Committee recommends council adopt next-phase design for commercial heat-pump HVAC program

The Climate Action and Sustainability Committee on Oct. 17 reviewed results from a pilot commercial heat-pump HVAC program and voted to recommend the City Council adopt new design guidelines to scale the program.

Shelby Sinclair, sustainability programs administrator for the utilities department, told the committee the pilot received 14 applications, of which six were approved and three projects were complete. "As of now, we have 14 projects that have applied. Of those 14, there are 6 that are approved," Sinclair said. She said the pilot found heat-pump HVAC retrofits averaged about 22% higher in initial cost than equivalent gas systems — roughly $142,000 in the sample — and that permitting and site-specific work often increased those costs further.

The recommendation package (Attachment A to the staff report) would move the program from a data-collection pilot toward a one-year, scalable offering that combines incentives, financing options and technical assistance. Committee members sought more detail on which commercial users are already participating; Sinclair said the completed projects included a daycare/preschool and small office buildings. "Some require more carpentry work and electrical work, and others are more simple swap outs," she said.

Why it matters: Staff said early, boosted incentives were…