So the demand is there, as is the growing support from federal and state governments. What is lagging behind is the workforce, at least temporarily. And the United States is nowhere near alone: Wherever heat pump adoption is growing, more workers need to be trained to meet demand. “If you look at a place like, say, Finland, where virtually all heating systems are heat pumps, this is no longer a problem,” says Jan Rosenow, who studies electrification at the Regulatory Assistance Project, an NGO in charge of policies for the energy community. “If you wanted to buy an electric car 10 years ago, it was quite difficult, right? Now you can go to any showroom and find them. I think the same will happen with heat pumps. Is already This is the case of heat pumps in more mature markets.”
However, in the United States we don’t have some kind of giant national program to quickly train more people in HVAC. “It would make sense that there would be this pathway to learn more about heat pumps, and then there would be a whole armed force to go out and install these things,” says Ed Janowiak, refrigeration and HVAC design education manager at Air Conditioning Contractors. of America non-profit. “Right now there is a huge opportunity for people to come in from ground level. It shouldn’t take them long to earn a decent salary. And sometimes I still sit here with my palms in the air, wondering why it doesn’t happen automatically.”
There is no official path in the United States for HVAC workers, but several. Trade schools and community colleges provide HVAC training. Unions offer apprenticeship programs and many HVAC companies run their own training programs to get people into the trade. “The most successful companies right now that find these people to install, they don’t necessarily hire people who are already in the field,” Janowiak says. “But if you look at the number of technicians going through those programs nationally, compared to the demand, it just isn’t there. That’s why we need a lot more people.”
For veteran HVAC workers who are already trained in fossil fuel systems, such as gas boiler installation, heat pump manufacturers provide their own training to install their products, which is of course in your interest. HVAC companies also conduct their own heat pump training for established workers, which typically lasts two days. If a home has ducts, a heat pump will operate similarly to a traditional air conditioning unit, so installation is nearly identical.
But all these workers not only have to be trained, but trained Well, so that they inadvertently turn customers off of energy-efficient appliances just as the heat pump revolution begins. If the size of the heat pump does not fit the size of the house or the internal ductwork, it will not be as efficient. If you don’t have ductwork, a contractor might recommend simpler ductwork. ductless heat pump, which is embedded in an exterior wall. “My biggest hope is that the people who end up installing them get smart training,” Janowiak says, “and install equipment that works the way we want it to.”