Harvest Thermal
The perfect way to cut carbon, or just fancy green marketing?
I'll preface this all by saying that I have been captivated by the Harvest Thermal system for the past year or so.
As someone who is looking to make as many green improvements to his home as possible, the Harvest system is very appealing.
So what is it?
The Harvest Thermal system replaces your current hot water heater and HVAC system in one fell swoop. It is an ultra-efficient way to heat your home and the water used by your home. It has some of the same principles of your average heat pump HVAC system with a few other special tricks up its sleeve.
It basically turns your hot water tank into a thermal battery. You're able to heat the water when electricity is the cleanest and cheapest and then use the energy stored in the tank to heat your home during the hours when your electricity rates are higher or come from dirtier, carbon-based sources.
It's certainly not a product that you buy on an impulse. I've personally been mulling over the pros and cons of the system for several months. Is it worth installing in my home or is it just a lot of green hype for a product from a relatively young company without the proven track record you look for when making infrastructure upgrades in your home?
You could argue that a system that replaces both your hot water heater and HVAC system isn't a necessity. For decades, we've treated these two boring stalwarts of the garage or basement as separate entities. When the hot water heater breaks down, you replace it with another one. If you HVAC system needs tweaking, you make the changes or you replace the whole system. But the two technologies have never really been intertwined until now.
Is it wise to tackle both problems together or is it more likely to result in future complications? In our situation, we're looking to remove all gas connections in the home as soon as possible. After ditching the gas oven in favor of an induction range, the hot water and HVAC setups in the garage are the last remaining gas-powered items in our home. While we certainly could replace them both separately, it seems like a worthwhile chance to kill two birds with one stone.
I'm an absolute sucker for good branding, especially when it accompanies a product as mundane as a hot water heater. The folks at Harvest have a sensational website with clever illustrations that just make you want to be part of their sustainable home solution. Do you typically replace infrastructure items in your home based on the illustrations on a website? Nope, you don't. But Harvest is doing a lot of things differently here. That's their appeal.
The first Harvest Thermal system was installed in Berkeley, California just a handful of years ago. The founder of the company decided to use her home as the guinea pig. It makes sense that green innovation like this would start in the Bay Area but is this proven technology?
Harvest is still primarily installing their systems in Northern California but have expanded throughout the state and north to the Pacific Northwest. There are plans to install Harvest systems in other states in the not too distant future.
With a cost that ranges roughly from $25K-$80K depending on your home setup, this upgrade is by no means cheap. It's a big decision to install something with this much upfront cost from a company that has been around for less than a decade. The technology itself is clever and unique in the US but not something that hasn't been done before in other countries.
Of course, there are some incentives to help lower the cost a bit and while those are much appreciated, they also add another level of complexity. For example, most agree that any incentives to install green energy infrastructure will disintegrate under the Trump administration in the near future. While some of these incentives are still up in the air, it seems likely that projects completed within the calendar year will be still eligible for the federal tax credits and several state rebates.
As I previously wrote about with the Federal EV rebates, the intentions of the Trump administration do put a little extra pressure to make these changes perhaps a bit earlier than we planned on. Would I be as motivated to install a new Harvest Thermal system if I knew the price wouldn't exponentially go up next year? Probably not. Will it still be a fantastic product that is worth every penny? Quite possibly. But it does leave me with some tough decisions to make over the next six months.
Anyone else feeling torn about the potential impending increased price of sustainable home upgrades?
Hey! Could you use some help establishing healthy habits? Do you have a big project or new business that you want to get off the ground but could use some advice? Maybe you could benefit from hiring me as your coach. If you’re interested, read more about my coaching services here, or go ahead and book some time on my calendar to discuss further.
Iterate is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you should let me know that this writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won't be charged unless I enable payments at some point in the future. Think of it like an IOU in a tip jar.