Environment & Energy

...although they are about 1.5x as expensive (at least last time I was shopping) for a heat pump equivalent to an AC, as they are more complicated to build and install. This is compared to a typical small house (I have 1600 sqft) self-contained heating-cooling package with a dedicated AC and electroresistive heating using the same ducts, blower, etc.

I could drop a heat pump in its place when I replace that central air/heat system, but it would be more expensive, and would still need electroresistive heat to come in when the heat pump can't do it. If my neighborhood had LNG hookups, the LNG would make any electric heating seem anemic by comparison. It's also terrible for the environment and the fuel is expensive, but you can't complain about the performance even if you need a 70F heating boost during a snowstorm. A heat pump simply can't do that, at all. As heaters they are cheap to run and great for the environment but they can't do more than about a 40F temperature increase. You need a very expensive 2-stage system or backup conventional heat just about anywhere it snows more than once every year or two.

If it's not part of your all-house system, backup heat also often takes the form of room space heaters, which are also quite dangerous compared even to room window A/C units, where you have to give a little more thought to their power and mounting needs.