Tag: nonprofit

‘1% for the Planet’ Partnership

Posted by on in Partnerships, renewable energyLeave a comment
Yard with green grass and a sign that says 'I ❤️ my heat pump' promoting Alaska Heat Smart.

Alaska Heat Smart (AHS) is excited to announce that we have joined 1% for the Planet as an ‘environmental partner’! This new partnership, initiated by Peter Nave, owner of Wild Coast Excursions, an AK Carbon Reduction Fund supporting business, is intended to advance AHS program impacts while providing additional businesses the opportunity to not only support the good work at AHS, but to further individual business sustainability goals.

The 1% website tells us that, “1% for the Planet is an accountability partner for businesses that are ready to reject business as usual and give back to environmental partners making a difference around the globe. Started in 2002 by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, founder of Blue Ribbon Flies, 1% members have given hundreds of millions of dollars to environmental partners to date.” 

Additionally, “The intent of 1% for the Planet is to help fund these diverse environmental organizations so that collectively they can be a more powerful source in solving the world’s problems,” writes co-founder Yvon Chouinard.

In these times of federal funding uncertainty, it is more critical than ever that AHS seeks to diversify funding. Joining 1% for the Planet and choosing AHS as your environmental partner will help us continue to carry out our mission to reduce Alaskans’ cost of living and increase the use of clean energy in Alaska households. We’d like to give a shout out to two ACRF supporting partners, Wild Coast Excursions and Hansen Gress! Both are ‘1% Business Members’ and will be supporting ACRF via this route!

Learn more by viewing the AHS 1% profile here. If you would like to get involved and support AHS through the 1% program, explore their FAQ here!

ACRF Success Story

Posted by on in Alaska Carbon Reduction Fund, heat pumps, Programs, renewable energyLeave a comment
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.

Alaska Heat Smart 1 of 9 National Grant Awardees!

Posted by on in ProgramsLeave a comment

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!