US heat pump sales double over 15 years, outpacing gas furnaces

A new report says US heat pumps grew 32% ahead of gas furnaces in early 2026, even as a key tax credit expired.

A new report finds US heat pump sales have doubled over the past 15 years, and that heat pumps outpaced natural-gas furnaces by 32% during the first quarter of 2026. The statistics come from a report not named in the summary, so the underlying methodology isn't visible here. The detail arrived bundled in MIT Technology Review's roundup alongside several unrelated AI items.

Heat pumps matter for abundance because they electrify home heating and cooling with far more efficiency than combustion, moving heat rather than generating it. As they displace gas furnaces, households can cut energy costs and shift heating onto an increasingly clean and cheap electricity supply. The trend touches shelter, energy, and health all at once.

The context is not entirely favorable. A key US tax credit that had helped drive heat pump adoption recently ended, which could slow the momentum the report describes. The growth measured in early 2026 may reflect a market before that incentive lapsed.

What to watch is whether the sales trend holds now that the subsidy is gone. If heat pumps keep gaining on gas furnaces without the credit, it signals the technology has become cost-competitive on its own. If sales soften, it suggests policy is still doing much of the lifting. Because these figures rest on a single unnamed report, they're best treated as a directional signal rather than a settled fact.

Source: MIT Tech Review