing jobs for the people who have been trained to install and service traditional HVAC systems?


Former WIRED staff writer Matt Simon is our in-house heat pump expert. He joins us this week to tell us everything we need to know about these appliances he calls “climate superheroes.”


This episode originally aired on May 23, 2024. Read the transcript.


Show Notes:

Read all of our heat pump coverage. Don’t miss Matt’s story about the heat pump technician shortage. Matt also took a look at the in-window heat pumps now hitting the market that look and operate like in-window AC units. WIRED’s Rhett Alain digs into the physics of heat pumps.


Recommendations:

Matt recommends the book Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization by Edward Slingerland. Mike recommends the book Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk by Kathleen Hanna. Lauren recommends taking a staycation.


Matt Simon can be found on social media @mrmattsimon. Lauren Goode is @LaurenGoode. Michael Calore is @snackfight. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. The show is produced by Boone Ashworth (@booneashworth). Our theme music is by Solar Keys.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Avsnitt(430)

Too Cool for Juul

Too Cool for Juul

Do you even vape, bro? Well if the United States Food and Drug Administration has its way, that answer might soon be a hard "no." Last month, the FDA went after Juul, the reigning champ of the e-cigar...

14 Juli 202226min

Seriously, What Is the Metaverse?

Seriously, What Is the Metaverse?

Technologists have been crowing about “the metaverse” for a long time now, and here at WIRED we’ve written about it quite a bit, too. But sometimes we’re still unsure exactly how to define this next g...

30 Juni 202236min

The Zoomification of Slack

The Zoomification of Slack

If you work in an office, chances are you spend a lot of time on Slack. The workplace messaging platform has become an even more important tool in the work-from-home era. And it has been rolling out n...

23 Juni 202229min

Streaming TV’s Many Possible Futures

Streaming TV’s Many Possible Futures

Streaming TV was supposed to be a thing you did to relax. But these days you might grab a drink, kick up your feet, and then sit there paralyzed by an absolute cavalcade of options for what to watch. ...

16 Juni 202235min

Apple In Real Life

Apple In Real Life

Spring is in the air, so you know what that means: Developer conference season. Apple held its Worldwide Developers Conference this week and used Monday’s keynote address to announce a bunch of new so...

9 Juni 202233min

Texting Is Broken

Texting Is Broken

The away message is a relic of desktop chat apps from decades past. But this simple feature helped keep boundaries between your online connections and your IRL self. Now that we all have tiny computer...

2 Juni 202234min

WTF Is Web3?

WTF Is Web3?

The cover story of this month’s issue of WIRED magazine is “Paradise at the Crypto Arcade: Inside the Web3 Revolution” by Gilad Edelman. We interviewed Gilad about Web3 a couple months ago, and this w...

26 Maj 202231min

How to Get Started Biking

How to Get Started Biking

For a lot of people, riding a bike through a crowded city—or even on suburban avenues—might feel daunting. Should you get an electric or acoustic bicycle? What gear do you need while you ride? How do ...

19 Maj 202234min

Populärt inom Teknik

uppgang-och-fall
elbilsveckan
rss-elektrikerpodden
bilar-med-sladd
skogsforum-podcast
rss-uppgang-och-fall
rss-technokratin
market-makers
natets-morka-sida
rss-veckans-ai
rss-laddstationen-med-elbilen-i-sverige
bli-saker-podden
rss-powerboat-sverige-podcast
developers-mer-an-bara-kod
rss-en-ai-till-kaffet
har-vi-akt-till-mars-an
rss-fabriken-2
rss-snacka-om-ai
hej-bruksbil
effekten-digitalisering-kunskap