HSPF

Heating seasonal performance factor (HSPF) is a term used in the heating and cooling industry. HSPF is specifically used to measure the efficiency of air source heat pumps. Heating seasonal performance factor (HSPF) is a term used in the heating and cooling industry. HSPF is specifically used to measure the efficiency of air source heat pumps. The efficiency of air conditioners is often rated by the HSPF as defined by the Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute in its standard 210/240 Performance Rating of Unitary Air-Conditioning and Air-Source Heat Pump Equipment. The higher the HSPF rating of a unit, the more energy efficient it is. HSPF is a ratio of BTU heat output over the heating season to watt-hours of electricity used. It has units of BTU/watt-hr. Depending on the system, an HSPF ≥ 8 can be considered high efficiency and worthy of a US Energy Tax Credit. The HSPF is related to the non-dimensional Coefficient of Performance (COP) for a heat pump, which measures the ratio of heat energy delivered to electrical energy supplied, independently of the units used to measure energy. The HSPF can be converted to a seasonally-averaged COP by converting both the BTU heat output and the electrical input to a common energy unit (e.g. joules). Since 1 BTU = 1055.056 J, and 1 watt-hour = 3600 J, the seasonally-averaged COP is given by: