…is the weight of about 134 super cute baby elephants. These goofy-looking, yet adorable African critters are born at about 200 pounds each. So, if you had a room full of 134 of these cuties, the built-in scale in the floor would read 26,880 pounds, or, pretty close to it. This weight is equivalent to the annual total of carbon dioxide eliminated from the Juneau Carbon Offset Fund’s two recent heat pump installations. Over 13.5 tons. That’s a lot, a lot of baby elephant and a lot of carbon dioxide. Three cars driving 10,000 miles each at 23 mpg crank out a total of 26,680 pounds of carbon dioxide, but hey, that’s a pretty dry and dull fact. Personally, I find the elephant comparison a whole lot more fun.
This last week, Renewable Juneau’s Carbon Offset Fund put some of your carbon offset dollars to work. We installed a 12K BTU Daikin Aurora heat pump in a double-wide Switzer Village trailer and a 15K BTU Daikin Aurora heat pump in a valley home. Both the Nesbit family and the Kookesh family are thrilled with these additions to their homes and not only love the clean dry heat, but are looking forward to halving their heating bills, or better
Carla Nesbit encapsulated the impact that our carbon offset fund can have on a local family.
“David came over this morning and turned the heat pump on for the first time. We turned the furnace off and our home has NEVER been this warm before, lol. We are LOVING it! The work that has been done is incredible and we couldn’t be happier!! Our youngest daughter is “ALWAYS COLD” and after the gentleman left and the heat pump stayed on, now she says “I love our home now…it feels so nice and toasty.” I just wanted to pass this message on to you. We couldn’t be happier!!
The Nesbit’s noticed the Juneau Carbon Offset Fund yard sign posted at the home of one of our installations and investigated. Now, they have their very own and as Carla’s quote reads, the family of four “couldn’t be happier.”
In the valley, we were able to come to the aid of Melissa Kookesh and her son. They live together in a small home in the valley, a split-level that proved to be an interesting project. The ideal location for the indoor air handler was not against an outdoor wall. By placing this indoor portion of the heat pump against an outdoor wall, the coolant lines can be run easily through the wall and right into the air handler. In Melissa’s case, a large soffit was in the way. A family member was able to assist and opened up the soffit, allowing Panhandle Heat Pump’s David Nash fairly easy access to the outside of the interior wall. See photo below. The coolant line, marked in red, runs up the side of the house, enters that wall, and then can be seen inside the soffit.
Quite often, a family will qualify for a full install by the Carbon Offset Fund. In some instances, a family chooses to pay extra for a second indoor air handler to heat an extra space or another floor. Some households don’t quite burn enough oil to justify the full project expense and are therefore found to qualify at maybe a 75% level, or 50% level. In a few instances, special electrical work is required and the homeowner kicks in a bit of savings, or even sets up a payment plan with the electrical company. Melissa qualified at the 75% level and the savings on her fuel bills should allow the electrical bill to be paid off in about one year. From there on out, it’s all savings! And, a much smaller carbon footprint. One more reason that Melissa is excited is that her mother, who lives in Angoon, has been one step ahead and has been enjoying a heat pump for some time now!
