Advanced Energy Perspectives

According to local legend, in New York, it’s still illegal to put an ice cream cone in one’s back pocket while in public on Sundays. As the story goes, this law was enacted to prevent thieves from subtly luring a horse away from its rightful owner before the dawn of the motor vehicle. Though silly, this example is indicative of a larger trend: old laws from the 19th and 20th centuries often remain on the books because it’s more of a hassle to repeal them than to simply stop enforcing them. This can happen as social norms change, or as new technologies eclipse old ones.  

2023 was the year it became obvious – and undeniably so – that the status quo no longer serves us when it comes to heating our homes and businesses. Several trends have come into irreconcilable conflict. In particular, rising gas costs, vulnerabilities in the gas supply chain, and increasing gas infrastructure spending are juxtaposed against new, highly efficient electric appliance options, made ever more accessible by the 2022 federal Inflation Reduction Act as well as continued market growth and innovation. Consumer preferences continue to shift, and, for the second year in a row, electric-powered heat pump sales have surpassed those of gas furnaces.