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Evansville staff pushing heat-pump adoption; contractor summit and public engagement planned
Summary
City staff reported participation in an IU cohort to promote heat-pump HVAC and water-heater installations, will host a public community session July 22 and a contractor summit Oct. 2 to build local installer capacity.
Lauren Norville briefed the advisory board that Evansville is participating in a cohort with Indiana University's Environmental Resilience Institute to promote heat-pump installations and workforce development.
Lucy Swinson, staff, gave details: “we are working on identifying sites for a heat pump installation. They'll be non profits, and we've narrowed it down to 3. Working on the next steps for that and identifying contractors who we can work with and kind of outlook for the future. We're planning a contractor summit for the fall.”
Norville and other board members said the Collaborative will host a public community engagement session on July 22 at McCullough Library to educate residents about heat-pump HVAC and heat-pump water heaters, including costs and expected savings. The board was told the contractor summit for industry professionals will take place Oct. 2 at McCullough Library.
Board discussion touched on local installer capacity and warranties. Norville summarized available qualifications: the cohort is asking that contractors be HVAC-certified and have prior heat-pump installations; the contractor summit will include trainings that manufacturers or other programs may offer. She said many local contractors list mini-split (ductless) options online but that ducted heat-pump systems are less common locally.
Board members and staff discussed energy-savings figures discussed at a recent peer event: Norville reported that heat-pump HVAC systems can reduce energy costs “about 70 to 75% of what your typical HVAC system uses” and said heat-pump water heaters can recover installation costs in a short timeframe in some cases.
Norville asked board members to help promote the community session and to share contractor outreach materials; staff said they have flyers and Facebook posts ready and will distribute graphics for partners to share. The July 22 public session is scheduled for 6 p.m. at McCullough Library; the contractor summit is planned for Oct. 2 at 9 a.m. at the same library.
