Category: Programs

ACRF Supporter Spotlight: Hansen Gress

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Modern waterfront building with blue and gray exterior, situated on stilts above the water, surrounded by trees and residential homes on a hillside.
Hansen Gress ‘Harbor Lights’ Office Building

The Alaska Carbon Reduction Fund (ACRF) is excited to continue our ‘Supporter Spotlight’ series by introducing you to Hansen Gress, a Juneau-based Managed IT Services firm that proves “Trust your tech” can also mean trusting in a cleaner future. While their business focuses on keeping local infrastructure running smoothly, their commitment to the environment is baked into the very foundation of the company.

Sustainability in the DNA

For Hansen Gress, environmental stewardship isn’t a recent trend; it’s part of their DNA. Over a decade ago, the company’s forward-thinking approach was featured as a case study in “The Green Gazelle,” a Leeds Beckett University doctoral research project. The study highlighted Hansen Gress as an example of a company that prioritizes measurable stewardship even while scaling its operations. Today, that philosophy continues to guide their culture. “Success isn’t just about what you accomplish, but the positive impact you create along the way,” is a core principle for the team.

Leading by Example: The Harbor Lights Building Remodel

Hansen Gress walks the talk when it comes to infrastructure. The company recently completed a massive, three-year full remodel of their 1960s-era building overlooking Harris Harbor. This wasn’t just a face-lift; it was a total energy transformation:

  • Decarbonization: They removed all petroleum-based heating systems.
  • Electrification: They installed high-efficiency air source heat pumps and modern infrared heating.
  • Efficiency: The team added modern windows, updated insulation, and installed LED lighting throughout the facility to slash energy demand.
Illustration of an air source heat pump system, featuring an outdoor unit, indoor unit, radiator, and components for hot water and underfloor heating within a stylized house.
Getty Images

Driving the Change

The company is also a leader in the transition to electric transportation. Hansen Gress maintains 3 EVs for staff use and their total fleet logs an impressive 120,000 EV miles annually. To help their team make the switch at home, they offer a $2,000 credit for personal EV purchases and provide free charging at the office.

Thinking Locally, Acting Locally

Hansen Gress has a long track record of carbon responsibility, having offset over 550mT in recent years. For 2025, they reached a major milestone by shifting their strategy to support local projects. By purchasing 98 tons of carbon reduction specifically through the Alaska Carbon Reduction Fund, Hansen Gress ensures their environmental investment stays right here in Southeast Alaska. This 98-ton offset covers the entirety of their carbon footprint—including building operations, company electric vehicle use, employee household offsets, and inventory shipping—rendering the company carbon negative for the year.

“Hansen Gress EV cars in Juneau run on clean hydro,” the company notes, highlighting the synergy between local energy and global responsibility.

A Legacy of Stewardship

The company’s impact is visible in other ways, too. Over the last 20 years, they have diverted an estimated 100,000 pounds of e-waste from the landfill. By managing the technology lifecycle and extending the use of hardware, they keep heavy metals and plastics out of our local environment. ACRF is incredibly grateful for Hansen Gress’s partnership. Their support is a direct catalyst for our primary goal: lowering heating costs and increasing the use of clean energy in Southeast Alaska’s lower-income homes.

A collage of various organizational logos including Allen Marine Tours, Kensington Mine, Carnival, Chichagof Conservation Council, and others, representing different companies and foundations.

High Heat Pump Price Tag? AHS Assistance is Here!

Posted by on in financing, heat pumps, Partnerships, Programs, renewable energy1 Comment
A man standing next to a daikin heat pump, giving a thumbs up and holding an Alaska Carbon Reduction Fund sign.

Do you live in southern coastal Alaska? Have you been dreaming of cutting your heating bills  with a heat pump? If so, keep reading to learn about two programs that can help you finance heat pump equipment and cover installation costs. 

In order to encourage residential heat pump adoption, Alaska Heat Smart (AHS) and Southeast Conference (SEC) are offering the Accelerating Clean Energy Savings (ACES) heat pump incentive program. ACES, a 5-year, $39M program, funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, is available to homeowners and renters in coastal communities from Metlakatla to Kodiak. ACES has a goal of installing 6,000 heat pumps, has no income cap, and offers reimbursement incentives of $4,000, $6,000, and $8,500 to qualifying fossil fuel or wood-heated homes. ACES has facilitated 64 heat pump installations to date with many more in progress! You can learn more about the ACES program here and find a list of eligible communities here.

In order to further support residential heat pump installation, AHS and SEC have partnered with True North Federal Credit Union (TNFCU) to offer low interest heat pump loans to homeowners and renters located within the ACES program region. Applicants can qualify for a loan up to $20,000 with interest rates as low as 4%. In a nutshell, the interest paid on this loan will likely be less than the heating bill savings realized by utilizing the loan for the purchase and installation of a heat pump. This unique loan program can help homeowners begin saving money as soon as their heat pump has been installed! 

One of the requirements for both the ACES program and the TNFCU heat pump loan is a ‘Home Energy Assessment’ from AHS. The AHS Home Energy Assessment Program offers in-person and virtual assessments to provide informative home energy consultations  for a deeper understanding of a home and its energy needs. After an assessment is complete, homeowners are provided with a detailed report that outlines options about which heat pump will work best, estimated installation costs, estimated annual savings, as well as answers to other energy questions. 

The combination of these two programs can help make the upfront costs of heat pump installations less daunting, allowing you to quickly see significant annual heating cost savings. Cut your energy costs and help us reach our goal of 6,000 heat pump installations in coastal Alaskan communities by applying to the ACES program today! 

Logos of Alaska Heat Smart, Southeast Conference, and True North Federal Credit Union displayed together.

This project has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under assistance agreement #84101201 to Southeast Conference (SEC). The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Environmental Protection Agency, nor does the EPA endorse trade names or recommend the use of commercial products mentioned in this document.

ACRF Success Story

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A side view of a trailer home with an air source heat pump installed, surrounded by a grassy area and trees in the background.

Who doesn’t love a success story? Read on for the good news! In short, this new happy heat pump owner may hold the new record for heat pump energy cost savings, seeing her heating bills drop by 85% with the addition of a heat pump and weatherization improvements!

The Alaska Carbon Reduction Fund (ACRF) is a program that installs single head air source heat pumps in the homes of lower income family that rely on fossil fuels or wood for heat. ACRF aims to lower heating bills and increase the use of clean heating systems in Southeast Alaska. To date, the program has facilitated the installation of 63 heat pumps in low income homes in Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Angoon, eliminating nearly 28,800 annual gallons of oil and helping lower home heating costs for these families.

Alaska Heat Smart (AHS) manages ACRF and recently performed a follow-up survey with 2023 ACRF heat pump recipient Wanda Culp. Wanda’s trailer home had an oil furnace as its primary heating system when she moved in. With the opportunity to participate in ACRF, Wanda was excited to transition from an oil furnace to a heat pump. Before moving to Juneau, Wanda lived in Hoonah, where energy costs are quite high – wood was her primary heat source. Today, Wanda is very thankful to have the heat pump in her Juneau home. She no longer has to deal with the physical burdens of heating with wood and she happily shared that the heat pump has exceeded her expectations. 

“The heat pump is just a pleasure,” Wanda recently told AHS staff. 

In 2024, Wanda took further steps to increase her home’s energy efficiency and had her home winterized. Impactful changes included a new insulated roof and new exterior skirting and siding repair. The heat pump, coupled with weatherization efforts, work together to make dramatic cost savings possible.

Before the installation of the heat pump, Wanda was spending $2,600 on home heating each year and burning roughly 530 gallons of oil. She now heats solely with the heat pump and no longer uses the furnace, slashing her annual heating bills down to $386 — an 85% decrease in her heating costs! 

“Wanda’s home is a fantastic example of the difference that home energy efficiency efforts can make in a person’s life,” said Alaska Heat Smart’s Bob Deering.

As ACRF continues to install heat pumps in low income households, we hope to see many more positive stories like Wanda’s! 

Your Support Needed

With federal funding uncertainty still the ‘new norm’, privately-funded programs like ACRF are critical in serving families in need in Southeast Alaska. Support for ACRF is more important now than ever! Upfront costs for a homeowner to take advantage of locally-produced and often inexpensive hydropower can be prohibitive. Homeowner support from projects like ACRF is often the only way that families with the highest energy burdens can reduce their costs. ACRF needs your support and there are many ways to offer it! Subscribe and take responsibility for your carbon! Tell your neighbors so they can give or subscribe. Know a family struggling to pay their heating oil bills? Send them to our application page. Know a business owner who currently carbon offsets ‘outside’ and could be keeping their responsible dollars working in southeast Alaska? Point them to our supporting partners page! Below are the logos of our invaluable business partners!

Logos of various organizations supporting the Alaska Carbon Reduction Fund, promoting clean heating and energy efficiency in Southeast Alaska.

The Heat Pump Guide!

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Here at Alaska Heat Smart, we’re well aware of homeowners’ need for good sound information. Heat pumps are different from the heating systems of the past. And every home is different than the next. From levels of insulation, open or closed floor plans, ability of air movement, and the existence of one, two, or maybe three legacy heating systems – no two homes are alike. Each home presents it own interesting heat pump puzzle. Figuring out how a heat pump will successfully join your home’s heating mix can require a bit of research, analysis, and learning.

Along with the diversity of home types is a diversity of personal learning styles. Some of you will be quick to reach out to Alaska Heat Smart for guidance. (Of course, we highly recommend such a step!) Others may hope to build a bit of foundation before consulting our energy advisors, diving into the wealth of websites, literature, and media available on the latest and greatest heat pump solutions.

The Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership (NEEP) Air Source Heat Pump Buying Guide (V5) is a fantastic resource, whether you scan it before a home energy assessment or after. We’ve added this guide to our resource library, found on our resources page. If you’re the type to cozy up with a hot toddy and an engaging and compelling read, this NEEP guide may be the ticket for you! It’s loaded with not only the heat pump basics, but step by step instructions for how to proceed with your decision making.

If we were to rewrite this guide, we’d change up the ‘How to Proceed’ steps that begin on page 13. To step one we’d add that homeowners should apply for an Alaska Heat Smart home energy assessment. This process takes care of a few of the NEEP steps and addresses some of the unit sizing concerns indicated in Step 4. Despite this flaw in the guide, and considering the likely fact that when written, NEEP was unaware of AK Heat Smart, the guide is a valuable and very handy resource!

Speaking of resources, be sure to check out our financial assistance programs page to learn more about the many ways that Alaska Heat Smart can financially assist with your heat pump purchase and installation.

‘A Cold Alaska City Has Become a Heat Pump Hub’

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The ‘electrify everything’ movement is taking off in Juneau, Alaska

Story by EarthJustice Public Affairs and Communications Strategist Elizabeth Manning. Photos by Juneau’s Michael Penn.

Need guidance in making the home heating switch to a money-saving heat pump? We can help! Sign up for a home energy assessment today!

Think you may need a bit of financial help in making the switch? We can help with that too! Assistance options exist for all income levels!

Alaska Heat Smart 1 of 9 National Grant Awardees!

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Alaska Heat Smart and partners to lower energy costs for nonprofits across Alaska!

On October 25, Alaska Heat Smart was announced as a ‘Prime Selectee’ for the Renew America’s Nonprofits grant, a funding opportunity from the Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). We and eight other Prime Selectees from across the country will share $45 million in awards to help other nonprofits implement high-impact energy improvements in their buildings, creating cleaner and healthier community spaces, and generating energy savings that can be redirected to mission-critical work.

This $3.9M grant will allow Alaska Heat Smart and partners from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory – Alaska Campus (NREL), and Information Insights (II), to develop a statewide program to improve energy efficiency and reduce annual operating costs of up to twenty-five nonprofit Alaska buildings that serve lower to middle income and disadvantaged populations in the health and housing sectors.

Read our press release about this exciting opportunity!

100 Women Who Care to Fund New Alaska Heat Smart ‘HELP’ Program!

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AHS is proud to announce that the Juneau 100 Women Who Care has chosen Alaska Heat Smart during its second philanthropic offering of 2023! The many caring women involved have raised more than $30,000 for Alaska Heat Smart and the foundation of a new, quick and nimble, Heating Emergency Lower-Income Program, or HELP. 

Since its first Juneau ‘giving event’ in early 2020, the Juneau 100 Women Who Care organization has raised nearly $400,000 for local nonprofit causes. The group has grown from roughly 100 women to nearly 350 members so each quarter’s offering to the chosen nonprofit can be quite substantial. Previous recipients of the generosity of Juneau’s 100 Women Who Care include the United Human Services of Alaska, Juneau Animal Rescue, The Glory Hall, and Renewable Juneau’s Carbon Offset Fund. 

Alaska Heat Smart board members and two friendly dogs join leaders from Juneau’s 100 Women Who Care to celebrate!

Current heating assistance programs offered by AHS are federally-funded and subject to income verification, home surveys, environmental reviews, historic preservation office constraints, and more. In short, while the end result of these programs is warm, dry, efficient, and economical homes, months can pass from the time of a homeowner’s application to the completion of work.

If a family’s heating system is failing or fails, especially during winter months, there is little time to act. Both the family’s health and that of the home are potentially at risk. Our HELP program will move the family in need to the top of the AHS project lists. Staff will work with the family to verify that gross household income is below 80% median area income. Pre-established arrangements with local contractors will allow for quick deployment of services. AHS and contractor staff will assess the home’s needs, form a work plan, order equipment if needed, and proceed with heating system improvements. If necessary, interim measures will be taken to provide temporary heat while parts are acquired and work performed. 

Please help us spread the word to Juneau families who may be able to benefit from this new assistance program. Winter has just ended, but we all know that the next cold and snowy season is not all that far off. Awareness of this new and valuable program will help to ensure its success.

More information will be available soon! For questions, contact AK Heat Smart at 907-500-5050.

Community Energy Efficiency Campaign Guidebook LIVE!

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Months in the works, the Thermalize Juneau ‘how-to’ guidebook, “Thermalize Your Rural Community: How to Bring Clean Energy & Energy Efficiency to Your Community’s Doorstep” is now live. This tremendous body of work, made possible by the superhuman efforts of Alaska’s Information Insights, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Alaska Heat Smart, is THE blueprint to instruct any community on building a community-based energy efficiency campaign.

The Thermalize Juneau StoryMap guidebook has been designed to be interactive, engaging, informative, and fun! It is built to provide assistance to community leaders in small, rural locations to promote beneficial electrification through wide-scale adoption of energy-efficient technologies for homes and businesses. The guidebook details all stages of a thermalize campaign for rural cold-climate communities, from early planning to program evaluation. The tools, forms, and lessons that came out of the Thermalize Juneau 2021 campaign are linked for easy download throughout the StoryMap. A full list of resources, which includes outreach materials, heat pump specs, requests for proposals, surveys, reports, and more can be found in the Resources section.

This guide offers many best practices and recommendations from our own experience in setting up a campaign of this kind in a rural, isolated community. There is no single way to start on the path to beneficial electrification or to organize and implement a thermalize campaign. Our guidebook seeks to connect residents, leaders, organizers, and energy enthusiasts with Thermalize Juneau’s campaign resources and experiences so that they may design an approach that aligns with their opportunities and nee

Get started today with Thermalize Your Rural Community. We’d love to hear from you! Send is your thoughts, questions, takeaways, impressions. You’ll find other Thermalize Juneau resources on our Thermalize page.

ADVICE: How to Buy a Heat Pump for your Home

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…thanks to an unprecedented flood of rebates and incentives from local, state and federal governments, they’ve never been this affordable…

How to buy a heat pump for your home – The Washington Post

This clear and concise article from the Washington Post (you should be able to view three articles for free without a subscription) lays out a logical process for planning a home heating switch to a heat pump.

  1. Assess your home’s present heating system condition and plan ahead for replacement
  2. Explore your home’s state of efficiency, looking at insulation, air sealing, as well as electrical capacity
  3. Look into potential system costs, paying attention to numerous available incentives, credits, traditional financing options
  4. Find a contractor and how to choose one

While this list may be easy for some to explore and achieve, many of us just aren’t all that comfortable looking at our home’s in these ways. Luckily, Alaska Heat Smart offers free advisory services to help you answer these questions and gain a better understanding of the interplay of your home and its heating systems. Every home is unique and there is no true one size fits all solution. While we at Heat Smart have learned that nearly every home can benefit from the addition of a heat pump, the specifics are important and ‘getting it right’ cannot be understated. Apply for a free home heat pump assessment to start your path to savings and carbon-free heating! And, check out our assistance programs that can help slash the cost of your switch to a heat pump!

But wait, there’s more!

Alaska Heat Smart has ‘made the news’ recently in three related stories about heat pumps and their ability to function in cold climates. You’ll be happy to know that yes, heat pumps really do move an abundance of heat when temps drop! Yesterday it was 12 degrees on my deck and my home was a toasty 70 degrees. And, I spent $3.40 yesterday to heat 1450 square feet over two stories.

https://www.wired.com/story/heat-pumps-alaska-oil-energy-prices/

https://cleantechnica.com/2023/02/21/heat-pump-mania-is-sweeping-the-world/

Do heat pumps work in cold places? Here’s what you need to know.

Alaska Heat Smart in Sitka!

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Alaska Heat Smart (AHS) dips it toes into the waters of Sitka! We’ll soon conduct our first out-of-town heat pump assessment, lay some groundwork for a developing heat pump incentive pilot program, and begin building what we hope is a Sitka home heat pump advisory service.

The Sitka Carbon Offset Fund (SCOF), a project of the Sitka Conservation Society, recently asked AHS to perform a heat pump assessment of the landmark ANB Hall. This will be the first ‘on the ground’ assessment foray for AHS outside of Juneau and we hope that it will be the first of many! While in Sitka, Alaska Heat Smart energy advisor Bob Deering will meet with representatives of the hall, visit with Baranof Island Housing Authority staff, and if time permits, perform one or two additional ‘walk through’ heat pump assessments of homes brought to AHS by our on-the-ground coordinator, SCOF project director, and Southeast Sustainable Partnership catalyst Chandler O’Connell.

The ANB Hall, which opened 108 years ago, is a national historic landmark and according to the National Park Service, the

Alaska Native Brotherhood, Sitka Camp No. 1, is the original chapter of a pan-Alaska Native federation of local camps in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. The Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded in 1912, developing out of the efforts of Tlingit communities fighting bans against Alaska Natives in restaurants and movie theaters. For the first half of the 20th century the Alaska Native Brotherhood was the only such group representing Alaska Natives.

The Alaska Native Brotherhood & Sisterhood was instrumental in fighting racial segregation practices in Alaska and in gaining full U.S. citizenship for Alaska Natives. Today, the Alaska Native Brotherhood & Sisterhood camps are an important force in preserving native heritage.

The Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall in Sitka serves the community as a camp headquarters and is open to the public for social events and community activities.

Alaska Native Brotherhood Sitka Camp No.1 | Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress

The old historic structure is relies heavily on oil for heat and propane for hot water. ANB hall managers hope that the building’s dependence on fossil fuels can be supplanted by heat pumps that draw heat from the surrounding air and power from the waters of Blue Lake. Much more information about the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood is available on their website.

AHS is also excited to announce that discussions are underway with a diverse group of Sitka stakeholders to craft a pilot heat pump incentive program. If successful, roughly 21 lower to modest income Sitka homes could be awarded between $1,500 and $3,000 to assist in the addition of a heat pump to their home. Full details will be forthcoming over the next month or so. Teaming up an incentive of this size with the new ‘up to’ $2,000 Inflation Reduction Act tax credit for heat pump installs puts these projects into no-brainer territory.

Hand in hand with a heat pump incentive program is our foundational heat pump assessment program. In order for an incentive program to be successful AHS relies on a solid home heat pump assessment program. It is vital to ensure that a home not only qualify for a heat pump incentive based on overall income, but also on home readiness. Most homes will see great benefit from the addition of a heat pump – reduced heating costs, reduced emissions, reduced health and environmental risk. In some cases, a home may need other energy efficiency work performed first. Air sealing, insulation, electrical panel upgrades are realities that need to be considered when adding to a home’s energy and heating mix. If a home can be deemed heat pump ready, the benefits of the investment will be a sure bet, resulting in happy homeowners, savings, and slashed emissions. AHS hopes to be able to train an interested SItkan or two to become our newest home heat pump advisors.

There is more to come as AHS works with Sitkans to develop these new programs. Don’t hesitate to let us know your thoughts. You can share them at andy@akheatsmart.org or by phone at (907) 500-5050.