Heating US

Heating Economic Data

General note

All heating systems - heat pumps as well as boilers, come in different sizes optimised to serve different building types - smaller sizes suitable for single-family houses and larger sizes suitable for apartment buildings, commercial or public buildings. For in our cost model, we have focused on 2 different types, one for the small houses and one for the larger buildings.

When it comes to the availability of data, there is plenty of economic data available for heat pumps and boilers dimensioned to serve the small houses. For heavy duty / large scale heat pumps and boilers, there is not much cost data available on the internet. Retailers seem to provide quotes upon request, making that data very hard to come by.

When we are calclating the costs, we look at the price for a boiler or heat pump serving a certain amount of living or office / commercial area and the cost scales with the size of the area that needs to be heated. Given the lack of data for large scale heat pumps and boilers, we provide the same estimates as for the small scale heat pumps and boilers under the assumption that the cost per area is similar enough. But we encourage to replace it with large scale boiler or heat pump cost data should you have access to such.

Dimensioning of heating source

In order to calculate costs for shifting the heat source for a certain amount of building area, it is necessecary to know the area served by a particular heating source and the cost for that very heating source. For this purpose, we have chosen to look at heat pumps serving 2000 square foot houses, i.e. we look at the price for heat pumps with the power to serve those houses. See table below.

The same applies to boilers, but there it has been more difficult to find the link between the power of the boilers or the size of the house in question. Therefore, we have had to rely on assumptions there. See table below.

Small-scale heat pumps and boilers

Table 1

* Assumption: The average area corresponds closest to the averages of the respective price ranges.
† Span: 10 - 15 years, assuming the long end of the span due to regular maintenance.
‡ Span: 15 - 20 years, assuming the long end of the span due to regular maintenance.
§Converted from BTU/h to kilowatt
¶Converted from sq ft to square meter
**Rounded to the nearest whole

References

[1]: Commercial source 
 https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/hvac/heat-pump-installation-cost/#frequently_asked_questions_faqs_section
[2]: Commercial source 
 https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/hvac/boiler-installation-replacement-cost/#new_boiler_costs_by_house_size_section
[3]: Commercial source 
 https://postonbrothers.com/how-long-should-a-heat-pump-last/
[4]: Commercial source 
 https://www.angi.com/articles/how-much-does-repairing-boiler-cost.htm

CAPEX - Purchase and installation costs

The purchase and installation costs for heat pumps vary significantly depending on a number of factors. The type of heat pump is important, a ground sourced one that requires drilling costs significantly more to install compared to a heat pump sourcing the heat from the surrounding air. More information on different types of heat pumps can be found on the following site from the Department of Energy: https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/heat-pump-systems.

Also, the location will affect the cost, with different labour costs and costs for permits.

The purchase and installation cost of boilers differs significantly depending on the fuel source, the type of the boiler.

The sources of the numbers presented here contain an in-depth information about the different types of heat pumps and boilers respectively. We recommend consulting them and to adapt the numbers to your local conditions.

Small-scale heat pumps and boilers

Table 2

* Span: $2,500 to $10,000, comparison: Average price for a 4-ton heat pump on commercial site around $5,400. https://hvacdirect.com/heat-pump-split-systems/4-ton-heat-pump-systems.html
† Span: $3,400 to $10,300
‡ Span: $4,700 to $7,900
§ Assumed price for medium sized house. Lower end of the span: $2,000
¶ Assuming infrastructure in place thus lowest end of the span.
** Span: $500 to $1,200, assuming infrastructure in place

A number in parentheses represents the row in question

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$\displaystyle §§\text{Sum of } (2), (5)$

$\displaystyle ¶¶\text{Sum of } (3), (5)$

References

[1]: Forbes home, commercial source 
 https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/hvac/heat-pump-installation-cost/
[2]: Forbes home, commercial source 
 https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/hvac/boiler-installation-replacement-cost/#boiler_costs_by_fuel_type_section
[3]: Forbes home, commercial source 
 https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/hvac/heat-pump-installation-cost/#frequently_asked_questions_faqs_section
[4]: Forbes home, commercial source 
 https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/hvac/boiler-installation-replacement-cost/

OPEX - Maintenance costs

Maintenance costs of heat pumps and boilers also varies significantly, depending on parts that need to be replaced and the level of service the units require. Here we have chosen the recommended “yearly plans” for servicing the units and preventing expensive repairs recommended by the sources. For more information such as costs for spare parts, follow the links to the sources.

Small-scale heat pumps and boilers

Table 3

* Span: $80 to $130
† Span: $100 to $400

References

[1]: Commercial source 
 https://martinohvac.com/heat-pump-services-its-maintenance-cost/
[2]: Commercial source 
 https://homeguide.com/costs/boiler-service-cost

Externalities - Particle and NOx emissions

We have not been able to find US data of sufficient quality for the amount of outdoor air pollution (particles or NOx) that are produced by the gas- and oil boilers (grams per kWh of energy consumed). We have therefore taken European (German) data.

The below emissions apply to both boilers for single-family houses as well as for larger boilers for apartment buildings or commercial / public buildings.

Table 4

* Assumed negligible
† Assumed negligible, see graph 1 (p3, 'Abbildung 1').

References

[1]: Organization "Particulate matter" 
 https://particulatematters.org/?p=251
[2]: German environmental agency (Umweltbundesamt) 
 http://feinstaub-esslingen.de/pdf/uba/holzofen_uba.pdf
[3]: German environmental agency (Umweltbundesamt) 
 https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/publikation/long/3776.pdf