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Opinion
Justin Fox

Want to Reduce Dependence on Russian Energy? Get a Heat Pump

The hyper-efficient heaters cut fossil-fuel use and carbon emissions, and better technology means they work well in cold climates as well as warm.

Heat pumps do more than just cut energy bills.

Heat pumps do more than just cut energy bills.

Source: Bloomberg

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Want to end Western dependence on Russian natural gas? Buy a heat pump.

OK, OK, heat pumps alone won’t do it. The International Energy Agency’s new 10-point plan to cut European gas imports from Russia by more than 50 billion cubic meters (about a third of the 2021 total) over the coming year envisions that speeding up the replacement of gas boilers with heat pumps would eliminate just two billion cubic meters. The U.S., meanwhile, doesn’t import any natural gas from Russia.