Installing heat pumps in factories could save $1.5 trillion and 77,000 lives

Heat pumps can help clean up factories — and save lives

Cheese. Beer. Clothes. Paper. Manufacturers across the country rely on combustion boilers to produce the heat required for making a range of products. But by burning coal, oil, gas, and other fuels to do so, that equipment spews health-harming and planet-warming pollution into the skies. A different technology…

Installing heat pumps in factories could save $1.5 trillion and 77,000 lives

For several years now, heat pumps have outsold gas furnaces in the United States. Instead of burning fossil fuels to generate warmth, these appliances use electricity — ideally provided by renewable sources like wind and solar — to transfer heat from even frigid outdoor air into a home. Many states have recognized the power of these highly efficient devices for both reducing emissions and keeping people from burning toxic natural gas in their ho…