A²ZERO Heat Pump Concierge: Our collaboration with the City of Ann Arbor
The City of Ann Arbor has an ambitious plan to reach community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030. Starting with today’s launch of A²ZERO Heat Pump Concierge, we are proud to support their work.
Today, the City of Ann Arbor announced A2ZERO Heat Pump Concierge, in collaboration with Pearl Edison.
This service provides Ann Arbor residents with support to identify an efficient heating and cooling system that’s right for their unique home and goals. With help from Pearl Edison, residents can access $20,000 or more in rebates and incentives to reduce the cost, connect with an expert for support, execute the project with a qualified local contractor, and ensure end-to-end job quality as a function of system design, installation, and commissioning.
You can access the platform here: A2ZERO Heat Pump Concierge
(And please do, particularly if you’re an Ann Arbor resident and interested in making your home more efficient!)
The opportunity for Ann Arbor residents
Heat pumps provide efficient heating and air conditioning in a single system. Think of a heat pump as an air conditioning system that runs in reverse. This is literally true - a heat pump has a reversing valve to switch the flow of refrigerant, which allows it to provide heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer.
Installing a heat pump is among the most impactful choices that a homeowner can make to reduce their carbon footprint. But upgrading to a modern, efficient heating and cooling system has other benefits too.
Heat pumps offer improved comfort and greater zone-level control. They also offer potential bill savings - particularly for residents who have inefficient HVAC systems that run on propane, fuel, or traditional electric resistance heat, and for residents who invest in weatherization when they install their heat pump.
Best of all, the City of Ann Arbor, State of Michigan, DTE, and federal government all offer generous rebates for residents who invest in heat pumps and weatherization, in support of their energy efficiency goals. These programs make the investment affordable!
These projects are admittedly pretty complicated to execute - scoping out the right investment, shopping for a good price from a qualified installer, and claiming applicable rebates and incentives are all complicated. That’s where A2ZERO Heat Pump Concierge comes in.
A2ZERO Heat Pump Concierge - how it works
Through A2ZERO Heat Pump Concierge, Ann Arbor residents can:
Determine their eligibility for rebates and tax incentives. This includes the generous A2ZERO Home Energy Rebate program, which provides up to $8,000 for a heat pump retrofit including ductwork modification, up to $7,000 for accompanying weatherization, and up to $2,000 for a panel upgrade, if necessary. (You can learn more at the City’s website.) Concierge also identifies applicable rebates and incentives that are available through the State of Michigan, DTE, the IRS, and more.
Get a preliminary quote for a heat pump retrofit online in about five minutes. The estimate includes the price for the job after all applicable rebates and incentives, an itemized scope of work, and an analysis of the heat pump’s impact on operational cost and carbon footprint. The estimate also includes multiple options, to help Ann Arbor residents weigh tradeoffs between price, bill impact, and climate impact.
Schedule a free home assessment. This 90-minute in-home assessment is performed by a Pearl Edison Advisor - a BPI-certified home performance expert - to finalize the scope of work and help the resident better understand their options for their home.
Reserve an A2ZERO Home Energy Rebate to ensure that project funding is secured before the work starts.
Obtain a low-interest loan through Michigan Saves, a non-profit energy efficiency lender, to finance any balance that isn’t covered by rebates and tax incentives.
Execute the project through a local contractor. Contractors that are approved for A2ZERO Heat Pump Concierge projects are properly licensed and vetted for their technical qualifications and customer service track record. Pearl Edison is responsible for end-to-end quality assurance - system design, installation, and commissioning.
The bigger picture
Ann Arbor is making a big bet on heat pumps because they have an ambitious goal to achieve - community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030. A2ZERO is the city’s plan to get there. If you’re local, it’s worth reading more about the plan.
The City estimates that roughly 2/3 of Ann Arbor’s CO2-equivalent emissions are attributable to buildings. DOE estimates that over half of residential energy consumption is from space heating and air conditioning. In other words, there’s no plausible path to community-wide carbon neutrality without making heating and cooling less carbon-intensive.
The City of Ann Arbor also knows that the replacement of a failing furnace is a kitchen-table decision made by a resident who has to weigh a range of other factors - namely, restoring service quickly and affordably. Installing an efficient heating and cooling system is admittedly more complicated and more costly (before rebates) than a quick like-for-like replacement. So, A2ZERO is meeting residents where they are - A2ZERO Home Energy Rebates bring heat pumps to cost parity, and A2ZERO Heat Pump Concierge brings heat pumps to complexity parity.
Our collective goal with this collaboration is to make the right choice for the planet the easy choice for the resident.
Federal whiplash vs. local action
For the team at Pearl Edison, it’s inspiring to work with Julie, Missy, and the outstanding team they’ve built at A2ZERO.
Those of us who work in energy efficiency and sustainability have an extra eye on the Washington news cycle these days, trying to track which federal programs and which federal dollars will and will not be available. Our partners - contractors, state and municipal government officials, regulated utility leaders, and non-profit leaders, largely working in purple states - span the political spectrum. They all agree on at least one thing, though - pendulum-swing federal policy change makes it harder to do their work.
Our work with the A2ZERO team strikes a stark contrast. If anything, federal uncertainty has steeled their resolve. Julie, Missy, and team are mission-driven, relentless, and innovative. They pushed for a Community Climate Action Millage in 2022 that has insulated their important work from federal policy change. They ship new programs, usually a lot faster than their peers could manage. They obsess over the details that matter - after-hours discussions with Julie covering the technical minutiae of ductwork modification on heat pump retrofits come to mind. And most importantly, they are getting results. (Their annual impact report is a great resource to read more.)
It’s understandable that federal whiplash is occupying public discourse. Federal policy is really important.
But it’s also important to remember that residential decarbonization will ultimately be resident-driven - the path is appliance by appliance, home by home, neighborhood by neighborhood, community by community. Our experience is that every resident who pays to heat a home would prefer to do so more efficiently, regardless of what’s going on in Washington and regardless of how they vote.
Serving this resident is our focus at Pearl Edison. And Ann Arbor’s focus on this resident is what makes us proud to support their work.
If you’re a municipal sustainability leader and interested in doing something similar…
…then reach out to Julie (jroth@a2.gov) or to Evan (evan@pearledison.com) to learn more about how we’re collaborating in Ann Arbor.
We can help! The Pearl Edison platform is free to our municipal government partners. We’re operating in Michigan and in Pennsylvania today and expanding quickly.
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