Who doesn’t love a success story? Read on for the good news! In short, this new happy heat pump owner may hold the new record for heat pump energy cost savings, seeing her heating bills drop by 85% with the addition of a heat pump and weatherization improvements!
The Alaska Carbon Reduction Fund (ACRF) is a program that installs single head air source heat pumps in the homes of lower income family that rely on fossil fuels or wood for heat. ACRF aims to lower heating bills and increase the use of clean heating systems in Southeast Alaska. To date, the program has facilitated the installation of 62 heat pumps in low income homes in Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Angoon, eliminating nearly 28,500 annual gallons of oil and helping lower home heating costs for these families.
Alaska Heat Smart (AHS) manages ACRF and recently performed a follow-up survey with 2023 ACRF heat pump recipient Wanda Culp. Wanda’s trailer home had an oil furnace as its primary heating system when she moved in. With the opportunity to participate in ACRF, Wanda was excited to transition from an oil furnace to a heat pump. Before moving to Juneau, Wanda lived in Hoonah, where energy costs are quite high – wood was her primary heat source. Today, Wanda is very thankful to have the heat pump in her Juneau home. She no longer has to deal with the physical burdens of heating with wood and she happily shared that the heat pump has exceeded her expectations.
“The heat pump is just a pleasure,” Wanda recently told AHS staff.
In 2024, Wanda took further steps to increase her home’s energy efficiency and had her home winterized. Impactful changes included a new insulated roof and new exterior skirting and siding repair. The heat pump, coupled with weatherization efforts, work together to make dramatic cost savings possible.
Before the installation of the heat pump, Wanda was spending $2,600 on home heating each year and burning roughly 530 gallons of oil. She now heats solely with the heat pump and no longer uses the furnace, slashing her annual heating bills down to $386 — an 85% decrease in annual heating costs!
“Wanda’s home is a fantastic example of the difference that home energy efficiency efforts can make in a person’s life,” said Alaska Heat Smart’s Bob Deering.
As ACRF continues to install heat pumps in low income households, we hope to see many more positive stories like Wanda’s!
Your Support Needed
With federal funding uncertainty still the ‘new norm’, privately-funded programs like ACRF are critical in serving families in need in Southeast Alaska. Support for ACRF is more important now than ever! Upfront costs for a homeowner to take advantage of locally-produced and often inexpensive hydropower can be prohibitive. Homeowner support from projects like ACRF is often the only way that families with the highest energy burdens can reduce their costs. ACRF needs your support 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 a family struggling to pay their heating oil bills? Send them to our application page. Know a business owner who currently carbon offsets ‘outside’ and could be keeping their responsible dollars working in southeast Alaska? Point them to our supporting partners page!
