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Roz Halstrom, the residential manager for in Vancouver, Wash., is seeing a pickup in business from a relatively small source: ductless heating and cooling systems.

鈥淚n the last three years, especially with the economy and stuff, they’re almost like a savior,鈥� he said. 鈥淎s far as our residential installations, they’re probably 50 percent of our business 鈥� it’d be pretty scary to think what would be there instead of them if they weren’t there.鈥�

The wall-mounted heater/air conditioners circulate air into a home 鈥� no ducting required.

The for the past four years has pushed for increased use of ductless heat pumps via the . Advocates say the pumps not only cost less money, but also use less energy 鈥� and that is expected to become increasingly important as demand for energy grows.

鈥�$12,000 to $15,000 jobs are now turning into $4,000 to $5,000 jobs,鈥� Halstrom said. 鈥淭hat could be viewed as bad, but in this economy most of those houses wouldn’t be doing the larger jobs anyway.鈥�

The effort started in 2008 when NEEA members and regional utility partners came together to discuss ideas for saving energy. The group discovered that if all of the region’s homes with out-of-date heating systems, like electric baseboard heating, were to switch to ductless heat pumps, 200 megawatts could be saved annually 鈥� enough energy to power 150,000 homes.

After a successful pilot program, group members began reaching out to international manufacturers who had been using the technology for years, and educating local contractors. Today, more than 600 HVAC contractors throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana are now actively installing the pumps.

鈥淭his technology was developed in Japan in the 1970s,鈥� said Becka Yates, a representative of both the NEEA and the Northwest Ductless Heat Pump Project. 鈥淚f you travel internationally you see them everywhere. But our housing stock here in the U.S. tends to be very pocketed, so we have a lot of forced heating and air. It really wasn’t discovered until the utilities came together as a region to bring it together.鈥�

A ductless heat pump’s internal workings are somewhat complicated, but its operations are simple. It essentially works like a refrigerator in the way it compresses air and circulates it. But rather than starting and stopping to control temperature, a ductless heat pump runs constantly; it slows and speeds up as needed.

Greg Douglas with , said the first ductless system his company installed was at the four-story, 40,000-square-foot Gadsby Building in the Pearl District.

鈥淚f you can take the stops and starts out of it 鈥� just like a car, each time it stops it has to use all the energy to get rolling again 鈥� if you can slow down you can save a lot of energy,鈥� he said.

The quiet systems are ideal for commercial spaces, Douglas said. Ductless heat pumps now account for 15 to 20 percent of his company’s business.

The typical cost to install a ductless heat pump is between $3,000 and $5,000, but because they can reduce monthly heating-related energy consumption by as much as 25 to 50 percent, most utilities offer incentives. Yates said incentives typically cover 30 to 50 percent of the installation cost, up to $1,500.

It pays off for utilities.

鈥淲e are still projecting an increase in demand that, while individual customers have become more efficient in their use of energy over the past 20 to 30 years, nonetheless we’ve been growing 鈥� the population is growing,鈥� PGE spokesman Steve Corson said.

Corson said that while the average amount of annual kilowatt-hours used by residential customers decreased nearly 17 percent from 1990 to 2011, the total load growth is expected to increase 45 percent by 2030.

Part of that demand is being fueled by air conditioning. Corson said that in 1990 approximately 30 percent of residential customers had air conditioners. In 2008, approximately 72 percent had them.

Devan Anthony, a home performance construction manager for Green Hammer, said the company opposes air conditioning. But it’s gaining business from ductless heating and cooling systems.

鈥淲e never install air conditioning,鈥� Anthony said. 鈥淲e just think it’s ridiculous for our climate. With (ductless heat pumps) you get AC for free.鈥�

That’s because ductless heat pumps are constantly managing air circulation. Halstrom said his own home stays in the low 70s on days that are hotter than 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ductless heat pumps are not always ideal. Because they do not use ducting to carry the air, rooms that are far away or closed off by doors will not benefit. Units could be installed in multiple rooms; however, at up to $5,000 each, such a solution may lack feasibility.

But Yates said another benefit is the added level of comfort provided by ductless heating and cooling systems. Temperature is controlled by remote and NEEA’s own polling has shown that between 96 and 97 percent of customers are satisfied with the system, and more than 98 percent would recommend it to neighbors.

Halstrom said customers sometimes aren’t keen about the unit’s appearance on the wall, but any qualms are overcome by its performance.

鈥淭ypically, I walk in the door and ask, 鈥榃hat do you think?’ 鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s funny because it seems like a lot of people, if they’re close to the remote control, grab it before they even answer and say, 鈥榃e love it.’ 鈥�