The San José, California, City Council in December approved a $100,000 incentive program for HVAC contractors to install heat pumps.
The initiative will be more impactful and cost-effective than a similar proposed program for electric leaf blowers, San José Spotlight reported.
"Residents have been clamoring for a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers for years," the outlet stated, but it noted such an incentive would eat up $142,500 and cut only 191.8 tons of carbon dioxide compared to the heat pump incentive's 1,616 tons.
"We found the contractor incentive will have 10 times more greenhouse gas reductions than the leaf blower pilot for less staff time and funding," San José Clean Energy's Kate Ziemba said at a council meeting, per San José Spotlight.
Fifteen contractors will install six heat pumps apiece, and the hope is that their experience will foster competition in the market, lowering costs for homeowners and preparing everyone for 2027, when new gas-powered heaters will not be allowed in the Bay Area.
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While residents were disappointed that heat pumps would get the boost they had hoped electric leaf blowers would, the city moved forward with the more effective program. (The sale of new gas-powered leaf blowers — a significant source of air and noise pollution — is already prohibited in the Golden State, though the adoption of electric alternatives has been slow in San José.)
"I think it's great that we're targeting one of the big gaps in the market by creating an incentive for contractors to see this as a viable option," Mayor Matt Mahan said.
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