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I own a home in another state and I’ve looked into replacing the AC (all of which are in great condition) with heat pumps but I haven’t heavily researched the long-term, household upside to them apart from the general environmental benefits to the community. Same with SP’s. The problem with that though is the slope of my roof is very steep and unless a modification or minor construction to it was able to plateau a ledge out for it to absorb the sunlight, I don’t know how much of a gain I’d get from it; but I haven’t done the math on that yet.
I haven't bothered with solar for my house, I have the grid tie already. Maybe when the roof finally gives up.
re heat pumps, if you are a modern softie who runs the heat when it gets below 60 and the ac when it gets above 80, you will see returns in a couple years IF you install it yourself. I don't even know what they cost to install because they are so easy; only the really complicated multihead setups are hard enough I would consider paying someone to do it.
CAVEAT: I would install heads in at most two rooms of a house at most, one bedroom and one office. I feel cooling your whole house defeats the purpose of the efficiency gains.
The issue is getting electrical service to the unit, and getting ahold of an hvac tech that won't rob you blind for to charge it with refrigerant.
I know they sell precharged units somehow, but I don't trust it. Seems like magic.
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Heat pumps will save you money over electric heat, but perhaps not over gas. They may not be able to keep up in the depths of winter, depending on local climate- of course, if this is a vacation house you use only in the summer, that doesn't matter very much. That's about the tradeoff- gas works better and the cost advantage could go either way depending on circumstances, electric furnaces are much more expensive(but do work better) to operate.
No, if you combine them with solar and install them correctly they will for sure.
Worst comes worse, you can do a ground source heat pump, but even as I say that I realize that not everyone is as handy with the shovel and pipe flarer as me, so I should extend some grace.
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This is solved if you just buy the right heat pump.
According to IRC § N1108.2.2(14) (part of a complicated section where you have several options for earning 10 "additional energy-efficiency credits"), the recommendation (worth up to 16 credits by itself, depending on your climate zone!) is to buy a heat pump that, at 5 °F (−15 °C), maintains at least 70 percent of the heating capacity that it has at 47 °F (8 °C). You can read the heat pump's specifications to determine whether it meets that requirement. For example:
This heat pump has rated capacity of 24 kBTU/h at 47 °F and 19.2 kBTU/h at 5 °F, for a ratio of 80 percent.
This heat pump cheats with a backup electric-heating system to maintain 70 percent of rated capacity all the way down to −5 °F (−21 °C).
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