There have been two recent pieces in the Gazette pointing out negative aspects of installing mini-splits. First of all, it’s important to emphasize the importance of transitioning home heating and cooling from fossil fuels to electric. Scientists are practically screaming that this needs to happen quickly because the consequences of not reducing carbon pollution are so dire. Later is too late.

The article quoted a Brookline resident with prices for mini-splits ranging from $57,000 and $97,000. Those numbers seem wildly inflated. It might be relevant that the average home price in Brookline is $1.9 million. We had two mini-splits installed in 2018 and the cost was about $9,000 and that was before any federal rebates were available. These have provided about 80-90% of our heating needs and we’ve been very satisfied. My only regret is that we didn’t put in a couple more. In summer, these have been a massive improvement over the window air conditioners we used previously.

The woman who wrote the recent letter under the heading, ”A MassSAVE mini-split mess,” [Gazette, Jan. 11]. had high costs but much of that was due to replacement of her old knob-and-tube wiring. This is an issue of safety and not really about the mini-splits. In the past, the MassSAVE program was considered one of the best in the country. I have heard recently of delays and problems. Perhaps because of a sharp increase in demand? If more people are insulating and electrifying their homes, it’s not really such a bad thing.

Joe Silverman

Florence