The Heat Pump Manufacturing Boom is About to Begin

The Biden administration announces $169 million in grants to boost production of the technology in America.

Emily Pontecorvo Heatmap November 17, 2023

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, American environmentalist and writer Bill McKibben pitched an idea to sap Russia’s power by drying up the market for its oil and gas. Heat Pumps for Peace and Freedom, he named the proposal, which called on President Biden to use his wartime emergency powers to ramp up manufacturing of electric heating appliances so that households could replace their fossil fuel-based furnaces.

Remarkably, Biden obliged. Just a few months later, he authorized the use of the Defense Production Act to expand American manufacturing of electric heat pumps, deeming them essential to national security. Now, a year and a half later, money is finally going out the door. On Friday, the Department of Energy announced $169 million in grants for nine companies that will invest in projects to boost domestic production of heat pumps.

More