I was disappointed in the Jan. 4 article in the Gazette regarding the slow adoption of heat pumps [“Public slow to warm to heat pumps’]. In particular, the quote from a Brookline resident saying he'd heard price quotes from $57,000 to $97,000, with no further explanation or rebuttal.

We got a Bosch high efficiency heat pump installed in 2020 at a cost of just over $6,000 followed by a rebate of $1,250. This replaced an 40-plus year old central air conditioner. It was integrated with our Ecobee smart thermostat and our existing high efficiency oil furnace that was installed in 2012. The furnace now only turns on in really cold weather and we pay much much less for oil.

For the majority of the year, the heat pump does all the heating and cooling just fine, and with our solar panels we still on average get paid for electricity over the course of the year. I can only guess what the extremely high quotes mentioned in the article might have been based on. Perhaps they had to do construction work to install an air ducting system and air vents to all the rooms of an older house. Or perhaps the property owner had a business with a larger building that required multiple heat pumps and duct work. Or perhaps he was a landlord getting a quote on an apartment complex. Or perhaps he was just at risk of getting ripped off by unethical contractors. I'll never know, because the reporter didn't follow up on that. For someone reading the article who hasn't yet looked into heat pumps, it could really put them off, thinking heat pumps are just not affordable.

Christopher G. Hoogendyk

Amherst