As energy costs soar, homeowners are seeking ways to stay warm without breaking the bank.

When it comes to home heating, Dharik Mallapragada has his head in the clouds. It’s his job to take the 30,000-foot view of our collective future for energy solutions: He’s a principal research scientist for the MIT Energy Initiative, and he recently served on former Governor Charlie Baker’s Commission on Clean Heat.

But Mallapragada is also a homeowner. Living with his family in a two-unit condo building in Watertown, he spent his holiday break crunching the numbers for a potential conversion from gas to electric heat pumps.

“I’m in the process of getting all the facts,” he said. “If I’m being honest, the sticker shock is pretty large.”