Video: Canary heads to the Weather Channel to talk about heat pumps

Heat pumps are in the air, and now, they’re transmitting over the airwaves.

On Thursday, I spoke with meteorologists Stephanie Abrams and Jordan Steele on the Weather Channel’s climate-focused weekday show Pattrn about heat pumps, the highly efficient, all-electric tool for heating and cooling buildings. The interview revolved around the heat pump buyer’s guide that Canary Media published as part of our Home of the Future series in February.

A quick clarification on the opening exchange: Heat pumps do require refrigerants in their heating and cooling operations — but they don’t need to use the kinds of refrigerants that once were common in air-conditioning units and that have been found to have powerful greenhouse gas effects. In California, for instance, the state is pushing for heat-pump adoption while requiring refrigerants with much lower climate impacts.

So to be clear, it’s still important to make sure your heat pump is properly sealed and doesn’t leak refrigerants, for the sake of your home energy bill and the planet.

We also discussed why heat pumps are gaining in popularity in the U.S., how they’re already widespread elsewhere in the world, and how to access thousands of dollars in new federal incentives to install them.