No. For homeowners with smaller homes, or for those with a need to heat and cool individual spaces within larger homes, mini-split or ductless heat pumps allow you to regulate the temperatures in individual rooms. Mini-split systems are perfect for retrofitting homes with non-ducted heating systems.

Some homes are unhealthy and should be insulated, but in general, if you’re trying to stay warm it’s much cheaper to install a heat pump than to insulate. 

If you’re using gas and insulate your whole home you might reduce gas usage by 25%. If you replace that gas with a heat pump you reduce your energy use by 70% overnight without any insulation.

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Electric machines are - in general - significantly more efficient than their fossil fuel counterparts. This is important to understand as it drives many of the cost savings available through electrification. For example, heat pumps deliver three times lower energy bills than gas heating, and ten times lower emissions.

Insulation will improve the efficiency of heating and cooling your home and may be a good idea if you live in colder areas or a particularly draughty home. However, it doesn’t need to be done before electrification and it isn’t essential to experience the economic, health and environmental benefits of switching from traditional gas and electric resistance heaters to efficient electric heat pumps. 

To improve the thermal performance of your home, start by looking at the low hanging fruit such as sealing up air leaks, installing better interior window coverings, covering up windows and closing doors at night. 

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Yes. While heat pumps work more efficiently in warmer climates, they do still work effectively in cold climates. The better quality heat pumps work very efficiently in both cold and warm climates and heat pumps heat roughly half the homes in Norway, Finland, and Sweden, which get a lot colder than New Zealand. Our advice is to not go with one of the cheaper versions.

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