Two more carbon-reducing homes! / Kensington continues partnership! / Allen Marine’s carbon-reducing partnership! / JCOF changes? / XS vs XL? (huh?) / FREE MONEY?
Yep. No moss growing on our feet! Summer may slow down a bit for some, but it seems that in the heat pump space, summer is not a time for leisure. Since we’ve got much to share, and even more to do, we’ll make this update brief, sort of a ‘breaking news’ headline type piece. Heck..do you read all of these words anyhow? If you do, send us a comment with the comment box at the bottom of this post! We’re actually curious!
If you have any questions about the news below, don’t hesitate to reach out for more information. Email JCOF at juneaucarbonoffset@gmail.com or email Alaska Heat Smart at info@akheatsmart.org.
The Juneau Carbon Offset Fund (JCOF) has installed clean, efficient, heating bill-slashing heat pumps, free of charge, to two more Juneau families, bringing our grand total to a nice round 40! With an average JCOF heat pump annual oil elimination of 514 gallons, these homes are NOT needing nearly 20,000 gallons each year!
Kensington Mine and Coeur Alaska continue their partnership with JCOF and will contribute to our efforts to aid lower income Juneau families. In 2023, Kensington will pay JCOF for the emission of roughly 2.5 million pounds of carbon dioxide. Over the first two years of this partnership, Kensington carbon reduction efforts assisted 14 Juneau lower income homes. This assistance is not only realized by reduced carbon output and reduced oil burning, but by heating bill savings of roughly $1,500 every year per home!
Allen Marine Tours made local media headlines recently with coverage of their partnership with JCOF. Every independent traveler on an Allen Marine Tours excursion has the option to pay $2 extra to account for their carbon emissions. Allen Marine Tours’ commitment to this program will see the doubling of raised funds for the first $25,000 in carbon reducing fees! Funds collected will be directed to lower income family heating assistance in the community in which it is raised, bringing JCOF experience and success to both Ketchikan and Sitka!
Later this fall, Alaska Heat Smart (AHS) will take over management of the Juneau Carbon Offset Fund! Crossover between AHS and JCOF, as well as an increasing need for human resources at JCOF, are prompting the move. Allen Marine Tours’ partnership and their encouragement of regional carbon reduction action will also catalyze a name change for the Fund. The current favorite is the Alaska Carbon Reduction Fund!
XS? XL? Maybe MXS or MXL, or even series beginning with ‘R’? No, not sizes, but heat pump models. We’re not sure what the letters stand for, but we do know that you don’t want a unit with an ‘S’ in the model name! (See the above image and pictured outdoor unit name plate.) For quite some time, Renewable Juneau and AK Heat Smart have been hearing occasional reports of unhappy heat pump owners. Nearly across the board, these homeowners have had heat pumps installed that start with MXS, or RXS. Maybe we can think of the ‘S’ as in the word ‘Summer’. These units are NOT cold climate model heat pumps and are not what you want. AK Heat Smart will analyze your contractor quotes and help you verify that you are buying the right equipment. We have no idea why any contractor would install such a unit in Juneau, but it does and is happening. If your quote does not list out the model name, ask for it!
FREE MONEY! Yep…no joke! Our friends over at AK Heat Smart have a heat pump incentive program up and running. Income eligible households can receive between $1,500 and $3,000 towards their heat pump project! All that is required is a simple application process, income verification, and a free AHS home heat pump assessment. When the ‘up to’ $2,000 Inflation Reduction Act tax credit is also applied, you’re looking at nearly 50% off!
