SMTI and its commercialization partners successfully commissioned an 80,000 BTU/hr gas heat pump furnace prototype on two single family residential homes in Wisconsin. These 3rd generation units will provide all of the heat required by these homes (including hot water in one home) without need for backup, even in that region’s decidedly cold winters. SMTI’s gas heat pump furnaces will be keeping four families warm and ‘in hot water’ this winter, with 2nd generation prototypes still running in Wisconsin and Tennessee. All four installations are fully 3rd party instrumented and monitored, providing field validation of the 30 to 50% energy savings our gas heat pumps provide compared to standard gas furnaces and water heaters.
The current effort, funded by a grant from the US Department of Energy, NEEA, and several utilities, is aimed at taking the application through its final “design for manufacturing” stage. This market segment is widely scalable with over 3 million furnaces installed each year in North America.