Efficient Building Heating and Cooling: Building heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is responsible for more than half of residential building energy use and nearly a fifth of commercial building energy use. While buildings in the United States have become more efficient in recent years, most existing heating and cooling equipment is still inefficient and uses climate-warming refrigerants, which hurts consumers and contributes to climate change. Innovative technologies such as highly efficient heat pumps and advanced refrigerants could address many issues simultaneously. In addition to GHG reductions, the benefits of successful innovation for efficient heating and cooling include significantly reducing indoor air pollution, tripling or quadrupling energy efficiency, bolstering domestic manufacturing, supporting good paying jobs in our communities, promoting national and energy security, and lowering household energy bills. Further innovation — paired with the financial incentives in President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act — will help reduce upfront costs of these appliances and make the clean option the easiest option.
