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Heat pumps get a cool rebrand in this slow jam

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

Heat pumps are a popular solution to human-caused climate change. They heat and cool a home without burning gas. Gas, of course, contributes to global warming. But these pumps have a publicity problem.

MIKE ROBERTS: People can mistakenly think that maybe they're a little boring, maybe they're a little humdrum.

SUMMERS: So two musicians in Berkeley, Calif., tried to make heat pumps cool, or at least cooler. And yes, they've written a song. Laura Klivans with member station KQED reports.

LAURA KLIVANS, BYLINE: This isn't just any song. It's a catchy, steamy slow jam.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "(I'M YOUR) HEAT PUMP")

WILL HAMMOND JR: (Singing) Baby, tell me what you want. Cool days? Warm nights?

KLIVANS: Mike Roberts doesn't use gas in his home. His furnace, water heater, stove and clothes dryer are all electric. He's become something of a home electrification and heat pump evangelist. But Robert's pitch always lacked a little je ne sais quoi. So one day, the part-time musician, part-time music teacher, put pen to paper.

ROBERTS: If I'm generating ideas for a song, I'll sit, and I will write down just phrases. And in this case, like, the very first thing I wrote was, I'm your heat pump. And I just started laughing (laughter).

KLIVANS: That ended up being the title of the song.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "(I'M YOUR) HEAT PUMP")

HAMMOND: (Singing) I'm your heat pump. When you want it hot, I'm hot for you. When you want it cool, I'm cool with you, babe.

ROBERTS: Something in, like, my 13-year-old brain that's still in there, like, that 13-year-old sense of humor, was like, yeah, this has some possibilities.

KLIVANS: Rhythm and blues was an obvious genre choice for Roberts.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "(I'M YOUR) HEAT PUMP")

HAMMOND: (Singing) I'm precisely calibrated to make you scream and shout 'cause I'm electric in your...

KLIVANS: The musical style has long been associated with love and the act of it.

HAMMOND: And I had sort of the ghost of Barry White talking to me like, come on, man. You can do this (laughter).

KLIVANS: This is Roberts' friend and bandmate Will Hammond, who's also a music publisher. He sings the ballad. Both musicians wanted the song to be more than funny, to actually tell people about heat pumps. Hammond explains.

HAMMOND: Remember when we went from standard-definition television to high-definition television? So people had to be trained. But I think the same goes for this. It's sort of, like, edutainment (ph). So we're educating people, but we're also entertaining them.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "(I'M YOUR) HEAT PUMP")

HAMMOND: (Singing) I'm switched on, sipping on electrons. Never going to burn fuel 'cause I prefer to keep the planet cool.

KLIVANS: Here's songwriter Roberts.

ROBERTS: It's not that I think this song alone is going to make people run out and replace their gas furnace with a heat pump, but I'm hoping this is just going to create a good feeling.

KLIVANS: Heat pumps can be expensive, up to $20,000 depending on where you live. You can drop that price through federal rebates, and more incentives are expected to roll out at the state level in the next few years. But if you replace both an air conditioner and a furnace, you'll save.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "(I'M YOUR) HEAT PUMP")

HAMMOND: (Singing) 'Cause I can do it all for your baby. All you have to do is turn me on.

ROBERTS: And I think there's just a lot of appetite in the climate space right now for a little bit of fun. And the tone is positive. This is something we can do.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "(I'M YOUR) HEAT PUMP")

HAMMOND: (Singing) You and me plus electricity - come on - equals climatic healing.

KLIVANS: So what's better than "(I'm Your) Heat Pump" the song? The '70s-inspired "(I'm Your) Heat Pump" the music video, which you can find online now.

For NPR News, I'm Laura Klivans.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "(I'M YOUR) HEAT PUMP")

HAMMOND: (Singing) If you want it cool, I'm cool with you, baby. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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