The 350 Mass Science Working Group and Statewide Legislative Team invite you to a webinar to learn about the challenges and opportunities with the use of heat pumps to decarbonize residential heating. The webinar will feature a presentation and conversation with Dr. Jonathan Krones, assistant professor of the practice in engineering at Boston College. Outside of the university, he has experience working and consulting in energy, sustainability, and climate policy at local, state, and federal levels. Dr. Krones authored the Non-Energy Sector Report, A Technical Report of the Massachusetts 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap Study, published in December 2020.

 

Background: Within its campaign “Building the Green New Deal,” 350 Mass endorses retrofitting of homes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) (endorsed bills: Building Justice with Jobs, H3365/S2226 and  The Future of Heat, H3298/S2148). Replacements to conventional fossil fuel (oil and natural gas) heat include the installation of heat pumps, high efficiency technologies for heating and cooling, powered by electricity. This technology currently relies on hydrofluorocarbon gases (HFCs) for its operation, part of a class of fluorinated gases (F-gases) also found in air conditioners, chillers, and aerosols. F-gases are themselves extremely potent greenhouse gases and increasingly problematic to the global climate. The question then is the trade-off between the risks of emitting more HFCs by retrofitting more homes and the benefits or removing GHGs from natural gas and oil heat. What new policies and technologies need to be put in place to avoid these risks?

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Meeting ID: 853 5520 5575
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