Heat Pumps Outpace Gas Furnaces in US Shipments
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- Heat pumps outsold fossil fuel furnaces by 32 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to the Building Decarbonization Coalition, marking a significant shift in heating appliance demand.
- New housing in 2024 saw heat pumps installed in 46 percent of units, nearly matching the 47 percent share for forced-air furnaces, including both gas and electric resistance models.
- Multifamily buildings are increasingly adopting heat pumps, with 18 percent of new apartment constructions in the Northwest using them since 2010, up from minimal use decades ago, per the Sightline Institute.
- Networked geothermal systems, piloted by utilities, use underground pipes to deliver consistent thermal exchange fluid to heat pumps, achieving efficiency up to eight times higher than gas furnaces.
- Kevin Carbonnier of the Building Decarbonization Coalition stated that heat pumps have shipped more than fossil fuel furnaces for four consecutive years, indicating sustained market momentum.
- Kristin George Bagdanov noted that builders are increasingly skipping natural gas infrastructure in new developments, favoring all-electric designs for cost and efficiency reasons.
Why it matters: With nearly half of new homes now using heat pumps and utilities deploying ultra-efficient networked geothermal systems, the U.S. is reducing reliance on gas infrastructure at scale. This shift lowers long-term energy demand and ratepayer costs, especially as electricity grids expand to support data centers and EVs.
