Lacey staff outlines 2025 climate work plan, launches Energize Thurston heat-pump subsidies

Lindsey Fields, Lacey’s climate and sustainability coordinator, presented the city’s 2025 climate work plan and an update on regional projects during the council meeting on April 1, 2025. Fields described ongoing regional collaboration through the Thurston Climate Mitigation Collaborative and noted progress on a model home-energy-score ordinance and a new regional heat-pump group-purchase and subsidy program called Energize Thurston.

Fields said Energize Thurston launched in March and uses Climate Commitment Act (HEAR) funds and other local match dollars to subsidize heat-pump installations for low- and moderate-income households. "We're hoping to subsidize altogether partial and fully around 40 homes," Fields said, noting that the exact number will depend on each home's retrofit needs, electrical upgrades and heat-pump sizing. She reported that Lacey had received 21 applications from residents seeking full subsidization as of the meeting.

Fields described roughly $418,000 in HEAR and local match funds allocated to the program and said part of that money covers administrative work conducted by Habitat for Humanity, which is handling intake and income verification. The program aims for a mix of fully subsidized and partially subsidized installations (Fields said an early target of about 22 fully subsidized and 18 partially subsidized homes, contingent on costs) and offers a group-purchase discount for privately funded participants.

Fields said Energize Thurston will host a workshop at the Lacey Timberland Library on April 22 and that an on-demand workshop is available for residents to register and apply; subsidy awards are first-come, first-served until funds are exhausted. She encouraged interested households to apply early if they seek full subsidy.

On regulatory work, Fields said the collaborative produced a model home-energy-score ordinance. Jurisdictions in the region are reviewing it on different schedules; Lacey expects to begin local ordinance work in 2026 to align with the city's comprehensive-plan update, with potential implementation in 2027. Fields also said the comprehensive-plan update will include a new climate element and resilience sub-element; the city has a $350,000 Commerce grant to support that work.

Fields noted that Commerce intends jurisdictions to use 2022 as the greenhouse-gas baseline year and that the city will rely on the regional greenhouse-gas inventory for targets and reporting. She said staff are awaiting final state reappropriation decisions for some funds but that the HEAR-funded program could be re-run in future years if funding is reappropriated.

Council members asked about jurisdictional progress on the home-energy-score ordinance. Fields said Olympia is moving toward adoption, Tumwater's legal staff is reviewing the model ordinance, and Thurston County's adoption status was unclear. Fields also described workforce and credentialing pathways for home-energy scorers and noted ongoing questions about quality assurance and long-term federal program availability.

Fields's presentation covered energy, buildings, transportation and water/wastewater projects in the 2025 work plan and emphasized community education, equity considerations required by recent state legislation, and regional collaboration to lower greenhouse-gas emissions.