The Department of Energy has entered the final stages of a residential heat pump program it launched three years ago while announcing a new program for commercial heat pump products last month.

The DOE is currently in the field-testing phase of its Cold Climate Heat Pump Technology Challenge, a program devised to help manufacturers speed up the development of the next generation of heat and make sure they keep homeowners warm in even the coldest of winters.

In the meantime, the agency announced a new Better Building Initiative to help save energy while reducing emissions. The Better Building Commercial Building Heat Pump Accelerator seeks to drive the development and demonstration of cold climate commercial heat pumps in packaged rooftop applications within an accelerated timeframe.

CCHPTC

The DOE’s CCHPTC aims to advance the efficiency and performance of heat pumps in cold climates, where traditional heat pump systems often struggle to maintain efficiency due to low temperatures. 

Space conditioning and water heating consume over 40 percent of the nation’s primary energy and are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the DOE.

While electric heat pumps offer an efficient alternative, the performance of conventional heat pumps declines in colder climates. In recent years, HVAC manufacturers have developed specialized cold-climate heat pumps, which incorporate advanced designs to operate with greater capacity and efficiency at low outdoor temperatures.

The CCHPTC is for electric, centrally ducted residential heat pumps. The challenge specifies that prototypes deliver 100% heating capacity without the use of auxiliary heat and with significantly higher efficiencies at 5 degrees.

There are two segments to the challenge — one for heat pumps optimized for operation in temperatures down to 5 degrees, the other for models optimized for operation at temperatures down to minus 15 degrees.

Manufacturers could choose to participate in one or both segments of the challenge. Challenge submissions are limited to models that meet the following criteria:

• Have a nominal cooling capacity (or nominal heating capacity for a heating- only heat pump) greater than or equal to 24,000 Btuh and less than or equal to 65,000 Btuh;

• meet all of the challenge specification requirements; and 

• comply with all applicable federal and state standards, regulations and laws governing these types of heat pumps, including compliance with all safety and environmental standards. 

Although primarily focused on residential applications, the DOE challenge also aims to encourage the adoption of heat pump technologies in offices, schools, hospitals, military bases and other critical facilities in cold climates.

In January, the DOE announced that Bosch, Daikin, Midea and Johnson Controls successfully produced heat pump prototypes as part of the challenge. (In addition, Mitsubishi was awaiting verification testing.) They join Carrier, Lennox International, Trane Technologies and Rheem in the next phase of the challenge, in which 23 heat pumps will be installed in various cold climate locations throughout the U.S. and Canada over this year’s heating season. 

Based on the results of the challenge so far, the DOE now plans to work with close to 30 state, utility and other partners committed to encourage the adoption of cold climate heat pumps and develop programs, incentives, educational initiatives and outreach campaigns that help consumers better understand the benefits of these new designs.

The EPA and Natural Resources Canada are also partners in the challenge, and a number of utilities and energy cooperatives as well as state agencies in northern states from Alaska to Maine are supporting it.

Commercial Building Heat Pump Accelerator Program

The Commercial Building Heat Pump Accelerator Program Accelerator Program aims to bring more efficient, rooftop heat pump technologies to market as soon as 2027— which will slash both emissions and energy costs in half compared to natural gas-fueled heat pumps. If deployed at scale, they could save American businesses and commercial entities $5 billion on utility bills every year.

Less than 15% of commercial buildings in the United States currently utilize heat pumps. What’s more, the commercial sector accounted for about 18% of the total energy consumed in the U.S. in 2022, and by far the single largest energy use for commercial buildings is in space heating at 32%, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Through this public-private collaboration, the DOE hopes to accelerate and advance the adoption of cold climate commercial heat pumps used in rooftop applications. DOE will provide resources and guidance to end-users and other stakeholders to increase adoption of both existing and emerging technologies to meet market demand.

The DOE announced the new program at the agency’s Better Building, Better Plants Summit, April 2-4, in Washington D.C. 

“Since 2011, DOE’s Better Buildings Initiative has helped paved the way for cost-effective energy efficiency and decarbonization solutions across America’s building sector,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “Our new Commercial Building Heat Pump Accelerator builds on more than a decade of public-private partnerships to get cutting edge clean technologies from lab to market, helping to slash harmful carbon emissions throughout our economy.”

The Accelerator Program, developed in collaboration with commercial end-users, including Amazon, IKEA and Target, has attracted participation from major manufacturers like AAON, Carrier, Lennox, Rheem, Trane and York.