SACRAMENTO — California’s goal of deploying 6 million heat pumps in buildings by 2030 is being tackled from multiple angles, and the different strategies were the subject of a panel discussion during a recent conference. 

The California Energy Commission plans to launch in 2025 the Direct Install Program — a key piece of its Equitable Building Decarbonization program. Direct Install will provide no-cost home electrification retrofits and energy efficiency for low-income households in California. 

Another program is TECH Clean California, which offers rebates for heat pump appliances in single and multifamily homes across the state. The program just received another tranche of CEC funding, CEC Commissioner Andrew McAllister said May 6 during a panel at the California Energy Transition Summit hosted by Infocast. 

In addition, the Building Initiative for Low-Emissions Development (BUILD) program is providing incentives for construction of new, all-electric, single and multifamily homes, McAllister said. 

Panelist Jose Torres, with the Building Decarbonization Coalition, said Direct Install is geared toward older homes that are harder to electrify. The TECH Clean California program could help people living in newer homes who are interested in heat pump air conditioning, he said. 

“Both programs are beneficial; I do think both approaches are going to be necessary in order to grow the market,” Torres said.

Residential and commercial buildings are responsible for about 24% of California’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to state agencies. McAllister said about 80% of a non-electrified home’s emissions come from water and space heating. 

“Heat pumps have so many upsides,” McAllister said. “Eventually it will be a good sell, but we have to work through market barriers.” He said that’s something California has done before for solar and other technologies. 

Streamlining Installation

Other efforts to increase heat pump adoption are focused at the local level to make installations easier. 

“There’s not a lot of training and knowledge on how to safely install heat pumps compared to gas equipment,” said panelist Sam Fishman, with the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR). 

Fishman said cities often require applicants for a heat pump installation to complete the same steps as for a gas appliance installation, even though some steps may not be necessary. Heat pumps face additional planning checks, such as extra site plans and line diagrams, he said, and planning rules often restrict where heat pumps may be installed. 

SPUR also is working with the Panel Optimization Work and Electrical Reassessments (POWER) group, convened by Build It Green, to find ways around the need for electrical infrastructure upgrades for a heat pump installation. 

Solutions might include technology to avoid coincident load, such as a device to switch off an EV charger so it’s not running at the same time as a heat pump washer and dryer. 

Panelist Therese Peffer, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, gave an update on the Oakland Eco Block research project, which is using economies of scale to electrify an entire block of homes in Oakland rather than working on one home at a time. 

The project includes installation of electric appliances, efficiency upgrades such as insulation, and co-owned solar for the homes. The CEC largely has funded the project, which is wrapping up work on the homes and entering an analysis phase. 

The project did result in economies of scale, Peffer said. 

“Bulk purchases of appliances [were] a big deal,” she said. “Or even just getting a contractor to come out and bid on eight roofs instead of one was a big deal.” 

And if a contractor finished work on one home midday, they could get started on another home right away rather than sending workers home for the day. 

Another question was how much the “neighbor effect” would come into play, Peffer said, referring to observations that solar and EV adoption seem to be contagious in a neighborhood. The same seemed to be true in the Eco Block project for heat pump adoption, she said, even if the appliances are less visible. 

Blueprint Released

The building decarbonization discussion came just weeks after the California Heat Pump Partnership released a blueprint aimed at accelerating heat pump adoption in the state. 

The partnership, which launched in May 2024, is a public-private coalition consisting of state agencies, manufacturers, utilities and others. The group’s objective is to help the state meet Gov. Gavin Newsom’s goal of installing 6 million heat pumps by 2030. 

Among the strategies in the blueprint are improving heat pumps’ value proposition through stable incentives, expanded financing options and electrification-friendly rates. Workforce training opportunities should be expanded along with contractor support, the blueprint states. 

The blueprint also recommends a two-pronged marketing campaign focused on consumers and contractors and promotion of the electric appliances through a Heat Pump Week.