Want to make the transition to a climate-friendly home, but not sure where to start? Get Your Electrification Roadmap®

Heat Pump for the Holidays: Celebrating our 1,000th Install!

We’re officially in the comma club (best Christmas ever). 

DR Richardson, Co-founder of Elephant Energy, shaking hands with Justin Bailey, Lafayette Homeowner, who just received the gift of a cold-climate Mitsubishi Heat Pump. Photo creds: Bri Adair

This week, Elephant Energy celebrated a milestone we’ve dreamt about since day one: our 1,000th heat pump installation. 

It took us 15 months to install our first 100 heat pumps. Today, we’re installing 100 heat pumps every month. Reaching 1,000 installations is a huge milestone – not just for Elephant Energy, but for the climate. Homes contribute 20% of climate-related emissions annually, and heating and cooling are the biggest culprits. Thanks to these 1,000 installations, our homeowners have collectively prevented more than 4,000 tons of carbon emissions that would have come from gas-powered furnaces (that’s equivalent to the emissions from driving more than 17 million miles in a gas-powered car). 

At Elephant, supporting our communities is at the heart of what we do, and it was a no-brainer to celebrate this 1,000th milestone by giving back to our community during the holiday season.

We were thrilled to donate a brand new cold-climate Mitsubishi Heat Pump to a deserving family in Lafayette, Colorado – an upgrade that will bring them year-round comfort, lower energy bills, and a smaller carbon footprint. For us, this wasn’t just about hitting a number. It was about showing what’s possible when we prioritize accessibility and affordability in electrification.

Colorado homeowner Justin Bailey had been living without central cooling, and hoped to switch to a heat pump to reduce his fossil fuel use, but was waiting for the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) rebates to roll out in Colorado. Here at Elephant, we know that electrification has been inaccessible or unaffordable for far too many people for far too long, and we have made it our mission to change that. That’s why we stepped in to make his heat pump dream a reality.

Justin Bailey, Lafayette Homeowner, cutting the ribbon to his holiday gift: a brand new cold-climate Mitsubishi Heat Pump. Photo creds: Claire Duncombe, Boulder County’s Office of Sustainability, Climate Action and Resilience

I’m a huge believer in electrification – for the climate, for your health, and for the comfort and efficiency it brings. A year ago, I started looking into getting a heat pump, but quickly realized I couldn’t afford it. I explored all the rebate programs out there, and then this amazing surprise opportunity came along from Elephant Energy. My heat pump has only been running since yesterday afternoon, but it’s completely silent, and I couldn’t be happier.” says Justin.

You know we love ribbon cuttings, so in true Elephant fashion we grabbed our Elephant-sized scissors and gathered with our local partners from the City of Lafayette, Xcel Energy, Go Electric Colorado, Rewiring America, Sierra Club, and Boulder County to celebrate this milestone and hear from the leaders on the important role they’re all playing in the home electrification movement.

We’ll continue to shout it from the rooftops: Electrification is a collective movement. This milestone is a testament to what can be achieved when people and organizations come together to make electrification a reality. Big thank you to our valued partners, Treehouse and Mitsubishi, who generously covered the cost of electrical work and equipment to help make this installation a reality.

“We’re thrilled to be working with our partners at Elephant Energy to make the implementation of clean energy technology, like heat pumps, more accessible. Through our joint efforts, we hope to make the home electrification process simpler and enable homeowners to embrace sustainable technologies with greater ease and affordability.” says Eric Owski, Founder and CEO of Treehouse.

As we look ahead to our next 1,000 installations, we’re inspired by the collaboration and shared vision that got us here. Here’s to a future where every family has access to the benefits of clean, efficient technology – and to building it together.

Happy Heat Pump for the Holidays. ❤️🎀

How Much Should Your Heat Pump Really Cost?

We’ve seen it – and been through it – countless times. You want a heat pump, contact eight different contractors, half of them won’t install heat pumps, and the other half give you quotes that vary by thousands of dollars, likely without the rebates or incentives factored in that can substantially reduce the cost. It’s overwhelming, and leaves you feeling uncertain about what to do next.

We’re here to change that, and make transitioning to a climate-friendly home easy. That’s why we built a new tool: a free calculator that estimates the upfront and operating costs of installing a heat pump or heat pump water heater in minutes. It’s designed to take the guesswork out of the process, giving you clear, straightforward pricing to help you budget for electrifying your home and understand what to expect – no surprises, just transparency.

How It Works

Our calculator simplifies what would otherwise be a long, complicated process. Instead of asking you for tons of technical details, we ask you a few simple questions like your square footage, ductwork, and weather sealing and take over with our expertise in heat pumps from there.

How We Built It

We didn’t just guess at the numbers. Our team drew from the extensive database of heat pump installations we’ve completed in Colorado and Massachusetts over the last two years. We use real data from homes similar to yours – factoring in house size, heating needs, and even local temperature history to provide the most accurate estimate possible without talking to you first.

Let’s break it down:

  1. Sizing Your Home: We’ve built the calculator using our expertise in building science and system sizing. Your home is matched to one of our 800+ completed installs, with careful attention paid to square footage and heating needs.
  2. Energy Usage: We use a simplified home heating model to estimate how much energy is needed to keep your home comfortable at last year’s daily temperatures, and then to get accurate costs for energy usage. Our tool integrates with local weather data and adjusts based on specific conditions, like whether you’re at a higher elevation or experiencing extreme temperatures.
  3. Rebates and Incentives: The calculator also pulls in all available rebates and incentives for you – including tax credits and income-based incentives. We make sure to show you the maximum savings you may qualify for, taking the hassle out of finding these benefits yourself.
  4. Assumptions: While we’d love to give you an error-free quote down to the dollar without talking to you, technology isn’t quite there yet. The calculator was built on standard assumptions like your floor height, insulation quality, how many windows you have, and the efficiency rating of your existing furnace.

Let’s be real. Heat pumps aren’t cheap, and neither is your time. That’s why we built this calculator: to save you hours of research and back-and-forth with contractors, so you can have a general understanding of what home electrification should cost you.

Ready to start your home electrification journey?

Boston Homeowners Go Fully Electric, Starting With a Heat Pump

Ayla and Otto Maher, enjoying their newly-installed Mitsubishi cold climate heat pump.

It started with freezing rooms. Then an oil tank leak. Then countless contractors who said heat pumps won’t work (and boy, were they wrong).

Breaking Up With Fossil Fuels

Tim, a high school math teacher, and Amelia, a public health researcher at Boston University, purchased their home in 2017. The house, which “hadn’t had a lot of love recently,” was a fixer-upper, and the couple, with the help of Tim’s handy dad, tackled various DIY projects. However, it wasn’t until things started breaking down that they seriously considered updating in a bigger way.

“Our oil tank started leaking,” Tim recalls. “That was the impetus to change.” The couple decided to take a leap and fully electrify their home, starting with the installation of a heat pump in mid-2023.

When Tim and Amelia contacted their local contractors and HVAC professionals about installing heat pumps, they were met with serious doubt about heat pumps even working in Boston (and cold climates in general). Luckily, we were there to swoop in and show them the magic of heat pumps – through rain, shine, snow, and ice.

The Heat Pump Effect

After working with Elephant Energy to install their heat pump, Tim and Amelia immediately noticed the perks of breaking up with fossil fuels – both in comfort and efficiency. “The precision of control is something that has been super nice,” Tim explains. “When we were on our oil furnace, there were rooms that were freezing and rooms that were boiling. It felt like you had to change clothes just to move to a different part of the house. Now, each room is exactly the temperature you want it to be.”

What can we say, heat pumps make quite the impression! Shortly after the couple installed their heat pump, they decided to fully electrify their home. They started by replacing their broken water heater with a heat pump water heater, followed by an EV charger and an induction stove.

The Elephant Difference

In Massachusetts, incentives and rebates play a key role in making home electrification affordable and accessible. Tim and Amelia were able to save $10,000 upfront and $2,000 in tax credits, thanks to Mass Save® and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). 

“The help with the incentives was key. When buying our EV, it felt like there were incentives we were missing out on and we would have to find them ourselves. With Elephant, they worked with us to make sure we got all the Mass Save money”.

Tim and Amelia’s electrification journey is a great example of how switching to sustainable home energy solutions is possible even in cold climates like Boston. Their journey shows that with the right support, you can enjoy a comfortable, efficient, and climate-friendly home.

Interested in starting your home electrification journey?