Why Google is helping homeowners buy heat pumps

If you live in a certain part of the Bay Area, Google might help you buy a new heat pump—and could offer you as much as $10,000 to do it. In an innovative new proof-of-concept program, the tech giant is partnering with the utility company PG&E and nonprofit Rewiring America to find a new way to unlock more grid capacity. The first product rolling out in the program is a Carrier heat pump with a battery inside, meaning that it can charge when there’s extra solar power on the grid and then use…