A heat pump does not burn anything. It moves heat from the outside air into your home, the way a fridge moves heat out of its interior. Because moving heat takes far less energy than making it, a heat pump delivers two to three units of heat for every unit of electricity it uses. A cold-climate model keeps this up well below freezing. On a grid that is more than 90% clean hydro, that makes it the cheapest and lowest-carbon way to heat a home in the province.
One number to hold onto: the coefficient of performance, or COP. It is simply how many units of heat you get per unit of electricity. Baseboard heat is a COP of 1. A good heat pump in mild winter weather is a COP of 3, three times the heat for the same power.
The myth that a heat pump "gives up" in the cold
The most common reason people here hesitate is the belief that heat pumps stop working when it gets really cold, that they are a mild-climate gadget. That was broadly true of older units. It is not true of modern cold-climate models, which are engineered specifically to keep delivering useful heat at -15 to -25°C and below. They do produce less heat as the temperature drops, but the key fact is that they keep producing more heat than the electricity they consume far into the cold, which is what makes them worth running through a Newfoundland winter.
The practical design answer to the coldest nights is not to oversize the heat pump but to pair it with backup. Most homes keep their existing electric baseboards (or another heat source) for the handful of severe nights, and let the heat pump carry the rest of the season efficiently. You are not betting the whole winter on one device; you are using the efficient device most of the time and a simple backup occasionally.
How it actually works, in four moves
A refrigerant that boils at a very low temperature flows through an outdoor coil. Even freezing air is warm enough to boil it, so it soaks up heat from outside.
A compressor squeezes the refrigerant vapour, which concentrates its heat and raises its temperature, the step that turns "a little heat in cold air" into "useful warmth".
The hot refrigerant passes through an indoor coil and releases its heat into your rooms. A fan blows the warmed air through the house.
The refrigerant expands, cools, and starts again. In summer the whole cycle runs backwards, pulling heat out of the house to cool it.
One winter detail worth knowing: in damp, near-freezing weather, frost can build on the outdoor coil. The unit periodically runs a short defrost cycle to clear it, which is normal and brief. It is not a fault, and it is one reason cold-climate models, with smarter controls, hold their output better than older designs.
See the heat-multiplier effect
Pick a rough outdoor condition to see how much heat a typical cold-climate heat pump delivers per unit of electricity, compared with baseboard heating. The COP values are illustrative and vary by model; the point is the direction, not a guaranteed number.
Same input for both systems.
COP of 1. One in, one out.
COP about in this condition.
Illustrative only. Real COP depends on the specific model, sizing, install quality and the exact temperature; cold-climate units are rated to keep producing useful heat well below freezing. Use it to see the heat-multiplier principle, not as a performance guarantee.
The non-obvious thing: the clean grid does half the work
A heat pump is efficient anywhere. What makes it special in Newfoundland and Labrador is the grid it plugs into. More than 90% of the province\'s electricity comes from clean, renewable hydro, so the small amount of electricity a heat pump uses is already low-carbon. Combine a low-carbon energy source with a device that multiplies it two or three times, and you get heating that is both cheap to run and very low-emission, without a fuel delivery, a tank, or a flue.
That is the reason the province\'s rebate programs are built around getting homes off oil and onto heat pumps, rather than around any kind of fuel switching. The grid is already clean; the job is to use it efficiently. The next guide, how the rebates work and how to get off oil, shows how to fund the switch, including the streams that can pay an installer directly.
Why this matters now
A cold-climate heat pump is the rare upgrade that lowers your bill, lowers your emissions, and adds summer cooling at the same time, and on a more-than-90%-clean grid, the case is unusually strong here. Understanding that it moves heat rather than making it, and that a good model keeps working through the cold, is what turns "is it worth it?" into "how do I fund it?", which is exactly where the rebates guide takes over.
