Ray Lindoff, resident of the Juneau Indian village off of Willoughby Avenue, is the proud owner of a new Daiken Aurora air source heat pump! Ray is the second home owner in the village to qualify and receive a Juneau Carbon Offset Fund, oil-eliminating, home-heating heat pump. Ray’s installation is the Fund’s 7th over the past seven months!

Renewable Juneau entered into a sort of partnership with Ray in order to help him realize both reduced heating bills and the joys of a warmer home. The electrical panel in Ray’s home did not have the needed space available for a dedicated circuit to power the electricity-driven heat pump. The cost of both the electrical upgrades and the pump were over budget for the Fund, making it look unlikely that Ray’s home would qualify.

Luckily, Ray has a friend who is also a talented electrician. For a minimal investment, Ray was able to have the proper upgrades performed, allowing ALCAN electric to later come in and connect a new circuit to the pump compressor. With Ray’s connections, in combination with money generated by the Juneau Carbon Offset Fund, the project qualifications were met and installation was completed on May 21.

Ray’s days of too cool and too humid living are over! “Everybody needs to get one of these things,” Ray told me today. “Every village home needs a heat pump. I’m telling my neighbors and telling everybody else…heat pumps are the way to go!”

The Juneau Carbon Offset Fund is once again indebted to Juneau’s newest renewable energy-focused nonprofit, Alaska Heat Smart. A collaboration between Renewable Juneau, AELP, CBJ, and JEDC, Alaska Heat Smart provides free home energy assessments to help streamline the purchase process for potential heat pumps buyers. Energy advisors from Heatsmart were extremely helpful in determining electrical issues, heat pump size considerations and potential energy savings for the Lindoff home.

A special thanks is also owed to the Juneau Carbon Offset Fund’s advisory committee member Caroline Malseed for her help in communicating with Ray early in the process and helping him move ahead with the application process.

The following is copied from the City and Borough of Juneau’s web pages that discuss historic preservation in Juneau. This specific page details the Indian Village.

What has come to be known as the “Indian Village” was traditionally called “Lingit Aani” by the local Tlingit people. The area was once the traditional summer village site of the Auk Tlingit Natives. The neighborhood lies within the area bounded by West Willoughby Avenue on the south, Distin Avenue on the north, Indian Street on the east, and Capital Avenue on the north. The entire neighborhood is recognized as an historic site of the Auke Village. Only a handful of historic buildings remain….