State Offers Thousands in Rebates for Energy Efficient Heating and Cooling Systems

CCB MEDIA PHOTO Peter McPhee, renewable thermal program director with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, explains how a newly installed system at a Yarmouthport home works.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Peter McPhee, renewable thermal program director with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, explains how a newly installed system at a Yarmouthport home works.

YARMOUTH – The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center announced this week that $30 million will be put in a fund to help homeowners and businesses convert to clean, cost-effective heating and cooling systems.

“This funding will offer many Massachusetts residents access to efficient, clean options for heating and cooling which will in turn help the environment and provide consumers with the opportunity to save on energy costs,” Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton said. “The Clean Heating and Cooling program also supports our growing clean energy industry and will help the state reach its ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals.”

State energy officials gave a demonstration of a new system installed at a Yarmouthport home that was eligible for the new rebates offered through the program.

Homeowner Liz Saunders said she and her husband would not have been able to put the new system in if it wasn’t for the incentives and rebates.

“We knew somebody who had a unit and they talked about how wonderful it was and how efficient it was so we got it installed. We had family members who worked for a company that could help us with the installation. We’ve had it since January and it’s been really effective,” she said.

The Clean Heating and Cooling program provides rebates of between $750 and $12,500 to home and business owners who install high-efficiency clean heating and cooling systems.

The systems eligible for the rebates include air- and ground-source heat pumps, which use air or ground temperatures to heat and cool buildings and central biomass boilers, which burn renewable organic material rather than traditional fossil fuels.

“Over the life of the systems, clean energy technologies like heat pumps can result in significant energy cost savings for consumers, making them an attractive investment. MassCEC is putting this funding commitment in place to allow more consumers access to these technologies to reduce their carbon footprint at lower up-front costs,” said MassCEC CEO Alicia Barton.

In addition to helping consumers save on energy costs this five-year commitment will help the commonwealth reach its goals set out in the Global Solutions Act, which calls for a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

“MassCEC’s five-year commitment to renewable heating and cooling technology will broaden the choices available for homes and businesses,” Massachusetts Department of Energy and Resources (DOER) Commissioner Judith Johnson said. “Soon DOER will also expand incentives for renewable thermal by adding these technologies to its regulation that provides market-valued certificates, as is currently provided for combined heat and power systems and renewable electricity.”

While traditional oil and gas systems burn fuel to create heat, a heat pump works instead by moving heat into or out of a building. In the winter, air-source heat pumps take naturally-occurring heat from the outside air and distribute it throughout a building. In the summer, air-source heat pumps removed heat from warm indoor air and distribute the cool air throughout a building.

Ground-source heat pumps use the nearly constant underground temperature of the earth to heat and cool a home. Central biomass heating systems produce heat by burning renewable organic matter like wood pellets or chips.

Depending on technology type and system size, homeowners are eligible for rebates ranging from $750 for a single-room air-source heat pump to $12,500 for ground-source heat pumps that heat an entire building.

MassCEC plans to expand the program by making rebates available for commercial property owners later this year.

Beginning in October, MassCEC will also offer increased incentives for low to moderate-income customers who meet certain income thresholds.

For more information, visit www.masscec.com/programs/clean-heating-and-cooling or call 617-315-9357.

Comments

  1. thinkmorebelieveless says

    Did anyone calculate how much increased electrical demand on the grid all these electrically powered heat pumps will create ? Seems like with the added electric transportation vehicles and building heating, the grid demand has to increase…….remember solar PV output is low in the winter, and wind development seems to be barely holding on, and of course Small and Micro hydro is regulated to death and discriminated against by the government. Where is the added (clean ?) electricity coming from ?

  2. An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a co-worker who had been conducting
    a little homework on this. And he actually ordered me dinner because I stumbled upon it for him…
    lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!!
    But yeah, thanks for spending the time to discuss this subject here on your site.

Speak Your Mind

*



CapeCod.com
737 West Main Street
Hyannis, MA 02601
Contact Us | Advertise Terms of Use 
Employment and EEO | Privacy