Date
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
The Air District’s Clean Heating Efficiently with Electric Technology, or Clean HEET, Program will begin accepting applications for grants that can help to offset the cost of switching from a wood-burning stove or fireplace insert to an electric heat pump. The program is designed to improve air quality in communities by replacing polluting wood-burning heating devices with cleaner heating options.
Heat pumps offer a clean and energy-efficient alternative to wood-heating appliances, furnaces, and air conditioners. Similar to a refrigerator, heat pumps use electricity to transfer heat from outside air to heat a home. Most heat pumps can also cool a house by operating in reverse, removing heat from indoors.
The Air District’s Clean HEET Program complements other incentive programs that are currently offered to Bay Area homeowners to help reduce or lower the cost of installing cleaner heating options. In addition to the Clean HEET Program funding, other programs also offer support and technical assistance to low-income residents. A list of available incentive options is available at www.baaqmd.gov/WoodSmokeGrant.
The Clean HEET Program offers qualifying homeowners up to $6,500 to replace an eligible device, and applicants may request additional funding if they participate in a qualifying low-income assistance program or if they will be replacing a second eligible device.
An overview of program requirements includes:
- Applicants must receive approval from the Air District before making any purchase or starting any work.
- No retroactive reimbursements are allowed.
- Only wood stoves and wood-burning fireplace inserts are eligible for replacement; standard or open-hearth fireplaces do not qualify.
- Upon installation of the new heat pump, the old stove or insert must be decommissioned and brought to a recycling center.
- Funding is prioritized for homeowners located in the region’s communities most highly impacted by air pollution, including East and West Oakland, Richmond, San Pablo, Bayview Hunters Point, and Southeast San Francisco.
- Applications will be accepted until 5 PM PDT, May 15, 2024.
The Clean HEET Program will provide grants to nearly 300 homeowners and is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Targeted Airshed Grant Program, or TAG, which provides grants to improve air quality across the nation with emphasis on reducing PM2.5, or fine particulate matter, ambient air concentrations, with match funding by the Air District.
For more information please visit www.baaqmd.gov/WoodSmokeGrant or contact the Air District at woodsmokegrants@baaqmd.gov or (415) 749-5195 for more details.
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Last Updated: 3/11/2024