Peninsula Clean Energy Customers are queuing up for Low Carbon Heating and Hot Water

Harvest Thermal high-performance systems to be deployed in San Mateo County this year.

While the engineer in me loves product development, I’m super-excited to be screening applicants who will receive a 1st gen Harvest Thermal system courtesy of a relationship between us and Peninsula Clean Energy. These are the first of 30 systems that will be installed this year!

Over 200 people applied within 3 hours of the online offer, and many more after that, demonstrating the tremendous demand for ultra-clean, all-electric home heating and hot water in San Mateo County, CA. My team and I have been sifting through the applications to identify 20 potential customers who meet the criteria, taking into account order of application as well as home suitability. We will visit each of the 20 sites, and from that list we will select 5 lucky customers who will have a Harvest System installed starting in November, at no charge to them!

So what can these customers expect?

First of all, they will receive one high-efficiency heat pump that provides both space heating and hot water. Many people don’t realize just how revolutionary a heat pump is – the one we use transfers 300% more energy than it consumes!! The very best gas furnaces are 95% efficient and most are in the 70%-80% range, meaning they consume more energy than they deliver. Heat pump magic happens by extracting and transferring heat from the outside air into the home – similar to how a refrigerator works, only in reverse. Our Peninsula Clean Energy customers will receive the most efficient heat pump on the market, and one with the lowest available global warming potential refrigerant to further reduce their climate footprint.

And they will receive the Harvest Pod. The Pod is the brains of the system. It operates the heat pump when electricity is the cleanest and cheapest, heating water that is then stored in a new hot water tank with enough reserve so there is plenty of hot water available for showers, dishes and other uses at all times. This hot water is also used to deliver space heating through existing ductwork (the system can also work with radiant floors).

In addition to comfortable, stable heat, those 5 lucky customers can expect dramatically lower carbon emissions and significantly lower energy bills. Results from 5 Bay Area pilots over this past winter show that carbon emissions were cut by 85 to 90% compared to when they relied on gas appliances and by 50 to 60% compared to standard heat pumps. And bills were on average 35% lower than gas usage and about 30% lower than a standard electric heat pump system.

It’s a win-win-win. Good for the wallet. Good for the home. And good for the planet!!