Evaluating Potential Net Benefits of Heat Pump Adoption in Wisconsin

 

For a 2022 capstone project in the UW-Madison Energy Analysis and Policy program, Ted Callon, Jenna Greene, Henry Hundt and Adam Kanter studied the potential for increased ASHP adoption across Wisconsin. ASHPs are a crucial tool for electrification and climate action, but Wisconsin has low adoption of these technologies. The team built a model that estimates costs and greenhouse gas emissions associated with different heating systems and ASHPs to understand the benefits of ASHPs in different locations across the state and the benefits of replacing different types of heating fuels with ASHPs. Our analysis shows the opportunities for adoption of ASHP across the state, barriers to adoption, and recommendations for policies/programs to encourage adoption.

In addition to the map below, the team created a toolkit for exploring ASHP adoption in Wisconsin with resources for policy-makers and homeowners. The toolkit includes:

  • Policy memo covering policy landscape in Wisconsin and recommendations for policymakers moving forward on heating electrification

  • Homeowner excel user tool to explore the expected net benefits of installing a heat pump in their home

  • The technical manual that details the data and methods used for the economic model

  • GitHub code repository for recreating the model and map

The project was made possible by Wes Foell, a client of the Energy Analysis & Policy (EAP) program capstone course, and advised by Profesor Morgan Edwards.

 
 
 


Henry Hundt