It's a cool way to stay warm. Hybrid home heating systems present homeowners a more efficient way to heat their homes and they are more comfortable than typical systems.

Hybrid heating systems are kind of like the hybrid cars everyone wants. Hybrid vehicles use two energy sources, generally gasoline and electricity. Hybrid heating systems aren't new either, They have been around since the 1980's.

Until recently, few people were interested in paying a little more up front for a hybrid vehicle. But soaring gas prices have consumers snapping hybrid fuel vehicles off dealer lots as fast as they are being built. Even though hybrid heating hasn't received the press as hybrid vehicles, the use of dual fuel heating is on the rise.

Because the technology for each fuel oprates most efficiently during different weather conditions, a hybrid heating system increases efficiency, cuts heating bills, and reduces environmental impact.

Like hybrid vehicles, hybrid heating systems use a combination of fossil fuel and electricity. In a hybrid heating system, a furnace is used with an electric heat pump for heating. Heat pumps will heat and cool your home efficiently and are usually the most economic for of heating during chilly weather.

Even when it feels cold outside, there is heat in the air, which the heat pump extracts and pumps inside of your home. When the temperature outside drops below an economic balance point where it becomes efficient to heat with gas, oil, or propane, the system switches to your furnace, Without a fossil fuel heat source, the heating system would use expensive electric resistance heat when the outside temperature dropped below the heat pump's physical balance point.

Hybrid heating systems use each type of heating technology where it's most comfortable. When it's cold, the system operates off electricity and delivers the heat pump's continual, mellow heat. When it's really cold, the hybrid system automatically switches to the gas or propane furnace and it's warmer, toasty air.

Not only do hybrid systems offer the ultimate in comfort, they also cost less to operate.

Equipment and installation costs are slightly higher for a hybrid heating system (two heating systems usind two different fuel sources are required). The cost will vary depending on the size and heating load of your home. Your actual savings may vary based on the efficiencies of the heating components selected, this month's utility rates (they seem to rise each month), how you use your system, and the weather. Depending on current utility rates, hybrid heating systems usually cut utility expenses by 10% (verses conventional systems).

With today's elevated energy prices, a 10% savings is nothing to sneeze at!

• The temperature of the air supplied by furnaces to the living space is usually 135 degree F. Most homeowners find the warmer air preferable when outside temperatures are freezing.
• The temperature of the air supplied by a heat pump is usually 105 degrees F. Most homeowners fing the mellow temperature from a heat pump is preferable when the outside temperatures are chilly, but not freezing.
• The physical "balance point" of a heat pump is the temperature where a heat pump can no longer maintain the thermostat's temperature setting (usually 25 degrees to 30 degrees F). The economic "balance point", when a furnace becomes more economic to operate than a heat pump(usually 30 degrees to 40 degrees F).