The Alaska Carbon Reduction Fund Celebrates Its 5-Year Anniversary with 50 Homes Served!

It’s been five years since the Juneau Carbon Offset Fund was launched, Alaska’s unique and homegrown lower-income home heating assistance and carbon reduction program. The hope? To assist families in need of lowering high fossil fuel heating bills while providing a solution to grapple with the inevitable carbon impacts of work, play, travel, and transport. Today, the Fund is going strong, is installing ten or more heat pumps annually, is reaching out across the region, and is now known as the Alaska Carbon Reduction Fund.

We are thrilled to announce, that with the support of so many, our 2019 goal has been reached!

The Impact
As I write this, contractors are completing our 50th lower income family heat pump installation! The result – 50 families saving upwards of $1,200, or more, annually, and 50 homes reducing, or eliminating, carbon emissions by an average of 10,000 pounds every year. (For comparison’s sake, that volume of carbon is 25% more than that of a 25-mpg car driving 10,000 miles per year.)

ACRF’s 50 heat pumps have warmed 85 adults and 49 children. Not only is hard-earned income being saved, and home heating bills reduced, but these heat pumps are improving indoor air quality and eliminating noxious fossil fuel odors and post-combustion particulate matter. Heat pumps not only warm (and cool) a home, but make it healthier, drier, and a less friendly environment for both mold and mildew growth, so common with our rain-saturated air.

Celebrate with us by subscribing today!

Support
Without trust and strong community support, ACRF’s work would not be possible. ACRF is deeply indebted to those who have chosen the Fund to support their carbon goals – engaging locally, committing to our local economy, keeping utility payment dollars in town, working together to lower emissions, harnessing the power of our renewable energy, and supporting local contractors and trades workers. To date, ACRF has injected nearly $400,000 into our local economy and no slow down is in sight.

ACRF is thankful for its subscription supporters who contribute carbon reduction dollars every month. ACRF is proud of its visitor supporters – these responsible travelers pay the Fund to balance out impacts from a cruise, a flight seeing trip, or maybe a whale watching outing. It goes without saying, that ACRF is deeply grateful for both the local and regional businesses that look to the Fund for its services, for its outcomes, and for its ability to help them achieve their forward-thinking carbon goals. A loud shoutout to:

What’s Next?
Excitement about ACRF has reached across the region and even the continent. Recent media attention from the Canadian Broadcast Corporation and Grist Magazine have introduced the Fund to travelers from the US, Canada, and parts of Europe. Sustainability commissions, municipalities, and non-profits are reaching out to learn about the ACRF model, hoping to replicate the program in their regions.

In Southeast Alaska, this excitement and interest are leading to program growth and regional expansion of ACRF efforts. A recent ACRF project was completed in Angoon on neighboring Admiralty Island when the homeowner’s boiler went belly up. Today, we are accepting applications from both Sitka and Ketchikan lower income families. It is our hope that expanded programs and increasing interest can see the Fund reach our newest goal of 120 homes served by 2029.

120 in 10! Help us reach our goal for 2029!
We’re raising the bar – 12 per year, or one per month, over the Fund’s first decade of carbon-cutting, heating bill slashing, lower-income heat pump installations. That’s our ten-year goal. We’ll need your help and there are many ways to offer it! Subscribe and take responsibility for your carbon! Tell your neighbors so they can give or subscribe. Know an oil heated family struggling to pay the bills? Send them to our application page!