Maine’s ambitious efforts to expand heat pump use to reduce carbon emissions from buildings are outpacing the supply of technicians needed to install and fix the equipment.

Gretchen Larman, of Yarmouth, said she waited about six weeks this summer for a fix to her electric heat pump that leaked coolant. She had to do without air conditioning during the occasional heat waves.

“It’s a very long July to be without anything,” she said.

As she searched for a repair service, she was told she’d have to wait weeks, often getting a similar message: “We are so backed up. This is the best we can do.”

Employers and schools say they can’t train enough heat pump technicians.

While about 2,510 people worked in heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) – including heat pump technicians – in Maine in 2020, that number is projected to drop to 2,350 by 2030, according to a database sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Last year, Maine had already dipped below that estimate, with nearly 2,100 people working in those jobs, according to the state Department of Labor.

Yet the number of heat pumps installed in Maine has more than doubled, from fewer than 50,000 a few years ago to 100,000 in July 2023, two years ahead of scheduled targets set by Gov. Janet Mills. She set a target of installing another 175,000 heat pumps in Maine by 2027, bringing the total number to 320,000 if the target is reached.

Scott Libby, owner of Royal River Heat Pumps in Freeport, questions that goal. “There’s a limit on our capacity,” he said.

AN AGING WORKFORCE 

Libby says part of the blame for the shortage of HVAC workers is Maine’s aging workforce, which affects most industries. As many as 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 each day in the United States, with the youngest in that generation reaching 60 this year, emptying workplaces with retirements.

Adults who are 65 and older make up 9.4% of Maine’s workforce, compared to 6.6% nationally.

The pandemic, too, made things worse as stalled manufacturing damaged supply chains.

“The beginning of COVID, that just magnified it,” Libby said. “It’s been aging out for years.”

The average age of HVAC professionals is about 54, according to the Northeast Technical Institute (NTI), which said a “significant number of HVAC technicians are expected to retire within the next decade.” The institute trains workers for HVAC, health care and other industries in Maine. 

The demand for workers will only increase. Mills announced in July that Maine will receive between $45 million and $72 million from Washington to install more electric heat pumps. Efficiency Maine, the quasi-state agency that administers energy efficiency programs, estimates that with a budget of $42 million, it could convert about 7,750 homes from fossil fuels to being entirely heated and cooled with heat pumps.

A typical home will be outfitted with one to four heat pumps depending on its size, condition and layout, Efficiency Maine said.

WHERE IS TRAINING AVAILABLE?

HVAC training takes different forms, with longer courses of instruction and briefer classes that lead to certification.

Welcome Richardson, an HVAC instructor at NTI, said students with training in heat pumps, gas and oil heating, and air conditioning – a seven-month program – often land a job the day they graduate.

“Everybody is looking for employees,” he said. “People who have training to do heat pumps, gas, oil, air conditioning, it’s hard to find people with that capability.”

“People who do go into the trades, especially HVAC, it’s got great pay. Maybe a lot of people don’t know that,” Richardson said.

At its Technical Education Center in Brunswick, the Maine Energy Marketers Association trains HVAC workers in the classroom and in a lab where equipment is broken and fixed. The center has offered six or seven classes a year for five years, drawing about 20 students in each class, Dean Roger Mitchell said.

It’s driven by demand that he said is “pretty steady.”

A 40-hour, one-week session leads to certification and being a registered vendor with Efficiency Maine. The classes cover sales, installation, repair and other skills. Students are referred by their employers, word of mouth, or the result of an online search and military veterans, Mitchell said.

WANTED: WORKERS WITH A MECHANICAL APTITUDE

Libby, of Royal River Heat Pumps, employs about 30 installers, including seven licensed electricians. “I could hire 10 if I have the right 10,” he said.

He said starting pay is $30 an hour, rising to $40 an hour over time. He pays 100% of medical and dental insurance and offers a 401(k) retirement plan and flexible work scheduling.

“I really don’t know how to make it more appealing,” he said.

His workforce includes former carpenters and car mechanics who have a mechanical aptitude. “It’s really a nice job. It’s relatively clean. You’re not going home all covered with grease and soot.”

Libby said he typically finds workers from his employees, who tell friends and former co-workers.

“One employee is responsible for three others,” he said. “They built jeeps and four-wheelers together, driving them through the woods and breaking them and fixing them. Word of mouth is the best thing.”

Heat pumps extract heat from outside air and run it through a compressor that makes it hotter before pumping it indoors. In the summer, it can operate in reverse, pulling heat from inside a building and pumping it outside, cooling the indoor spaces. As state and federal officials set increasingly strict greenhouse gas emissions targets, buildings – and their use of natural gas or oil for heating and cooling – are being redesigned or retrofitted to improve energy efficiency and accommodate electric heat pumps.

Policymakers and environmentalists are targeting building emissions because of the scale: Residential and commercial buildings last year consumed about 28% of all U.S. end-use energy, or energy directly used by homes, buildings, vehicles and industrial applications, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

RAPID EMPLOYMENT GROWTH PREDICTED

Nationally, employment of heating, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics and installers is projected to grow 6% from 2022 to 2032, faster than the average for all occupations, according to the  U.S. Department of Labor.

About 37,700 openings for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers are projected each year, on average, over the decade, according to the federal government.

Many of the openings, with a median pay last year of $57,300, are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire, the Labor Department said.

In Maine, HVAC jobs pay an average of $59,000 annually.

The pressure is on to hire heat pump technicians. The U.S. Climate Alliance, a coalition of 25 governors, announced in September 2023 that members agreed to reach 20 million heat pump installations by 2030.

Government subsidies help drive demand. Federal and state incentives of up to $10,600 for heat pump installation, with Efficiency Maine providing rebates of up to $8,000 that subsidizes between 40% and 80% of a project’s cost depending on income.

Federal tax credits of up to $2,600 also are available.

And money from Washington is used for job training in the green energy business. Portland Adult Education, for example, received $416,179 for its renewable energy pre-apprenticeship and other programs by adding heat-pump and thermal-focused training. The school plans to use the funds to prepare up to 150 people for jobs in the clean energy industry.

In total, six programs will share $2 million: Maine Math and Science Alliance in Augusta, Biddeford School Department and Biddeford Adult Education, Oxford Hills and Nezinscot Adult Education, PassivhausMaine in Freeport, Portland Adult Education and the University of Maine in Orono.

Larman said difficulties getting repair service are perplexing.

“We’re making such a huge thing to put these in, but we don’t have the people available to service these units,” she said.

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