Key Outcomes

The pilot kicked off with a market needs assessment and six Trade Ally trainings on the installation and use of heat pump technology types. The team promoted the increased incentives for heat pump technologies and Zero Energy Ready Homes through various marketing tactics, including creation and distribution of Trade Ally fact sheets regarding heat pumps and a series of YouTube videos spotlighting the ZERH home build process. The pilot was otherwise promoted directly to builders via Program staff. At the end of the pilot, 35 heat pump water heaters, 5 ground source heat pumps, and 4 cold climate heat pumps were installed. This was on target with the goal for the pilot except for cold climate heat pumps which fell short of its target by 6 units due to supply chain issues. The pilot saw one Zero Energy Ready Home completed.

On-site energy monitoring was planned to gather information on energy consumption data for homes with heat pumps, however, the Copper Labs devices planned to be used were not able to access utility meter infrastructure. The pilot pivoted and opted to focus on the ZERH project completed. Using Sense® energy management systems, two homes from the same builder – a ZERH home and a “control” home with similar configurations and equipment - are being monitored to understand how energy consumption and home comfort compare between the two building standards. The findings of this data analysis will be released in a report in 2024.

Lessons Learned

• Market Awareness: Efforts to draw interest to heat pump technologies had little to no change in homebuyer priorities (per homebuilders). As mentioned by some homebuilders, they will “build what they’ll buy” and until homebuyer preferences change, building practices will likely remain relatively unchanged.

• Trade Ally Support: Homebuilders and Trade Allies have established standard practices within the industry. Adopting new technologies, like a heat pump, are disruptive to their process resulting in slow adoption rates. The builder who constructed the Zero Energy Ready Home stated had they not had a buyer interested in purchasing a home with ZERH certification, they would “probably not” have pursued it despite the incentive. Builders will continue to build the most cost-effective product appealing to their homebuyers.

• Supply Chain Impacts: Challenges in securing energy-efficient equipment and professionals installing equipment can be disruptive to the building process. Unless a homebuyer or builder is a strong proponent of installing high-efficiency equipment, like heat pumps, equipment selections for main building systems could be easily adjusted to less efficient options based on the desire or need to have a home completed by a specific date or price point.

Recommendations and Next Steps

The pilot will not be continuing and instead design changes were made to New Homes program to promote these technologies, including increased emphasis on Zero Energy Ready homes and heat pumps.

Questions?

Contact the Future Focus team at futurefocus@focusonenergy.com