The town of Wellesley will make its newest push to encourage homeowners to go the heat pump route for heating and cooling at a webinar on Thursday, March 21 at 7pm. Registration is open for the event, co-sp0nsored by the Town of Wellesley’s Climate Action Committee, Municipal Light Plant, Health Department, and by Sustainable Wellesley.
Air source heat pumps have now had a few years to prove their worth as an efficient alternative to heating and cooling systems reliant on fossil fuels, and the webinar will include first-hand experiences of those that have made the move. Reducing carbon emissions from residential buildings is a big part of Wellesley’s efforts to hit net-zero goals under its Climate Action Plan.
This table supplied by Marybeth Martello, Wellesley’s Sustainability Director, shows the boom in heat pump installations in town, fueled to a great degree by adoption at multifamily buildings.
Heat pumps added in Wellesley per year
Air Source Heat Pump | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Residential | 27 | 48 | 58 | 398 |
Comm/Non-profit | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Ground Source Heat Pump (Geothermal) | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Residential | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Comm/Non-profit | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The webinar will also go over government financial incentives to install heat pumps, and provide information on Wellesley’s new energy coach program. Among the speakers will be a heat pump expert from Abode, a non-profit that partners with Wellesley’s MLP.
Sustainability Director Martello says air source, air-to-water, and ground source heat pumps, all of which are feasible with new incentives, will be covered at the webinar.