The Duck Curve#hvac
NeoVolta's home battery fund, Transaera's DC apartment test, Pascal's $9.3M
NeoVolta launched a $40 million third-party-ownership platform for about 700 home battery and solar-plus-storage projects; Transaera will test its metal-organic-framework heat pump beside a conventional system in a Washington, D.C., apartment building; and Pascal raised $9.3 million for solid-refrigerant cooling, starting with beverage coolers.
Home VPPs could offset over half of modeled bill growth, Brattle finds
The Brattle Group estimates that a 301 MW residential virtual power plant at a representative utility with one million residential customers could offset $56 of a modeled $98 five-year rise in the average household's annual electricity bill, in inflation-adjusted terms. Brattle prepared the report for Everyday Electric, formerly Renew Home, whose thermostat program informs the model's largest component.
Heat pumps up 5.0% year over year in August 2026, a seventh straight gain
US shipments of air-source heat pumps rose 5.0% year over year to 338,416 units in August 2026, the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute reported on October 9, 2026, the seventh straight month of year-over-year growth by The Duck Curve's count of AHRI's releases. Central air conditioners rose 17.2% and gas furnaces fell 4.3%. The federal Section 25C credit for heat pumps ended with 2025, per the IRS.
Trane launches -20°F heat pump five years after DOE's cold-climate spec
Trane said on September 24, 2026 that it is introducing the 20 TruComfort Variable Speed Cold Climate Heat Pump with WeatherGuard in 3-, 4- and 5-ton sizes, with an operating range of -20°F to 115°F and, per its chamber-test table, 53% to 85% of rated heating capacity at -20°F depending on model. The launch post traces the product to a prototype Trane says was independently confirmed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in November 2022 under DOE's Residential Cold Climate Heat Pump Challenge; EnergyGuide labels linked from the product page list SEER2 of 18.0 to 20.0 and HSPF2 of 9.4 to 10.3.
