All-electrics aren’t all created equal

As Local Law 97 (LL97) and other climate laws begin to take effect, heating systems powered by elec­tricity are becoming a staple of both new construc­tion and building reno­va­tion projects in New York, says Andrew Briguet, a New York-based engi­neer at RAND Engineering and Architecture special­izing in building energy effi­ciency upgrades. And while old-fash­ioned gas and oil boilers are no longer in vogue — ​“No one’s doing steam heat anymore,” Briguet says — there’s more than one elec­tric-powered heat tech­nology avail­able, each with its own pros and cons. 

Electric heating falls into two broad cate­gories: Electric resis­tance heat, and heat pumps. Electric resis­tance heaters, like base­board heaters and space heaters, use an elec­trical current to heat metal or another mate­rial to a high temper­a­ture, which then radi­ates heat into the room. Fan-forced heaters, like the Stiebel Eltron units orig­i­nally installed at 792 Sterling Pl., use the same under­lying tech­nology, with the addi­tion of a fan to push the warmth outward. These units can heat a small room faster than base­board heaters, but neither are partic­u­larly effec­tive for large spaces, as the tenants at the Crown Heights rental building quickly learned. 

“Electric resis­tance heat is just a really inef­fi­cient way of gener­ating heat,” Briguet says. ​“It’s just too expen­sive.” Electric resis­tance heating is typi­cally only used to ​“supple­ment” old boiler systems these days, he adds. 

Heat pumps, by contrast, do not generate heat — they pull it from the air, water, or ground, moving it to the desired loca­tion via refrig­erant lines. Air-based split unit heat pumps, like the Daikin units recently installed at 792 Sterling Pl., can provide both heat and air condi­tioning using a similar method. Heat pumps are much more energy effi­cient than elec­tric resis­tance heaters, which typi­cally require two to three times as much energy to generate the equiv­a­lent amount of warmth. 

The market for heat pumps has expanded accord­ingly, with a range of options catering to different building types. Mid-rise build­ings like 792 Sterling Pl., with enough roof or court­yard space for each unit to get its own condenser, will typi­cally go for air-source heat pumps. High-rises, by contrast, will typi­cally opt for water-based heat pumps that require a central­ized boiler and a cooling tower, but fewer indi­vid­u­al­ized compo­nents. A few new construc­tion build­ings in New York are opting for ground-based, or geot­hermal, heat pump systems. 

The down­side of heat pumps is often the up-front cost, partic­u­larly for building retro­fits. Individual mini split units can cost between $10,000 and $15,000 apiece, Briguet says. But the layout of rooftop condensers, refrig­erant lines, and in-home units all affect the instal­la­tion costs. Older build­ings might not be able to install heat pumps without updating their elec­trical systems simul­ta­ne­ously (though this isn’t always the case). Briguet has seen New York City heating system reno­va­tion projects net out between $20,000 and $50,000 per unit. 

Those costs can be defrayed some­what with Con-Edison and New York State rebate programs, which come from a mix of federal and state funding sources. There’s also an ongoing push, led by New York state, to further expand this industry domes­ti­cally. The state hosted a $10 million compe­ti­tion for compa­nies to develop ​“plug and play” split unit heat pumps that can replace window air condi­tioning units. 

The national funding land­scape could change, however, as the Trump Administration has vowed to nix federal heat pump subsi­dies from the Inflation Reduction Act, which could signif­i­cantly increase heat pump costs going forward. President Trump also took heat pumps off the list of feder­ally supported indus­tries under the Defense Production Act. And new tariffs imposed by the pres­i­dent on steel and aluminium could have further impact on the HVAC industry, though many large multi­na­tionals like Daikin have already set up plants in the U.S.

“A lot of these big name players, most of them have local manu­fac­turing,” Briguet says.