Upgrades needed to accelerate progress<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nFrom 2018 to 2022, EAN found, Vermont saw a 34% increase in weatherization projects and more than 50,000 more cold-climate heat pumps installed in homes and businesses, with a 3.3% increase in the number of homes that said they use electricity as their primary heating fuel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The upshot: The number of cold days explains 50% of Vermont's declining fuel use from 2018 to 2023, while heat pump growth explains as much as 28% and other efficient upgrades explain a further 15%. The remaining 7% of the decline couldn\u2019t easily be broken down and could partly be from people shifting to wood heat during periods of high fuel prices, Duval said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In order to achieve thermal sector emissions reduction targets without relying primarily on an abnormal amount of winter warming, significantly more displacement and\/or replacement of fossil heating fuel\u2026 will be necessary,” the study says. Upgrades like heat pumps will lead to more sustainable emissions cuts, it says, “no matter what the weather-dependent heating needs in Vermont will be going forward.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
EAN is nonpartisan and doesn't take policy positions, but research analyst Lena Stier said this data suggests that expanding Vermont's energy workforce and tackling heat pumps and weatherization in tandem would spur faster progress on emissions cuts, while keeping costs low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EAN based its estimates of fuel use and emissions impacts from heat pumps on the official assumptions of a state-approved technical manual, which Duval said may be overly optimistic. But Stier said the reality could differ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We've heard anecdotally that a lot of people who have installed heat pumps in their homes\u2026 are kind of primarily using them for cooling in the summer,” she said. “So our kind of assumption is that, in reality, it would be a smaller share of that (fossil fuel use) reduction coming from heat pumps.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While fuel use declined overall in the study period, he said this came mostly from people using less heating oil specifically \u2014 propane sales actually increased in the same period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Duval noted that propane is cheaper than oil on paper, but actually costs more to use because it generates heat less efficiently than oil does. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Once you look at that, then heat pumps become that much more attractive,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Editor's note: This story has been updated for clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The analysis finds that warming winters explain most but not all of Vermont\u2019s drop in fossil fuel sales, as improvements like heat pumps and weatherization are starting to have a greater impact. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5625783,"featured_media":2312493,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-07-01T16:09:23Z","apple_news_api_id":"740a0da8-f454-44d0-9842-872e49268246","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-07-01T16:09:23Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AdAoNqPRURNCYQocuSSaCRg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"The analysis finds that warming winters explain most but not all of Vermont\u2019s drop in fossil fuel sales, as improvements like heat pumps and weatherization are starting to have a greater impact. \n","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20110,21140,21136],"tags":[22830,20216,20040,20794,20787,23069,22013,20806,21843],"coauthors":[23031],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Study: Vermont\u2019s warm winters, efficiency explain fossil fuel decline | Vxartnews<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n