To the editor: From the research that I have done on this subject, electric heat pumps are not an affordable, or even a practical solution to what some see as a dire issue. One heat pump will not provide enough heat to keep a house that has multiple heat zones evenly warm necessitating more than one pump. In my house I would probably need three, two on the 1st floor because of the layout of the living area, and another for the basement. So from what I’ve read, and been told, that would be at a minimum of $10,000 per unit.
I’ve read, and have been told by people that have had heat pumps installed that if the temps fall much below freezing, and definitely if they fall below zero, they require backup. We live in Vermont, need I say more than December, January, February, and March? So we are back to fossil fuels….as a backup.
Yes, if that old, mentally-deficient occupant of the White House threatens the oil companies, the cost will, and has gone up thus achieving the result he desires. Blame it on him. I do, and rightfully so! Remember during the debates when he said the first thing he would do was shut down the Keystone Pipeline? I do. Remember when he said he’d phase out fossil fuels over the next ten years? I do. I’m still not buying that the electricity that these units will take to run will be cheaper than what fossil fuels like fuel oil, propane, or natural gas cost, or will cost, as there is no way for you, or me to predict this.
Ya know, I have a hard time going along with the “do as I say” folks when the “not as I do” is as obvious and in my face as it is.
How many of you folks in the Legislature have had your houses equipped with heat pumps, and are heating with electricity? I want to know!
How many of you are driving E.V.s to Montpelier, and plugging into the very limited charging stations? I want to know!
What percentage of the state’s fleet of vehicles are E.V.s? I want to know! How many solar panels are there on the rooftops of the buildings on the complex? (That is purely rhetorical, I already know).
What does the heat plant behind 120 State run on? Rainbow stew? (Wood chips, with oil backup.) How many wind turbines are there on the hill up in Hubbard Park? Look at the east, and west wing doors of the State House. You can pull a cat through those gaps!
How many of the houses on Baldwin St. that the state uses for office space have heat pumps? Last I knew, none! Remember, I was a Security Officer on the complex for 15 years, I know a little about said complex, and like I said I have a hard time swallowing the “do as I say, not as I do!” Remember the storm in December this past winter? We were without electricity for about 40 hours. It was a good thing that I had a gas generator installed, or we’d have frozen our….everything! The house that I used to live in, in Barre, was built in the 60s, and was built with baseboard electric, and was so expensive that the previous owner had two Rinnai gas heaters installed, one on each floor.
My biggest problem with this whole initiative is the way that our elected representatives are trying to jam this down the people’s throats under the guise that they know better. We did not send anybody to Montpelier because “they know better” than us, we sent them there to represent our interests. I have said this before and I will say it again. Let this change happen, because it will. We have already come a long way, and we will continue on this course, because there is a lot of money in it for the innovators. Don’t push it. You are only going to hurt the very people you are sworn to serve. – Pat Finnie, Calais