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As federal incentives spur a wave of new domestic clean energy manufacturing, economic boosters in Ohio and neighboring states see an opportunity to “Make it in Appalachia.”
A virtual summit this month will serve as part of public kickoff efforts to identify and support small and medium manufacturers in the region so they can play a role in the growing clean energy economy.
The New Energy Economy project is being funded by a $10 million federal grant awarded this fall. Lead applicant Catalyst Connection and ten other partners have been working over the past two months to finalize subcontracts for the effort, which encompasses 156 counties in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and New York.
“By supporting small-to-medium manufacturers and providing training and resources, we can drive economic transformation, create in-demand jobs, and build a brighter future for Appalachian communities,” said Steve Herzenberg, co-director of ReImagine Appalachia, one of the grant partners.
ReImagine Appalachia is hosting its virtual strategy summit on January 16 and 17. The first day will focus on how to turn the Ohio River Valley into a sustainable manufacturing hub, with discussions the next day focused on community rebuilding and workforce development under federal climate infrastructure programs.
The Appalachian Regional Commission is providing funding for the grant under the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as part of its Appalachian Regional Initiative for Stronger Economies. ARISE supports multi-state projects to drive large-scale regional economic change.
The New Energy Economy project will provide training, technical assistance, supply chain mapping and guidance for factory and product upgrades to more than 1,000 small to medium-sized manufacturers over four years in sectors that include renewable energy, hydrogen, smart grid, green buildings, and electric vehicles.
“We want to identify and support companies that want to participate in a new clean energy supply chain or improve their factory in energy efficiency,” said Petra Mitchell, president and CEO at Catalyst Connection, based in Pittsburgh. Although much of Appalachia is rural, the region includes many towns and cities.
Mitchell said a wide range of businesses could benefit in different sectors. Planned hydrogen hubs, for example, will need lots of metal products and meters, she said. So companies making those types of things may want to think about how they could adapt existing products or develop new ones to serve that sector.
Similarly, lots of pieces and parts go into wind turbines, said Amanda Woodrum, another co-director of ReImagine Appalachia. “They’re made of things that we make already, like gearboxes and bearings.” The grant project can help identify companies that might be a good fit for making those things and provide technical know-how so they can gear up to expand.
Yet there are barriers to getting into new markets.
“Across the region, many small and medium-sized manufacturers lack the capabilities to participate in the supply chains for green energy production or green products manufacturing,” said Janiene Bohannon, communications director for the Appalachian Regional Commission. “Appalachian manufacturers and energy providers seeking to pivot to greener models face difficulties in post-COVID supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, increasingly dated facilities and technology, and lack of availability of training in said technology.”
Large manufacturers often have staff or can afford consultants to grow their businesses and navigate entry into new market sectors.
“Small companies rarely do this,” said Ethan Karp, president and CEO of MAGNET in Cleveland.
The nonprofit will be responsible for providing roughly $1 million in services to companies in Ohio counties covered by the grant. Other manufacturing extension partners will work with companies in the four other states covered by the grant.
More than half of the 32 Ohio counties rank among the 25% most economically depressed counties nationwide. Only two are “competitive” under the commission’s designation system.
“We can really make a difference there,” Karp said. “We’re going to retain a ton of jobs, and we’re going to strengthen the output and grow our communities.”
Work in the manufacturing sector generally pays better than low-wage jobs that have employed many people in Appalachia after other manufacturing jobs left the area and the coal industry declined over the past several decades. A significant number of people in Appalachia have also become disconnected from the workforce, Woodrum said.
Now, across the five states included in the grant, the project is expected to serve 1,100 businesses, create 5,500 jobs, retain 15,190 jobs and provide $44 million worth of cost cuts, Bohanon said.
“We already have a presence in these counties,” Karp said, adding that MAGNET has already done some work helping manufacturers find opportunities for energy efficiency. MAGNET provides its educational and consulting services free of charge. Companies then invest in projects that can save money or otherwise boost their profit margins.
Lots more outreach about the grant program will follow after the upcoming strategy session for ReImagine Appalachia. Among other things, that outreach will help companies in the region think about whether they can play a role in the clean energy supply chain, even if that role isn’t initially obvious.
“It doesn’t have to necessarily be high-tech stuff,” Karp said, adding that a lot of the shift will be market driven. So, as more electric vehicles come on the market, companies will want to think about how they can be part of that growth. Or, as there’s more electrification, manufacturers may want to think about products they could supply. And then companies will need more training and technical help to expand their businesses through capital investments, any workforce issues and more.
“With the right sustainable strategy and the right investments, we can actually turn the region into leaders in the new energy economy,” Woodrum said. “The kind of manufacturing and the jobs that it creates are a big important piece of that puzzle.”
Historically, “Appalachia’s been one of the most likely places for innovation,” said Rick Stockburger, president and CEO of BRITE Energy Innovators, based in Warren, Ohio, which is not part of the Catalyst Connection grant project. “There’s no structural reason why it can’t be again, especially as we’re thinking about this new economy and how we make sure everybody can participate in it.”
CLEAN ENERGY: State-level clean energy policies had a strong year in 2023 as Democrats in states like Minnesota and Michigan treated climate action like a political asset. (E&E News)
ALSO: A Minnesota agency overseeing the state’s clean energy transition adds 64 positions to its staff of roughly 90 to help manage new state energy-related programs and capitalize on federal funding opportunities. (Energy News Network)
OIL & GAS: U.S. gas utilities serving more than 35 million customers offer builders and contractors incentives to keep fossil fuels in new buildings, part of a longstanding relationship that could impede electrification. (The Guardian)
CLIMATE: Challenging previous claims of the Midwest as a climate haven, a new report says the region can expect an increase in climate abandonment, particularly from high-flooding areas, over the next 30 years. (Planet Detroit)
WIND: A Cleveland-area company aims to grow the market for its benches, picnic tables and other outdoor furniture crafted from recycled wind turbine blades. (Energy News Network)
BIOGAS: Biogas digesters are receiving a growing share of federal rural clean energy program funding coming into Wisconsin, as critics question the climate benefits of the technology. (Tone Madison)
NUCLEAR: The owner of a southwestern Michigan nuclear plant is contesting its property tax assessment which, if lowered, could cost the state and local governments millions of dollars in tax revenue. (WSJM)
WORKFORCE:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
SOLAR:
CLIMATE: The outgoing mayor of Des Moines, Iowa, is appointed to serve as the city’s climate ambassador after leaving office. (KCCI)
COMMENTARY: A Michigan Democratic state representative says the state’s new clean energy laws will boost grid reliability while lowering bills. (Bridge)
CLIMATE: Clean electricity standards enacted in Minnesota and Michigan bookended a year of state-level climate progress that included gas hookup restrictions and new funding for clean energy manufacturing. (E&E News)
OIL & GAS:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
EMISSIONS: The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the U.S. EPA’s anti-air-pollution “good neighbor” rule that limits power plant emissions that drift into other states. (Associated Press)
WIND:
SOLAR: A California appeals court rejects a petition to overturn a new state policy cutting compensation for rooftop solar; petitioners say they may take the case to the state Supreme Court. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
UTILITIES: North Carolina regulators consider Duke Energy’s green tariff proposal, which would allow the utility to count customers’ renewable energy purchases toward compliance with its state carbon emission goals. (Energy News Network)
CLEAN ENERGY: A Minnesota agency overseeing the state’s clean energy transition adds 64 positions to its staff of roughly 90 to help manage new state programs and capitalize on federal funding opportunities. (Energy News Network)
FINANCE: Industry analysts say cleantech investing is poised for a strong 2024 after a slow start to 2023 rebounded in the second half of the year. (Canary Media)
SOLAR: A California appeals court rejects a petition to overturn a new state policy cutting compensation for rooftop solar; petitioners say they may take the case to the state Supreme Court. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
ALSO: A survey finds California’s solar industry has lost about 17,000 jobs since regulators slashed net metering rates for residential installations. (news release)
CLEAN ENERGY:
ELECTRIFICATION: A small Colorado town’s proposal to decarbonize buildings by banning natural gas hookups in new construction runs up against the nation’s largest natural gas-only utility’s opposition and political power. (NPR)
UTILITIES: Wyoming regulators approve a 5.5% Rocky Mountain Power rate hike after the utility admits its proposed 29.2% increase was partly based on a major accounting error. (WyoFile)
STORAGE: An Arizona utility brings a 100 MW battery energy storage system online in the southern part of the state. (Renewable Energy World)
TRANSITION: Northwestern New Mexico economic development officials seek $100 million in state funds to expand the fossil fuel-reliant region’s energy economy by creating a hydrogen production hub. (Farmington Daily Times)
CLIMATE:
COAL: A Utah coal mine that has been on fire since last year is “idled indefinitely” and plans to lay off its remaining 150 employees in January. (Salt Lake Tribune, subscription; Argus Media)
CARBON CAPTURE: The U.S. EPA publishes draft injection well permits for sequestering carbon dioxide from a hydrogen production facility in southern California, the agency’s first for the state. (E&E News, subscription)
HYDROPOWER: A Colorado organization acquires Colorado River water rights from an Xcel Energy hydropower plant in an innovative $100 million deal. (Aspen Journalism)
NUCLEAR: The Columbia nuclear power plant in Washington state completes its initial 40-year operating phase with plans to continue to keep operating at least until 2043. (Tri-City Herald)
OIL & GAS: Federal analysts predict natural gas prices will remain low through the winter, digging into tax revenues in gas-producing states like Wyoming. (Oil City News)
BIOFUELS: California awards $4 million to planned bioenergy facilities that will burn forest restoration waste to generate power. (Biofuels Digest)
One of the primary state agencies that oversees Minnesota’s climate and clean energy programs is expanding its staff by nearly two-thirds, fueled by new state and federal funding opportunities.
The Minnesota Department of Commerce’s Division of Energy Resources, which plays a central role in Minnesota’s clean energy transition, has added 64 positions to its roughly 90 employees at the start of the year. Of those positions, 42 have been filled and 22 are in the hiring process.
The department oversees programs related to energy conservation, solar for schools and colleges, weatherization, energy assistance and other associated areas.
The hiring spree is being paid for with new funding from state and federal legislation. The Legislature created seven new energy-related programs this spring, including rebate efforts, a $100 million state competitiveness fund and a green bank. The Division of Energy Resources will manage the new programs, which are expected to begin next year.
“We anticipate that as various programs are set up, we may need additional staffing to support those efforts,” said Michelle Gransee, a deputy commissioner who oversees the division.
Some of the new hires are already helping bring in additional federal dollars to the state. Since July, the division has secured over hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding for utilities and communities under the Inflation Reduction Act and other programs.
“Bringing in hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars, requires dedicated staffing,” Gransee said.
Employees will fill out new and existing roles after a department restructuring that added new sections to deal with responsibilities created by lawmakers in the 2023 session, the most productive for energy legislation in Minnesota history. Other hires will assist in funding that has come through the Inflation Reduction Act and other federal laws.
The surge in new employees is the largest Gransee has seen in her 14-year Commerce career. The only comparable period came in 2009 when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funded money for clean energy, but that lasted just two years.
The division has been hiring program developers, economists, lawyers, engineers, building science specialists, and grants and contracts experts, to name a few.
“We’re bringing in a diversity of talent and experience, which we were thrilled to see,” Gransee said.
The division has been receiving applications from employees of other state agencies, as well as recent University of Minnesota graduates, and people with backgrounds in nonprofits, utilities, and think tanks. The state has used LinkedIn and other regional and national experts to cast a net beyond Minnesota. Many applicants, she said, have been attracted to working at Commerce because they can have a direct impact on mitigating climate change in the state.
Among the recent higher profile hires have been Pete Klein, former vice president of finance at the St. Paul Port Authority, who planned to retire before being offered the opportunity to lead the department’s Minnesota Climate Innovation Finance Authority. With a budget of $45 million, the climate innovation authority, also known as a green bank, will develop financing tools to leverage private investment.
The department also recently hired John Michael-Cross, formerly a project manager with the Washington, D.C.-based Environment and Energy Study Institute, to run the state’s community solar program. In 2023, the Legislature moved management of the program from Xcel Energy to the state division.
Gransee said not all new employees will be permanent. Several will work under contract and not become employees.
“The tradition of coming into the state and working for the next 40 years for it isn’t for everybody,” she said. “For some, it’s exciting to come into a position that’s two or three years long, have a great impact, and then see what’s next.”
The Division of Energy Resources has recently expanded with more than 30 new programs that will be managed by the following offices:
“Each of those offices has some growth in them,” she said. “Some are entire units; others will have just one additional person coming into a space for a specific project or program.”
Gregg Mast, executive director of the nonprofit Clean Energy Economy Minnesota, said the additional employees will be needed to have “rapid rollout of the new programs so we can have swift implementation.” The advocacy group hopes Commerce’s new staff members will expand private sector clean energy jobs in Minnesota.
Since the legislative session ended, Gransee said agency staff have been occupied with creating new and updating existing programs.
“We’re thrilled by the expansion,” she said. “We could have twice as many staff and still keep everybody busy.”
BUILDINGS: New state incentives are pushing Mainers to adopt “whole-house” heat pump systems that make efficient electricity the primary home heat source and discourage the secondary use of oil or gas. (Energy News Network)
GRID:
OFFSHORE WIND:
TRANSIT: Around $142 million in federal funds will go toward improving public transit and flood mitigation along a Pittsburgh highway. (Trib Live)
SOLAR: More Maine towns are establishing rules and ordinances to limit and shape solar development within their boundaries, including Dixmont, where a recent ordinance requires solar applications to come with a decommissioning plan. (Bangor Daily News)
FOSSIL FUELS: After a more than decade-long ban, a gas driller will be allowed to drill 11 wells in Pennsylvania’s Dimock Township, reviving water contamination concerns. (Associated Press)
HYDROPOWER: In New York, a New Jersey renewable energy developer says it has had its preliminary permit application to build two hydroelectric plants at Sewall’s Island “accepted” by federal regulators. (NNY360)
WORKFORCE:
CLIMATE: In New York City, data from the annual Central Park Christmas Bird Count shows warmer temperatures are allowing more southern, typically migratory species to stick around. (Gothamist)
COAL ASH: A draft risk assessment published by the U.S. EPA for the first time says using coal ash as structural fill in road and other building projects can cause an elevated cancer risk from radiation, validating the concerns of residents on Puerto Rico’s south coast, where the material was commonly used. (States Newsroom, Energy News Network archives)
CLIMATE:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Many school districts still don’t have electric buses on the road after getting federal funding to buy them, as some districts struggle with the application process and supply backlogs. (Canary Media)
BUILDINGS: New state incentives are pushing Mainers to adopt “whole-house” heat pump systems that make efficient electricity the primary home heat source and discourage the secondary use of oil or gas. (Energy News Network)
PIPELINES:
COAL: Questions arise about a potential conflict of interest after details emerge about West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s efforts to push a tax break for a troubled coal plant then owned by FirstEnergy, which subsequently settled a suit against one of Justice’s coal companies for a fraction of what it had sought. (E&E News)
SOLAR: More Maine towns are establishing rules and ordinances to limit and shape solar development within their boundaries, including Dixmont, where a recent ordinance requires solar applications to come with a decommissioning plan. (Bangor Daily News)
CARBON CAPTURE: Wyoming issues permits for three underground carbon dioxide sequestration wells in the southwestern part of the state as the state looks to establish itself as a leader in the industry. (Casper Star-Tribune)
OIL & GAS: California’s oil and gas industry seeks to influence lawmakers by spending tens of millions annually on lobbying and campaign donations and allying with a powerful construction labor union. (CalMatters)
COMMENTARY: A researcher calls on states to ban political campaign contributions from utilities because they open a “back door of influence” over their regulatory environment. (Utility Dive)
CARBON CAPTURE: Wyoming issues permits for three underground carbon dioxide sequestration wells in the southwestern part of the state as the state looks to establish itself as a leader in the industry. (Casper Star-Tribune)
UTILITIES:
OIL & GAS:
EFFICIENCY: A national laboratory in Colorado joins an effort to reduce data centers’ carbon footprints by powering and cooling them more efficiently. (news release)
SOLAR:
WIND: The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management launches an environmental review of potential offshore wind power development along California’s central and north coasts. (North American Wind Power)
HYDROGEN:
CLIMATE: Montana advocates urge the state Supreme Court to reject the state’s request to pause a lower court’s order requiring agencies to consider climate change impacts in permitting decisions. (Daily Montanan)
COMMENTARY: A Utah researcher calls on states to ban political campaign contributions from utilities because they open a “back door of influence” over their regulatory environment. (Utility Dive)
In the meantime, check out ten of our best Energy News Network stories from the past year, from tackling toxic coal ash in Puerto Rico to electrifying buildings in snowy Maine.
Heating and cooking aren’t the only sources of building emissions: In Massachusetts and beyond, advocates and policymakers are starting to tackle the carbon footprint of all the materials and labor that goes into new buildings.
Detroit resident ‘leads with love’ while laying a foundation for neighborhood climate resiliency: On Detroit’s east side, Tammara Howard is leading efforts to build a network of climate resilience hubs to help residents thrive amid a changing climate.
For tree-sitter, no hiding from heartbreak of deal to greenlight Mountain Valley Pipeline: The federal government’s approval of the contentious Mountain Valley Pipeline brought heartbreak for Theresa “Red” Terry and other Virginia advocates.
Who decides where we get electricity and how much we pay? Mostly White, politically connected men: A pair of studies showed how public utility commissions, which have control over electricity rates and sources, don’t look like the people they represent.
For this immigrant-led clean energy company, perspective is everything: A Chicago-area engineer and CEO with roots in Ghana, Senyo Ador and his Sẽsẽnergi Eco Solutions Enterprise is helping the next generation of energy workers find their footing.
Making Maine’s next generation of housing fossil-free — and affordable: Maine’s population is growing faster than its housing supply, and advocates say that gives the state an opportunity to build out denser, all-electric, energy efficient housing.
In Puerto Rico, residents wait for accountability, cleanup of toxic coal ash ‘caminos blancos’: Two decades after a Virginia-based power company sold toxic coal ash to Puerto Rico towns as a cheap material for road construction, residents are fighting for cleanup and accountability.
With N.C. home efficiency codes frozen, advocates eye other opportunities: After North Carolina’s building industry lobbied to stave off new energy-efficient building codes for years, advocates are looking to federal tax credits and utility incentives to clean up building emissions.
Low-emissions steelmaking could be big business for Minnesota’s Iron Range, experts say: We finished out the year with this collaboration with Minnesota’s KAXE/KBXE, diving into ways the state can clean up its emissions-heavy taconite mining industry.
🤝 COP’s big deal: The COP28 climate summit ends with the first-ever global agreement to begin “transitioning away from fossil fuels,” though some leaders acknowledge the pact is nonbinding and should’ve been reached years ago. (Politico)
🎓 America’s climate report card: Climate and clean energy experts grade U.S. climate progress in 2023, from an A- for clean energy investments to an F for its patent system that keeps critical breakthroughs private. (Grist)
🛢️ Normalizing carbon capture: The rising viability of carbon capture worries climate scientists, who say oil and gas producers could use it as a loophole to keep drilling. (E&E News)
⚡ Sidestepping gas bans: Western cities find innovative ways to push building electrification — such as setting emissions targets and restricting indoor air pollution — that don’t violate a court order prohibiting natural gas hookup bans. (Grist)
🔌 EV charging inconsistencies: Experts say the electric vehicle charger industry faces a big dilemma as it aims to normalize charging standards and software among several manufacturers. (Canary Media)
🧊 DEI efforts stall out: Efforts to diversify environmental organizations appear to have stalled or even lost ground, according to a new analysis, potentially jeopardizing the fight for equitable climate solutions. (Axios)
New state incentives are pushing Mainers to adopt “whole-house” heat pump systems, making efficient electricity the primary home heat source and discouraging the secondary use of oil or gas.
Federal tax credits are still available for a wider range of heat pump installations, and the state offers rebates for low-income households to install a heat pump as a supplemental heat source.
But the latest big rebate for families of any income in Maine, which has become a national leader in heat pump adoption, focuses on using this technology to heat and cool the user’s entire house — or close to it.
“Customers are then able to turn off their old central furnace or boiler, relegating it to an emergency backup system,” said Michael Stoddard, the executive director of the state’s energy incentives agency, Efficiency Maine, in an email. “When that happens, (heat pumps) are able to meet their full potential.”
The agency’s new whole-house rebate program aims to help meet Maine’s climate goals. First rolled out this fall, the rebate was revised in recent weeks in response to criticism and confusion from contractors over its compliance rules.
A whole-house heat pump system — also called whole-home, or whole-facility in a space like a school or business — means that heat pumps are the go-to source of heating in the winter, with any supplemental sources used infrequently or as emergency backups.
To receive Efficiency Maine’s new rebate, which covers 40% of project costs up to a $4,000 cap for people of any income or more for those of lower incomes, a heat pump system must be sized to serve at least 80% of the home’s potential heating load, from shoulder seasons to the coldest day of winter.
Eben Perkins, the chief strategy officer with the Maine-based energy consulting firm Competitive Energy Services, said this is just one way of defining a whole-house heat pump in the grand scheme: For example, his company tends to look at how much heat pumps are serving a client out of the whole year, rather than on a day-to-day basis.
Maine home heat targets are based on modeling of how many heat pumps and weatherization jobs it would take to offset the state’s top-in-the-nation reliance on heating oil and other use of fossil fuels in buildings, with statutory targets of cutting emissions 45% over 1990 levels by 2030 and 80% by 2050.
This sector, which includes schools, businesses and more along with homes and apartments, is second only to transportation in contributing to Maine’s emissions.
This past summer, the state hit an initial target of installing 100,000 heat pumps relative to 2019. Now, it’s working toward another 175,000 more units by 2027. Stoddard said the goal is to see 130,000 homes with one or two heat pump units by 2030, and 115,000 more with whole-house systems.
“The efficiency levels of heat pumps can be two-X, three-X, four-X technology compared to a combustion system. So one, it’s just a good technology that keeps on getting better,” said Perkins. “Second, it gives you a pathway to actually fully decarbonize the upstream fuel source… That’s the pathway we need to really deeply cut emissions at the state (level).”
Maine had about 580,000 households in 2022, per the U.S. Census, and about 56% of them use heating oil, according to federal data — slightly lower than in recent years, but still the highest rate in the country.
The state aims to make its energy usage 100% renewable by 2040.
The answer is technically yes, but ideally no, at least under Maine’s new rebate.
As they switch to whole-house heat pumps, eligible customers are asked to turn their oil- or gas-powered furnaces or boilers and connected thermostats off or all the way down, and to cover the systems’ switches. They can still use these systems for hot water heating or in connection with an emergency generator.
This fall, Maine walked back an earlier requirement that old fossil-fired systems be disabled or disconnected from electrical service entirely, with locks on their switches, amid pushback from heat pump installers and fuel oil vendors about reliability and other concerns.
Despite reverting the rebate to more of an honor system, Stoddard said avoiding supplemental fossil fuel use as completely as possible is key to maximizing heat pump benefits.
“Our research shows that the majority of heat pumps installed in Maine will save significantly less money and emissions when they are operated concurrently with a central furnace or boiler than when they operate alone,” he said.
The rebate rules suggest “room heaters, a wood stove, or small space heaters,” Stoddard said, to cover up to 20% of the home’s heating load alongside the whole-house heat pump system.
In theory, a whole-home heat pump system could have a range of configurations. But Efficiency Maine focuses its new rebates on heat pumps with one indoor unit per outdoor unit (which they call “single zone,” though contractors say this can have different meanings). These might be the customer’s first heat pumps, or they might add on to older units to make up that 80% heating overall capacity required by the state.
Dave Ragsdale, the HVAC division manager at Maine-based ReVision Energy, said heat pumps need to be carefully tailored to a home’s needs to maximize their efficiency.
“You really need to have the… capacity of your heat pump system match the heat load of the house as closely as possible,” he said. “To the extent you oversize a heat pump system, you’re creating a situation where it’s beginning to resemble, more and more, an old-fashioned heating system.”
Traditional boilers and furnaces, he said, are almost always far oversized to the house’s heating needs — because they can be. “When you have a call for heat in a room, the thermostat tells the boiler, ‘we need heat,’ (and) turns the boiler on. It doesn’t matter how many (units of heat) that boiler is rated for — it’s only going to run for as long as it needs to to get heat to that room to satisfy that thermostat,” Ragsdale said.
Heat pumps are different, he said: They perform best when they can run pretty much constantly and modulate their output in response to temperature needs. If a heat pump is sized to provide more heat than the house could ever need — or, say, if one outdoor compressor is sized to run heat pump heads in four rooms, though only one or two may be used at a time — it can lead to costly, inefficient “short-cycling.”
“As soon as (the oversized heat pump) turns on, its capacity is way in excess of the load,” Ragsdale said. “So almost immediately, it floods the room with heat and then turns off, and then the room loses heat, and then it turns on again,” much like a traditional fossil fuel-fired system.
Ragsdale said this need for fine-tuning is why Maine’s rebate focuses on those one-indoor, one-outdoor, “single-zone” units — and why he suggests customers choose whole-house systems that meet just a tiny bit less than their home’s peak hypothetical heating load, ideally 99% or 99.6% of it.
“That little adjustment is enough to bring the capacity of your system more in line with what you’re actually going to see throughout the course of the heating season,” Ragsdale said.
If pushed to 100%, the system would be overpowered almost every day of the year, reducing efficiency and driving up costs. In the 99% design, the whole-house system is more efficient year-round and can use its supplemental sources to take the edge off and improve performance in the coldest weather conditions.
Getting the most out of a whole-house system requires careful customer education and for contractors to assess a home’s energy needs in great detail, Ragsdale said. Assessing air leaks and insulation needs with an energy audit can be a key part of this process. Ultimately, he sees houses with a more open floor plan and excellent weatherization as the best candidates for a cost-effective whole-house system.
“One thing is crystal clear… this whole-house model is not going to be applicable to every house you come across,” he said. “If there’s a house that’s broken up into a lot of small rooms, it’s probably going to be difficult to make a (whole-house) heat pump system work really well there.”
The same goes for using existing ducts from a forced hot-air system to run heat pumps, accompanied by an air handler. Those ducts will need new insulation to safely carry cold air in the summer, which is a complex retrofit for an existing house. Even at best, Ragsdale said, “you’re losing a fair amount of (heat) in the distribution” relative to a ductless heat pump delivering its hot air more directly.
But for people who may be unsure or ill-suited for the whole-house switch, Ragsdale emphasized that other heat pump configurations can still help vastly reduce fossil fuel use and costs, especially with state and federal incentives.
“Heat pumps still make sense, even a house that doesn’t have the perfect layout,” he said.
He gave his own home as an example. It was built in the 1940s, with lots of small rooms.
“I put one (heat pump unit) in my living room, which is the single biggest room, so I’m taking a big chunk out of my heat load even before I stop using my boiler altogether,” he said. “Most of that heat, frankly, in the shoulder seasons, managed to get its way around the house enough so that I was perfectly comfortable.
“Only in a couple weeks out of the winter,” he said, “did I have to turn that boiler on to … take the chill off.”
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