About a year and a half ago now I went with the most feature rich (expensive) Carrier heat pump and air handler to replace my contractor grade gas furnace. The cooling performance is really impressive for the low energy consumption. I specifically wanted a Cold Climate heat pump and this is listed as one. The tax credit helped a bit too. For heating performance, down to about 30 degrees its almost entirely heat pump (electric strips just for defrost cycle). However, its currently down to -4 degrees F outside right now, and while the heat pump is still used a bit, its relying much more on electric strips for heat which is expensive. For our previous year's run the total amount spent on energy with heat pump was less than total energy with gas. This year isn't over yet so I don't have full data. I've heard the same bad things about Lennox. Any info you're looking for specifically I could provide from my recent experience?

If you have a sizable amount of dishes, a dishwashing machine requires far less energy, far less water, produces much more sanitary dishes because it uses water at tempertures that human hands would be harmed by.