By David Lis | Mon, January 14, 19
2019 ushers in the sixth year of NEEP’s regional air-source heat pump (ASHP) market transformation initiative aimed at the residential space heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) market across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Along with the new year comes a number of new elements of the initiative that promise to bring greater impact to the regional market. We invite you to join us.
NEEP’s initiative has grown to include over 200 regional stakeholders--including state and local policy implementers, energy and climate program administrators, ASHP manufacturers, energy efficiency advocates--all working together to implement the key market development strategies laid out in NEEP’s Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Air Source Heat Pump Market Strategies Report (updated in 2017).
Just in the past year, the initiative has made exciting progress in a number of important areas.
- Product Specification and List: NEEP launched a Cold Climate ASHP Specification and Product List in 2015 and just recently moved to a version 3.0 of the specification. The specification has been instrumental in helping to create differentiation in the emerging market of ASHPs for cold climate applications. Efficiency programs across the region and eastern Canada, including NYSERDA, Mass Save and Ontario’s IESO, have adopted the specification and product list as part of their program qualification.
- Installer and Consumer Guidance: NEEP worked with stakeholders to develop new resources for ASHP installers and consumers. We’ve developed two new videos on sizing/selecting and installing ASHPs and updated our paper installer guides. These are housed on a new homepage for easy and quick access. Our collective ability to ensure ASHP systems are designed and installed properly will lead to happy customers and long-term market growth.
- Regional Collaboration: NEEP co-hosted a renewable heating and cooling workshop in June of 2018. The workshop drew 125 attendees from across the region and beyond, to discuss how to work collaboratively to accelerate the adoption of renewable heating and cooling technologies that will ultimately transform the way we heat and cool our homes and business. We explored strategies on how to effectively transform the current HVAC market to low-carbon alternatives including ASHP and variable refrigerant flow (VRF).
Building on these successes, NEEP has developed a broader, more ambitious project plan for 2019 with the hope of creating a real inflection point on the arc of regional market transformation for air source heat pumps.
The combination of policy-led programs across the region and beyond, HVAC industry investment in ASHP technology, and a soon-to-be-realized tipping point in consumer/installer awareness, represents an exciting moment to move ASHP solutions from niche to mainstream. NEEP aims to effectively leverage this moment for future success in assisting the region reach their climate goals.
The scope and scale of NEEP’s 2019 initiative is expanding. NEEP is unveiling a new website for the ccASHP product list, making use of the list more consumer- and program- friendly. NEEP will build on its existing stakeholder resources by developing case studies and buying guidance for consumers. As is typical of many NEEP activities, this will be driven by stakeholder engagement. To this end, NEEP will facilitate increasing opportunities for stakeholders to inform resource development via new working sub-committees. Scope-wise, the initiative will expand to include VRF technologies and strategies for the commercial VRF market.
To support the agenda and to ensure a pathway for stakeholder engagement, NEEP will be implementing a new subscription program and product listing program. These new structures are evolving to bring more engagement and resources to bear on the market.
Are you a state or local policy implementer creating new programs to support the ASHP market? Are you a program administrator looking to meet ambitious energy/carbon savings goals with the help of ASHPs? Are you a manufacturer invested in transforming the HVAC market through your products? If so, join NEEP’s ASHP Initiative.
Learn more about how you and your organization can join NEEP’s market transformation initiative by attending an informational webinar on January 30 at 1:00 p.m. This will be the first in a three-webinar series on our new ASHP initiative. Take a brief moment to register here.
Let’s make some history in 2019.