Reducing our oil heat carbon footprint

User: mminnichel@aol.com

Vendor: Drive Green - Green Energy Consumers Alliance

Action: 3349 - Green Heating and AC

My wife and I moved back to Franklin in 2016, purchasing a home with an oil-burner hot air heating system, with whole-house A/C sharing the same ducts. The house was built in 1986, so we realized that we would need to be replacing heating and cooling systems soon.

In 2019, it became time to update the systems. We looked at various options to reduce our carbon footprint. After evaluating various options, we decided to replace our oil-burning furnace with a dual-fuel oil burner/heat pump whole-house system. (If there was natural gas available on our street, we may have considered using natural gas as the heat pump dual fuel.) This system uses a Bosch air-source heat pump installed in-line with a new oil furnace, and using our existing ducting throughout the house. The system is controlled by a Bosch smart thermostat, which controls which heat source will be heating our home based on outdoor temperature and demand for heat. Generally, during most of spring and fall, when outdoor temperatures are above 35-40 F, the heat pump heats our home using only green electricity (supplied by our great, low-cost Franklin / Dynergy contract). When outdoor temperatures fall below 35F, our oil furnace kicks in to supply heat when the Bosch heat pump technology cannot. During summer cooling months, the heat pump provides energy-efficient air conditioning as well. The additional cost of installing the dual-fuel heat pump system was partially offset by Mass Save rebates of approximately $3500; Supreme Energy designed and installed the system, as well as helping us with the Mass Save rebates.

Although not as environmentally friendly as a full heat pump system would have been, the dual-fuel approach works well with our existing home, and helps us reduce our heating/cooling carbon footprint. We are always happy to hear the outdoor heat pump unit blowing air, whether during spring, summer, fall, or moderate winter days, knowing that our home is being heated or cooled using low-cost green, Dynergy-supplied electricity! (And also knowing that we are less subject to fossil fuel price increases!)