This commentary is by John Mandeville, a resident of East Hardwick.
Let me tell you the many ways that this act, currently in the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, makes little sense. This act, S.5, is supposed to create incentives to get property owners to change heating systems from oil or propane, to either wood or wood pellets, or heat pumps as a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants.
It purports to do so by providing rebates, tax credits and other incentives. Here are some facts to ponder.
According to a recent article in The New York Times and a study published last fall by the Sierra Club, burning cordwood or wood pellets produces 70% more carbon monoxide than burning natural gas or propane to produce the same amount of BTUs.
Unless there is a high-performance catalytic converter on the exhaust for the wood- or pellet-burning boiler or furnace, they also produce significantly more particulate matter than burning either natural gas or propane.
Fifteen years ago, when we installed a wood-pellet forced-air furnace in our house, one of the reasons we did so is the wisdom at the time said it was more environmentally friendly than either oil or propane. This has now been shown to not be the case.
For this, and many other reasons, we decided to change over to a heat pump system. We received quotes from three different contractors, all within a thousand dollars of each other. I had originally thought it was going to run around $12,000. However, the quote came in at around $21,000. This is net of available rebates and tax credits.
They were high because the heat pump system was going to require larger-diameter ductwork for both the return and supply ducts and an additional duct to be added. The system was also going to include an electric heating coil to provide heat in extremely cold conditions when the heat pump itself would be unable to supply enough heat. Even though this was far higher than we anticipated, we were going to go ahead and bite the bullet and do it.
Then came the kicker. These quotes did not include the cost of upgrading our electric supply to 200 amps, which would be required to handle the power needs of the heat pump system. The quote for this was an additional $12,000! So we were now looking at $33,000 for a home heating system for a single-family house of just under 1,900 square feet. Financially, this was just a nonstarter for us.
We are now having installed in April a high-efficiency propane system, which also requires the duct upgrades, but the cost came in at $11,000. So, we are getting a system that is far better for the environment than cordwood or pellets, and costs one-third of what a heat pump would have cost us. I think most people would see this as a no-brainer.
I would like to suggest that our politicians in the Statehouse need to look at all the “facts on the ground” as they continue to consider this bill.
