By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitkans hoping to heat their homes with electricity rather than oil or diesel now have a financial incentive under a program run by Alaska Heat Smart, a Juneau-based nonprofit.
Following an influx of about half a million dollars from the Department of Energy, AHS has made $50,000 available for Sitka households installing heat pumps. The program is aimed at households with under 125 percent of the median area income. For a single-member household here, that cutoff is around $97,000, and the figure rises with family size.
Alaska Heat Smart Executive Director Andy Romanoff attended the electrification exposition held here on Saturday, and said the incentive program was well received.
“Quite a few people were thrilled about it, to learn about their options and their potential improvements that they could make,” Romanoff told the Sentinel from Juneau on Monday. He said that the $50,000 available for Sitka should cover about 19 grants of $1,500 to $2,500.
Applicants are eligible only if they don’t yet have a heat pump. Heat Smart also conducts home heat pump assessments and will conduct one for applicants’ houses before any installation.
More information, as well as applications, are posted online at akheatsmart.org.
Heat Smart’s involvement in Sitka began through the Sitka Conservation Society’s Sitka Carbon Offset fund. Romanoff said AHS manages a similar fund for a nonprofit called Renewable Juneau.
“Chandler O’Connell and the Sitka Conservation Society run the Sitka Carbon Offset fund. So we have talked in the past about these funds and about maybe trying to work together on a few things and helping each other out,” Romanoff said.
O’Connell, the Conservation Society’s Community Catalyst, said the carbon offset program is a local donation-based project, in which “the vast bulk of the money that we’ve gotten in donations over the years (is) to give heat pump awards to low- to moderate-income households to help them make that transition to renewable energy.”
The SCS program has installed six heat pumps around town.
Romanoff said the primary purpose of the Alaska Heat Smart incentive program “is to help families get over the financial hurdle that often sits in the way of embracing renewable energy or energy efficiency.”
“It’s kind of ironic,” he said. “You have to have money upfront to be able to save money.”
A domestic heat pump installation in Sitka can run up to $7,000 in some cases, O’Connell noted.
“There’s pretty big financial barriers, even with all these great, awesome tax credits available,” she said.
Under the Inflation Reduction Act, those installing a heat pump can receive a $2,000 tax credit, even if they have a grant from Alaska Heat Smart.
Romanoff said that by converting from oil heat to a heat pump in his own home he saved over a thousand dollars in 2022 alone. In a typical year, he would burn about 350 gallons of fuel to heat his 1,500 square foot Juneau home at a cost of $1,800, but by using a heat pump his heating bill dropped to $550. Heat pumps operate on the same principle as refrigerators, using a fan and compressor to move thermal energy.
Formed in 2019, Alaska Heat Smart’s core program revolves around home heat assessments. The group has done assessments for about 630 Juneau households, and about 70 percent of those have ditched oil in favor of a heat pump, Romanoff said.
Back in December, O’Connell said, an Alaska Heat Smart assessor went to the ANB Founders Hall here to evaluate the building for possible electric heat.
“We partnered with them to bring an assessor over to get some recommendations for how we could change their heating situation for the better. So that’s initially how we’ve been building a relationship over time on that project and (got) some other houses connected with the assessment service,” she said.
Romanoff said Alaska Heat Smart is excited to bring its services to Sitka.
“There’s a lot of heat pump installers in town and electric rates are fairly low. And there’s potential savings and emissions reductions to be had,” he said.
