Introduction & Summary

Before millions of homes upgrade to a new heat pump – especially homes in low income and disadvantaged communities – multiple home health issues will need to be addressed first. For example, it would be best practice to make sure a home is properly insulated and air sealed so that their new heat pump can work most efficiently, yet if there's mold in the attic and a roof leak causing the mold, those two things need to be taken care of before the insulating and air sealing can be done, and before the insulation is upgraded.

On Episode 2 of the Heat Pump Review Podcast , we talk to Ryan Trauley of Civic Works ' Energy Programs and Center for Sustainable Careers. Civic Works is a 30 year old, Baltimore-based non-profit on the front lines of the energy transition. They work with low income homes, helping them improve their home's safety and efficiency, and helping them upgrade appliances and access grant and incentive funds to do so. They also have an important career training initiative to help people transition into solar, roofing, and other jobs critical for the energy transition.

My big takeaways from my conversation with Ryan are that: 1) We can't talk about the mass-adoption of heat pumps if we don't also understand the present state of and challenges within many homes we want to put heat pumps into, and provide the funding required to do these pre-requisite projects; 2) That historically, organizations like Civic Works have to do a lot of “braiding” of funding (pulling together funds from multiple sources in order to successfully help a given client), demonstrating a major opportunity for governments, utilities, contractors, and non-profits to streamline this process for citizens and groups like Civic Works; and 3) While there is a lot of excitement around the Inflation Reduction Act, and while tax rebate-based incentives have already rolled out, the most impactful funds have not yet even reached the people who need them most. When those IRA funds are ready to be deployed – via the HOMES program, HEAR program, or Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund – the first two issues will need to be addressed, making sure that there are funds available to repair and otherwise prepare peoples' homes to become electrified with heat pumps and that it becomes easier for organizations like Civic Works to “braid” the funds and get them delivered to the people who need them most.

Key Links in the Episode

• Civic Works
  • Center for Sustainable Careers
  • Energy Programs
• EmPower Maryland (utility rebate program)
• Green & Healthy Homes Report
• Inflation Reduction Act
  • HOMES & HEAR
  • Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund

Episode Transcript

(this transcript was automatically generated and will contain errors)  

[00:00:00]

[00:00:05] Nate: Hello and welcome to the Heat Pump Review podcast. I'm your host, Nate Westheimer. Heat Pump Review is a resource for all things heat pumps. Our goal is to discuss heat pumps in a way that is accessible to people who are curious about the technology and how the technology can be best developed and deployed as the world transitions from inefficiently burning fossil fuels to efficiently heating and cooling our homes, our businesses, heating our water, cooling our foods, and even, you Greening our industrial processes with an ever improving energy grid.

[00:00:36] Today on the program, we have Ryan Trauley of Civic Works. Civic Works is a Baltimore nonprofit dedicated to strengthening communities and promoting equity through education, skills development, and community service. Ryan's on the podcast today because he leads a program for Civic Works called Civic Works Energy Programs.

[00:00:56] Civic Works energy programs works on creating healthier, safer and more efficient homes in Baltimore City and Central Maryland through a suite of weatherization, solar and decarbonization services. On a side note, when I got my energy audit done of my own home, I went through their market rate program and had an excellent experience.

[00:01:18] We wanted to talk to Ryan about Civic Works energy programs because of Heat Pump Review's ongoing interest in how heat pumps fit into the larger picture of the energy transition and how the Inflation Reduction Act will be deployed over time in the communities that need efficient and reliable heating and cooling the most.

[00:01:35] As we learned from Ryan, we know we can focus all we want on having great heat pumps and other electrification appliances out there, but with our community's most overburdened members. We need to look at the broader picture, including making sure we have a workforce, making sure we have been looking at the entire home, not just its appliances.

[00:01:53] So without further ado, Ryan, welcome to heat pump review podcast.

[00:01:59] Ryan: Hey, Nate. Happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

[00:02:02] Nate: Yeah, well, I've been looking forward to this conversation. As I mentioned in the intro, Civic Works is an organization because I do live here in Maryland that I've been aware of was at an event last year. You all had a table really friendly people there, that , finally got me to sign up for an energy audit.

[00:02:21] I thought I, I knew a lot about my home and what I needed to do, but it was an awesome experience. And it was also good that they explained to me, it was good for them to get market rate customers in the front door. so you might talk about that a little bit later. But first, why don't you tell the audience: what is Civic Works? What's the mission and and just the breadth of work that you all do?

[00:02:45] Ryan: Yeah, absolutely. So Civic Works, as you mentioned, we're a nonprofit. We've been serving Baltimore and the surrounding communities for over 30 years. So partially because we've been around for so long, there are a number of different programs, within Civic Works.

[00:03:00] For our conversation today you know, I'll focus on a few areas of what we do, but broadly speaking, our mission is to strengthen communities and promote equity for people of all ages through education, skills development, and community service. So I am a business development specialist. I work, on our energy programs team, though I also do work pretty cross programmatically within our Center for Sustainable Careers as well. And so what energy programs does is we, you know, try and make it easy and affordable for low income residents or moderate income. I mean, really, like, you know, like you said, you are a market rate client, so we do Work with market rate clients as well. But historically the bulk of our work is with lower moderate income residents. And we work with them to make their homes healthier and safer and to reduce our climate impact through a suite of home decarbonization services. So that can include energy efficiency work you know, basic quick install appointments, full weatherization as well as electrification offerings and also rooftop solar. The other piece of our mission that's probably, you know, part of our organization that I want to mention is our Center for Sustainable Careers. So the mission of that part of the organization is to expand access to families sustaining careers. primarily in the green energy sector for Baltimore residents facing systemic inequity.

[00:04:31] So we support Baltimore residents in building the skills needed to secure quality employment and work with employers around investing in their workers and advancing equity across their practices. And these two parts of the org work pretty holistically together, energy programs and our center for sustainable careers.

[00:04:51] Nate: That's that's great. And it feeds into some of the broader themes that we're uncovering as we're thinking about this energy transition that there's engagement that needs to happen where we are deploying the new technologies where we're deploying heat pumps and other Other appliances that are electrified.

[00:05:09] But then there's a shortfall in the workforce as well. And there's an equity component. So it's easy to see how those two things are are closely connected. Again, one of the things that I want to reason why I wanted to talk to you all. And at this inflection point where the Inflation Reduction Act is just starting to roll out.

[00:05:32] And more support is coming in is that you all are not new to this Civic Works has been been around for 30 plus years. As I, as I understand it help me understand as best that, you know, I know you haven't been there that whole time. But how the organization has, has shifted maybe in terms of that portfolio you discussed today and the focus on.

[00:05:56] In the energy program, specifically on jobs and on these retrofits versus maybe 30 years ago or 20 or 10 years ago. What's that evolution look like?

[00:06:08] Ryan: Yeah certainly. So on the energy program side, historically the bulk of our work has been this energy efficiency and weatherization work in a home. So that, you know, kind of walk through what that pathway might look like for a client. Your first appointment might be a quick install appointment where a Civic Works team member comes to your home install some energy efficient bulbs, shower heads, faucets, all of that, provide some, you know, basic energy education. That's often, you know, step one. From there Will typically proceed to a full energy audit. And we have energy auditors on staff. We also work with a network of subcontractors. But they're going to, you know, do a building envelope analysis. They'll do the blower door test, appliance evaluation, all of that. And then we want to proceed with that weatherization work. So insulation, sealing leaks, all of that. And so historically, that's been a ton of what we I think, and you know, we'll continue to obviously be a big part of what we do because it's a crucial part of thinking about some of these other some of these other you know, things you want to do in the home, whether that be electrification or rooftop solar.

[00:07:28] But I think we see electrification. It may be instead of thinking in terms of weatherization, we're thinking a little bit more in terms of like whole home decarbonization. And so weatherization is a part of that. But you know, we obviously want to assess for electrification and solar services in a home as well and see you know, what we can braid funding wise depending on. You know, the homeowners specific circumstances to do that full decarbonization work in the home. So ideally, that's going to include that weatherization work, but also addressing any foundational health and safety issues in the home that would prevent somebody from proceeding with any of this work. So molds and moisture infiltration roofing leaks or issues. These are all foundational health and safety

[00:08:23] elements that we want to address as kind of a prerequisite to doing additional work. So we want to do that, we want to do the weatherization, and then if possible we want to do electrification, you know, removal of gas systems and appliances in the home and replacement with electric alternatives. And not everyone, you know, is a good candidate for rooftop solar, but if, if someone is, we want to see if we can do that as well for them.

Environmental Justice & Why Civic Works Exists

[00:08:50] Nate: Great. So like I said, I think it's important to learn from Civic Works and I imagine every almost every major city I would hope has a has an organization like like Civic Works in it. And maybe you can speak to the importance of why communities need why this community needs your organization to exist.

[00:09:11] Of course, there are state programs you know, working with utility programs to get everybody an energy audit, or that's what they are claiming on the, on the label to do with here in Maryland it's EmPower, but virtually every state has one of these. Talk to an HVAC person they might refer you to their Favorite energy auditor. So for some people, it might not be obvious why Civic Works exists. Why the market doesn't just take care of this and just the importance of servicing the moderate to low income community with, with the services that your organization provides.

[00:09:53] Ryan: So, I'd start, I'll start with sort of the, the mission and the why, you know, I mean, one piece of this is obviously thinking about environmental justice. So we know that low or moderate income communities and also communities of color face higher exposure to environmental hazards poor air quality, unhealthy housing. And so, and Civic Works, we're, we're present in the community we serve. Our office is in the Bel Air Edison neighborhood of Baltimore. So we really do have that focus on serving our community and being present and based in our community. Environmental justice is a big piece of that. You can also talk about just energy cost lower moderate income households spend a higher percentage of their income on their energy bills Maryland and Baltimore have considerably higher energy bills, costs for consumers than the national average.

[00:10:50] And then, you know, it all comes back to really thinking about we want to make sure that These communities, lower, lower moderate income communities and also communities of color, are not left behind in this clean energy transformation. We want to make sure they're prioritized and we don't want those communities to be the ones that end up you know, continuing To, you know, shoulder the burdens and costs, whether they're health costs or financial costs of maintaining an outdated energy infrastructure.

[00:11:27] We want them you know, to be prioritized in the transition.

[00:11:31] And so I guess from there, I would just mention, so that's kind of the why. To some extent, and then you're sort of talking about, it's like, where do. Where do we fit it? Why does the market, you know, not occupy the space

[00:11:47] Nate: exactly.

[00:11:49] Ryan: Yeah a couple, a couple things, right?

[00:11:51] So a lot of people may not know about programming that's available to them and that they qualify for. People are busy. They have lots of other things going on, especially these lower moderate income communities, you know, people are working. They're busy. So we think we bring a couple of things to the table as an organization that are of value. One is an emphasis on community based outreach. So we, you know, we're a community based organization. So we see this grassroots outreach as, you know, A massive part of what we do. We want to operate as trusted messengers in the communities. We serve. We have a team of outreach coordinators that educate residents about our programming and at community events and other, you know, community channels. We also utilize peer to peer social marketing. We have neighborhood ambassadors, volunteers who work with us. And we also get just a lot of word of mouth referrals. People in Baltimore know about CivicWorks. And so they, you know, if they hopefully have a positive experience with us, they tell their family, friends and, you know, we get those word of mouth referrals.

[00:13:08] That's a huge part of it. The other thing I would just mention is, Navigating, if you're taking on any of these projects, especially looking towards the future, as we think about electrification you know, a heat pump project or a whole home, you know, a multi phase sort of home decarbonization project. These are complex projects. And not only in terms of the implementation, but also in terms of if you are. You know, if you're trying to leverage some of these different funding opportunities that are online currently or will be coming online in the relatively near future navigating what you qualify for, what you can access, how you can access it, all of that is complicated. So we try and operate as a one stop shop for research resource navigation for clients. So once a client has, you know, spoken to a community outreach coordinator. And expressed interest in our programming, we're going to pair them with an energy advisor. That energy advisor is then going to, you know, speak with that client and see what they qualify for and identify, you know, where we can braid funding. To manage these projects, and then they're going to remain available to that client through this multi step process of proceeding with a project and, you know, providing support, technical assistance to that client as they proceed. And I guess the one other piece of this is just that, you know, we have a network of contractors and we have contractor vetting standards. So. We can operate in that way. We're vetting the contractors, connecting you with a reputable contractor that has expertise in the relevant field of work and is going to, you know, execute the work effectively.

[00:14:58] Nate: Yeah, there's so much there I want to dive into. But just on the idea of the energy advisor and looking at the full picture, it sounds like an important gap that is out there that you all are feeling is the fact that, you know, perhaps the person that you're working with on HVAC in the market might have a good view of what the incentives are there.

[00:15:22] And what the long term plan for your home should be there, even even they might dabble in and thinking about insulation and air sealing so they can properly size the equipment, but they might not have a perspective on what's going to happen with your water heater. They might not have a perspective what's going to happen with your cook cooktop stove with your dryer.

[00:15:41] And so when somebody engages with Civic Works and an energy advisor, it sounds like you can take a holistic and a long term view with the client so that each piece is making sense and working towards a longer term goal of a more efficient and healthier home. Is that right?

[00:16:02] Ryan: Exactly. Yeah. A holistic view of how to proceed with these multi step projects. And getting the order of operations right.

[00:16:12] Nate: Right, because what one vendor might be hot to trot to get a. To get a job done. And, and they might not even know or best case, you know, they might not care. Worst case scenario that, that perhaps there was a better order of operations to go in. It

[00:16:31] Ryan: might be coming from, you know, a very reputable contractor. The incentives are just not the same, or not exactly aligned. They may take a lot of pride in doing good work, but they also, you know, want to you know, go ahead and, Do that work and get paid, you know, they're we're our incentive.

[00:16:53] What we're prioritizing is the client and making sure that you know, all their questions are answered and that we're thinking holistically about that client in their home which is, you know, just a different incentive structure than

[00:17:05] Nate: also takes, it also takes time and you all have the resources to take that time. So I think it's, it's, it's it would be a lot to put on any given contractor, you know, the full end to end education. Even if they were to say, Hey, you know, maybe slow down on this and do that first. Having somebody understand that fully and, and see that bigger picture would take, takes time.

[00:17:28] And so it sound sounds like Civic Works also has that time, has the privilege of, of being able to, to, to do it at the pace that the client needs. It it to be done at.

A Home's "Pre-existing Conditions"

[00:17:38] Nate: You mentioned earlier some of the issues you find in, in these homes before. work that we traditionally think of as electrification or weatherization happens.

[00:17:53] You mentioned mold earlier. Can you talk a little bit more about this in terms of what you're seeing in people's homes and how that is impacting the rollout of these efficiency and electrification initiatives?

[00:18:13] Ryan: Yeah, absolutely. So lots of different, you know, issues that we encounter. Regularly in low or moderate income homes. Mentioned a few of these, obviously Mold is, is one of these. Other, you know, health and safety issues in the home asbestos tile, or asbestos tile that has been improperly removed and, you know, is, or, you know, cracked asbestos tile, things like that. Roofing issues are huge. A new roof is one of the biggest expenses you can have in your home. So we see a lot of deferred maintenance there. Involving roofing and other, you know, things in the home. People simply don't have the funds available to make some of these repairs. So roofing issues, roofing leaks then there's electrical.

[00:19:06] So we see a lot of knob and tube wiring, which is, you know, a significant project to remove that and update the wiring. And that's absolutely necessary if you're looking at. You know, doing any sort of electrification measures in the home. So now I've been tube wiring or just outdated wiring more generally. We've seen, you know, older. Electrical panels that, you know, have recalls on them that need to be replaced if you're going to do any electrification work. There's also the, you know, beyond any sort of specific. Recall on a panel or something like that. You have just questions of panel space and capacity. And a lot of older Baltimore City row homes. These, if we're talking about, it's really going to be specific to the home, but depending on the vision for electrification in that home, full electrification is probably going to require a panel upgrade, which Is an expensive multi step project. That requires coordination with the utility as well.

[00:20:17] So that takes time. All of these are things that have to be addressed as a prerequisite to doing electrification. Or solar. I mean, and with solar, I mentioned roofing. Obviously you can't install a rooftop solar system. On a roof, if there are you know, issues with the integrity of that roof, some roofs can get by with, you know, some repairs or a new coating that, you know, may make it viable for solar but other roofs need full tear offs and replacements.

[00:20:50] Nate: Yeah. Another Maryland great organization, Green and Healthy Homes reported that 30 percent of inbound customers to the to the empower program, which is the Maryland utility based program. Had to defer projects based on all of these things that you've just listed. Does that does that measure up to about what what Civic Works sees out there?

[00:21:16] Do you think that that could be underreported or overreported in any way?

[00:21:23] Ryan: Yeah, I mean, that's that seems certainly accurate to our experience of as an organization. unfortunately there are significant amount of deferrals. Sometimes the funds just cannot be leveraged or braided in a way to, the funding is not always there for some of these repairs and some of these are quite expensive projects, and sometimes they're just, you know larger in cost than what's available so yeah deferrals are a part of it, and as an organization, we are trying to get to a place where we have flexible funding mechanisms in place where we can ensure that we're doing that foundational health and safety work and you know, avoiding deferrals when possible and supporting these clients who really are often the clients who are most in need of, of this help of these programs.

[00:22:14] Nate: And please add to this if, if you think there's a fuller picture, but I think just to punctuate it for the listener in terms of back to this equity point, all of these issues that build up in a home also start with the fact that for generations, housing stock was, you know, on racial lines really redlined.

[00:22:36] And then therefore, people have were legally put into homes that had a greater burden. And so when we roll out government programs that should be accessible for all in terms of this electrification, we can't ignore the fact that people are in homes that they were forced to live in. That have more work to be done on them.

[00:23:00] They were purchased with more likely to have leaks, more likely to have leaks that led to mold, more likely to have knob and tube. And so it makes all these incentives harder to utilize, as, Ryan, you just called out, because in order to even utilize the incentives, your house needs to be brought down.

[00:23:19] up to date in a way that is going to just be more expensive for people of color and more expensive for people who are poor because of how housing stock perpetuates these inequities.

[00:23:34] Ryan: Yeah, absolutely. You know, Baltimore has a you know, they, they, what they describe as. The black butterfly in terms of the map of the city when you look at it and can kind of see you know, where poverty in the city is and where and all of that. Yes, it's all a history of, you know, our history of our racial history and our history of redlining. And yeah, so that social justice piece of, of this, that equity piece of it yeah, these, these communities have to be we have to ensure we're not leaving them behind. And not only that, we have to ensure that we're, you know, prioritizing these communities.

"Braiding" Financing Together

[00:24:08] Nate: Well, let's get into the utilization of incentives both in terms of historical ones and the ones that are coming online and that Civic Works and organizations, you know, come back to Civic Works, and it's great to tell the story of the organization, but I think everyone's assumption should be that that every city has a organization like Civic Works and every every city has an organization like Civic Works that is evolving as the landscape of incentives and especially the Inflation Reduction Act.

[00:24:40] It comes online and so you're all's experience might be reflective of many other experiences and how this is going to roll out in many other cities. So why don't you just give a quick picture in terms of before the Inflation Reduction Act what were the sources of funding both for your clients and for the organization itself in order to help do this work and to help fund.

[00:25:08] some of the efficiency and electrification work that you were doing. Let's start there before we move on to IRA itself.

[00:25:19] Ryan: Yeah, absolutely. So historically, we've leveraged funding from a variety of sources. So Maryland Energy Administration, their Energy Efficiency Equity Grant Program their Solar Energy Equity Program we also utilize Utility Empower funding and Solar Renewable Energy Certificates we have local foundation support as well we do have some funding from the American Rescue Plan, ARPA and some community development block grants as well. So we're, we're leveraging funding from a variety of sources and, you know, have been doing that for you know, our, our history and kind of braiding it and, you know, shaping programs to some extent based on kind of what what the funding picture looks like.

[00:26:06] Nate: I love that term braiding. Maybe it's just a term that is used throughout the work that you all do, or maybe it's a Civic Works. Concept, but it makes immediate sense as you, as you, as you say it, tell me, tell me then just to go back to one of these concrete examples. Before I get a heat pump, I need to do insulation.

[00:26:29] Before I do insulation, I need to fix my roof and get rid of the mold. Was, has there been money available historically to help a client fix their roof and get rid of their mold prior to, you know, more of the doing, let's say the installation work

[00:26:46] Ryan: sometimes there is and sometimes it's not viable. So there's, yeah, there's the funding, you know, we have these, these state programs. We have the State Empower you know, utility program that's funding for these, this energy efficiency and weatherization work for LMI households. And so there is, you know, funding for that.

[00:27:10] And then a lot of times it's just going to depend on. What funding is available at any specific time to braid along with that weatherization funding, and what limitations there are on that money, and also the amount of that money. You may have funding that allows for 5, 000 worth of additional work, or 5, 000 worth of roofing repairs, but maybe a roofing project. You know, a roof replace, maybe requires a roof replacement, and that's, you know, 10, 000 or more. So yeah, these are, these are the challenges of, of these projects.

[00:27:49] Nate: and it sounds like you're, you're, you're braiding, not just on a program level, but sometimes that. That the individual house level and just, that's where the energy advisors are coming into play, or maybe that's somebody, somebody else on the, on the team. But, but it's not just, Oh, you need to look at the universe of incentives, put a program together and then go execute.

[00:28:12] You, you, you have to look at each client uniquely.

[00:28:17] Ryan: That's correct. Yeah, and that's a big part of what the energy advisors are doing. We have, you know They're having conversations with these clients, getting information from these clients on their, you know, income you know, number of members of their household all of these other relevant factors that determine what funds they might qualify for. So yes, at, at the individual level we are working with these clients to determine you know, our, our goal for lower moderate income clients. We're, we are doing this work. At no cost to them. So what can we, you know, what can we do within that scope?

Workforce Training

[00:28:53] Nate: Tell me about the workforce training Programs that you've done and and how that ties back to providing services at low or no cost to your clients. Have you been able to, for instance, braid in funding to develop the workforce and then use their training or their work in a way that then reduces costs for the deployment of these services?

[00:29:25] Technologies are these fixes for for homes. I'm curious about the interplay there.

[00:29:32] Ryan: Yeah, I can definitely talk about that that model a little more. So as I said earlier, we definitely see energy programs in our Center for Sustainable Careers as an integrated approach to how we do this work. So on the energy program side, we're doing this weatherization and home improvement work. And we're subcontracting that work out often to contractor partners. On the training side, we have we have training tracks training pathways in a variety of green energy trades. So we have a solar installer pathway. We also have historically done a weatherization and energy efficiency. Training. We recently launched a roofing job training track, which I can talk a little bit more about how that relates to your question. So that creates a dynamic where we have these contractor relationships and we are, you know, subcontracting work to them, building trust over time. And then also often partnering with them around job placement for graduates from our programming. And as we build those relationships with contractors and employers, we can also, you know, talk to them more about best practices around job quality and equity. So that's kind of the, you know, overall model. And so that gives us Yes, it does connect back to what we're doing on the energy efficiency side. So we do have capacity in house to do some on the job training to offer on the job training opportunities with our energy program staff. Roofing is a big piece of this in terms of our vision for the future. So we launched this roofing job training track. It is our ambition to launch on within energy programs and in house roofing social enterprise. So that would give us capacity in house to do some of this roofing work. That we're talking about some of these basic roofing repairs or coatings and to do like full roofing evaluations and assessments in house. So that would be hugely beneficial to us. And it also, To connect it back to training would give us capacity in house to provide on the job training or full employment opportunities for graduates from our roofing training program. And we like, you know, some of our training programs are a direct placement model.

[00:31:58] So a graduate comes out of the program, goes directly to an employer partner. Some of them have an on the job training component externally with an employer partner but we also like to have the option to do on the job training. For, for these trainees in house because it gives us more flexibility for working with a trainee who has kind of higher, higher barriers or just needs a little more support and time, we can, you know, work with them in house, have a little more, you know, perhaps be a little more forgiving than an external employer. All of this is to say that, yes, we see this as these are very integrated programs and, you know, they support one another.

Impact of Inflation Reduction Act on Civic Works

[00:32:35] Nate: Great. Okay. And so 2022 was it rolls along and we have the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. We are almost at our two year anniversary of surprise. We are going to have a Green New Deal. Tell me a little bit about how then civic organization like Civic Works needs to react in terms of sorting through the incentives, how those incentives will change, augment, complicate the delivery of your services.

[00:33:10] Obviously there's also the EPA's greenhouse gas reduction fund, which will hopefully open up cheaper. Access to capital and access to capital to more more people in order to do projects where they aren't going to be fully covered by incentives or other sources of funding would love to hear what the last two years have looked like for Civic Works in in any reorientation that you've needed to do and how you've prepared and now started to execute around.

[00:33:48] The IRA.

[00:33:51] Ryan: Yeah, certainly. So the Inflation Reduction Act is you know, a once in a lifetime investment in this clean energy transformation. It's just, you know, a massive, massive piece of legislation with so much within it. And I think for our conversation, the things we were really thinking about within the Inflation Reduction Act. are a few different programs. So there's the high efficiency electric home rebate program sometimes referred to as homes. So that's rebates for home energy efficiency improvements like insulation, energy efficient heating and cooling systems. It's like over 4 billion nationally with 68 million going to Maryland. We also have the HERE program, which is the Home Electrification and Appliance Rebate Program. This is Financial Incentives and Rebates for Purchasing and Installing Electric Appliances. These are both programs. Well, and I guess so there's also the TREC grants. This is Training for Residential Energy Contractors. All of these programs in terms of how it's, you know, delegated in the Inflation Reduction Act will flow through state energy offices. So in our case, that's the Maryland Energy Administration. So in my, you know, these These programs have not rolled out yet. I mean, there's just so much work involved in terms of program design and the distribution of those funds. So that is what Maryland Energy Administration is hard at work at now, designing these programs spreading the word about these programs. It's my understanding that these will be rolled out to the public in 2025. So we eagerly, you know, are awaiting that as, as many other organizations and many consumers are. And, you know, more broadly, this is just a a massive, a massive moment for this transformation in Maryland. We have you know, a governor and administration that's supportive of this work. And we have that, you know, strong leadership at Maryland Energy Administration in our legislature, you know, past Climate Solutions Now, which has a mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent from 2006 levels by 2031 and to achieve net zero emissions by 2045. So You know, the pieces of the puzzle are kind of coming together for this massive transformation to happen. But a lot of it at this point is, you know, waiting for some of this funding to become off online. And, you know, working as an organization to kind of figure out what our program shapes are going to be how we kind of want to structure this, our capacity in terms of staffing, what all of that looks like so that we can be. Best position to take advantage of these once in a lifetime investments.

[00:36:50] Nate: Yeah, that's great backdrop. I think for some people who are listening to this, it might be a surprise to them when they hear you say that these things haven't come online before. Because for market rate folks, you go out, you spend 15, 000 20, 000 on a new heat pump and you file your taxes and you get your 2, 000.

[00:37:14] back from the 25 C improvement credit, but that assumes that you can go spend 15, 000, 20, 000 to go do that. And so this is another way in which there's potential for an equity and how such an energy transition rolls out where For market rate folks, you're already getting tax credit. You're already getting the economic benefit from, from IRA.

[00:37:42] And for folks that are going to rely on, you mentioned the HOMES program and the HERE program this is going to take some time to filter through the state offices so that they can reach your clients, potentially reach you as well. And just Just something to keep track of as we watch our IRA rollout is acknowledging that these benefits are hitting people at different timescales.

[00:38:10] Ryan: Yeah, absolutely. So you're correct. The the tax incentives, those those have been released. Those are available. But yes, those are typically not helpful for lower moderate income residents who are interested in making these updates in their home. So we're, what we're waiting on is, yeah, like point of sale rebates or, you know, rebates that go directly to the contractor.

[00:38:36] These, this funding that makes it accessible for that larger pool of, you know, people who are interested.

[00:38:45] Nate: And you mentioned working with, I think you mentioned with working with community funding organizations earlier and that those have been in place already. Then, of course, there is the EPA greenhouse gas reduction fund. Is there is that on your radar from from Civic Works perspective and and just dig into that a little bit for us in terms of how that that greenhouse gas reduction fund and how that type of capital plays in to the work that you do.

[00:39:22] Ryan: Totally. So the greenhouse gas reduction fund is a 27 billion pool of of money. That. You know, has been allocated by the EPA. This was, this is from the Inflation Reduction Act as well. So there are two programs within that. There is the National Clean Investment Fund. There is also the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator. They've announced, both of these have announced their awardees. The goal of these programs is really to create an equitable national clean financing network for clean energy prod projects. So it's all about, you know, kind of extension of what we're talking about creating financial tools to make it possible to do this work. Yeah, so we're certainly tracking it. You know, those awardees were announced. I want to say a couple months ago, not super long ago. So, you know, we're very excited to see that announcement. There are certainly some awardees that are notable for Maryland. A couple I would highlight would be the Coalition for Green Capital, which received 5 billion.

[00:40:27] That is a coalition of green banks across the country. It includes the Montgomery County Green Bank. The other one I would mention would be the Power Forward Communities Coalition, which received 2 billion. That's a coalition of a variety of nonprofits. So it includes Enterprise. Rewiring America, Habitat for Humanity, United Way and really want to highlight Rewiring America there. So they're like, I would say, the leading non profits working on electrification nationally and advising organizations like Civic Works. You know, across the country on electrification. So they have one just if you're, you know, interested. I highly recommend, you know, checking out their website. They have an IRA calculator.

[00:41:14] They have a personal electrification planner. These are tools you can use to kind of you know, at the individual level assess what might be available to you now and what, you know, hopefully will be available to you in terms of tax incentives and rebates. But yeah, so they are part of that coalition. We are a local, , partner in their network of partners. So we are certainly, you know, tracking that coalition and what the shape of the programming with those funds looks like. Um, I would highlight those too.

[00:41:51] Nate: And so let's say that more. Capital comes online to do these, these projects. That's something that again, your energy advisors are going to become up to speed on what that looks like. And then when you have a client that has a lot of work to be done and you back to that word braiding as you braid things and sources of funds together, one of those might be consumer credit that they're able to access through one of these green banks or through through some credit product that is that you, that you all can advise your, your clients to supplement the, the, the project funding with,

[00:42:36] Ryan: Yeah, correct. The energy advisors are , acquainted with our programming , we use a CRM software as well,, for kind of where we can get the information from the client and then we have a system built in place where it's going to kind of assess , what they qualify for. So we have,, administrative structures that make it, a little easier for the energy advisors to keep track of any sort of changing landscape in terms of funding.

How Heat Pumps Fit In

[00:43:05] Nate: Is there anything that we haven't covered that you think is important again, just eyeing this towards ultimately, you know, this podcast is, is hoping to accelerate the adoption of, of heat pumps. I know. Civic Works's mission is much broader. And so we're covering heat pumps very loosely in this conversation, but it's, it's assumed it's a, you know, it's in the backdrop of, in some ways, that's the capstone project of electrification.

[00:43:35] It means that you've gotten your electrical situation worked out, you've gotten your insulation and home ceiling worked out, you've done all of these prerequisite projects, and now you can take care of the thing that ostensibly you're. burning the most fossil fuel to to, to operate. So is there anything specifically about heat pumps?

[00:43:55] Maybe you can close us out with before we get to my last question. So this is our second last that that Civic Works is thinking about that is working on anything that we didn't cover.

[00:44:07] Ryan: Yeah, so you're correct. I mean, heat pumps are, in terms of residential electrification, they're the biggest piece of this. In terms of the, you know, with some, we have a couple pilots ongoing right now, electrification pilots that have actually been focused on replacing gas stoves with induction stoves.

[00:44:25] Mm hmm. One is private foundation funded, one is a collaboration with the Howard County Office of Community Sustainability so, we saw that as kind of, these were kind of some of our initial forays into electrification in terms of removing these gas stoves, replacing them with induction stoves, you know, getting involved in some of that panel work, in some cases doing heavy up panel upgrades But this is all, yeah, these were our introductory projects and, you know, our focus now really is. Building out the capacity and, you know, the end, some of the in house expertise and also having a contractor partners in place to do you know, HVAC replacement projects. And so there's, I mean, there's a lot of things that come up here, right? I mean, it is a more complex, it's the most complex piece of this. A lot of HVAC contractors are accustomed to completing like to like replacements. So if you have a gas furnace. They want to replace it with another gas furnace. So the fuel switching can be complicated. Not all contractors necessarily have the expertise to do it. Or are familiar with these processes.

[00:45:38] You can see kind of radically different estimates and work scopes for what different contractors are going to propose for this type of work. So these are complex projects and. It's all heat pumps are also, you know, the historically you're talking about a gas furnace, there is a among HVAC contractors in terms of thinking about sizing, a lot of times it's just like, well, we can oversize a little bit. They don't want to undersize the system. So it's like, we'll oversize the system, cover our bases and it'll work. None of that is really applicable. To thinking about a heat pump installation you really have to get the sizing right for it to work efficiently and effectively in the home. So these are going to be complex projects.

[00:46:27] I think there's certainly things we can do to support our contractors and executing this work. CivicWorks is one. We really believe that, you know, we should utilize our existing network. Of energy auditors in this state position them to, you know, conduct electrification audits that can be utilized as a resource for contractors and kind of, you know, assessing the home, something that contractors can refer to them when they're doing this work.

[00:46:57] We're a big believer in that we've actually done like a pilot electrification auditor training that's based on BPI's electrification audit principles. We also, our support, we've done a lot of incumbent worker trainings over the years at Civic Works and a variety of different trades. We're super supportive of doing those for electrification and fuel switching to, you know, increase that contractor education piece is going to be big.

[00:47:25] So but yeah, I mean, very excited about, I mean, it's a big, you know, the exciting thing is that heat pump technology has come so far and they have become such effective systems and you really, you can really, you know, they can work, you know, depending on your climate, they can work in just, you know, in just about any climate, as long as you have, you know, the appropriate heat pump and you can really make the case for it as a technology and as something that, you know, will be an improvement in terms of, you know, You know, quality of experience and also energy bills.

[00:48:05] So it's an exciting moment.

[00:48:07] Nate: Yeah, it is an exciting moment. And again, my my journey started with a Civic Works energy audit. And so I look forward to getting the the capstone project of a, of a full heat pump myself later this year. this year now that the installation and sealing is done. So your mission is going strong.

[00:48:32] And why don't we close it there? How can people support Civic Works? What can they do? Whether they are local here in the Baltimore area and in the area you serve, how can they best be supportive? And if they're in another community, perhaps what what do you recommend they do? to be either supportive to Civic Works or a cousin organization of yours.

[00:48:59] Ryan: Certainly if you're interested in Civic Works you know, if you're interested in the organization broadly, or in our specific programs, so you can go to our One of our few different websites one is going to be sustainablecareers. civicworks. com. That's going to be focused on, you know, the training side of what we do. You can go to our energy program site, which is energyprograms. civicworks. com. Both of those sites, if you're actually interested in enrolling in any of that programming, we'll have you know, workflows for you to do that. Again, yeah, if you're interested in keeping up with anything related to the Inflation Reduction Act or rollout of these rebates, I recommend Rewiring America as a resource. And also, you know, if you're in Maryland here, tracking the Maryland Energy Administration site for any updates on program rollout. In terms of folks who aren't in Maryland who are in different areas, you know can always, you know, if you're trying to track any of this information that should be coming through your state energy office as well. I can't speak to the presence exactly of organizations just like Civic Works and other communities, but you know, get involved in it with a community based organization. You know, if you're interested in doing so or just see what's available in your community, if there's an event you're interested in attending or opportunities to volunteer cause community based organizations are going to be a huge part of this trend transition.

[00:50:21] It's like the education piece of it, that education coming from trusted messengers. That's essential. So I just say, you know, generally speaking, get involved at the community level cause that's where the real, you know, transformation happens and the implementation happens.

[00:50:38] Nate: Well, that's a great place to leave it. Thanks so much for joining the podcast and go Civic Works. Love, love everything you all do.

[00:50:47] Ryan: Well, thank you, Nate. It is a pleasure and an honor to be on the heat pump review podcast. I'm excited about this podcast and to see what you cover in future episodes.

[00:50:56] Nate: Thanks.

[00:51:03] Nate: This has been a production of Heat Pump Review. The show was edited by me, Nate Westheimer. Theme music is by AlisiaBeats . To support the podcast, please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts , Spotify, or wherever you listen to the program. If you think someone would enjoy the podcast, please share a link to them as well.

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