Oil and Gas get massive subsidies every year, but a huge part of it are the very popular heating oil subsidies that keep people alive in the winter. Could these be reduced or replaced if instead the government gave money towards families purchasing electric heaters and spending their money on that?
Edit: USA but i assume the problem is not uniquely ours
The other thing we need to do is investigate why they charge so much to install heat pumps. I can buy a mini-split for around $1500 (depending on size), but they will charge me $4500 to install it - which seems unreasonable for the labor.
Because there are inevitably licensing and especially permit application costs, the major cost there being the time and aggravation required to get the permit from your local authority which is usually an intentionally dysfunctional Kafkaesque bureaucratic edifice to hell that makes the DMV look like the teacup ride at Disney World.
Fun fact: In my county you are required to pull a permit (with a three to six month typical application wait time) to “install” any heating or cooling equipment, which technically also includes plug-in space heaters and window mounted air conditioners. To rub salt in the wound, you also need to pull a new permit to “uninstall” said equipment, that is to say to unplug it and put it away for the season. Yes, the system is certainly working as designed! (You also need a permit to install or replace a water heater. I’m sure every homeowner with a water tank that just blew and is now standing in a basement 12" deep in water with every other resident of the house screaming at them that they can’t take a shower is absolutely thrilled at that prospect. I predict the compliance rate with both of these requirements is as close to zero as mathematics will allow.)
because it takes a lot of labor to install them.
that’s a low estimate. my estimate was $10,000 to install it for a single condo unit. I’ve seen many as high as 30-40K for mid-sized homes.
What do you think it should cost? $300?
the only places i’ve seen cheap installs are like, <5 housing with all the duct work already ready go and it was basally built with an upgrade in mind.
If a single person working alone can install them in a weekend - which happens all the time - a pro who has experience in doing this often should be able to do it for $1000 or less. It is a lot of labor but not more than $4000 worth. At least not the normal case.
ok, so why don’t you go around installing them for $1000?
seems like there is a big market for it, no?
installing a heat pump is a one-day job, even with just one person. people deserve to be paid for their labour, but $400+/hr is excessive