Category: Heat Pumps

Olin College of Engineering and Sustainable Wellesley’s Tiny High Performing Home Wins Chairman's Award During Wellesley’s Annual Parade

5/24/2022

Thanks to the design and construction skills of Olin College of Engineering students Suki Sacks and Daniel Jaramillo, Sustainable Wellesley’s tiny high performing house took home the Chairman’s Award at the Town of Wellesley’s 54th Annual Veterans Parade on Sunday, May 22, 2022.

In March, Suki and Daniel met with us to scope out the building project. The first year Electrical Engineering major and first year Mechanical Engineering major went on to plan and build the home at Olin’s campus with tools on loan from the library and school machine shop with funds donated to support Sustainable Wellesley's efforts. Once the house was built, the Sustainable Wellesley team added some home-like touches and signage.

Since 63% of Wellesley's emissions come from buildings, this project aimed to educate and encourage residents to take actions that will make their homes more comfortable, less expensive to heat and cool, while helping the Town of Wellesley meet its goal to become Net Zero by 2050.

Although Suki had returned home to visit family before beginning her internship at VEIR, Daniel was in town for his internship at BAE Systems and decided to join in the parade.

“Helping Wellesley’s citizens understand the urgency of climate action within their own homes seemed even more pressing with temperatures in the high 90s during the parade,” said Daniel Jaramillo. “The worsening climate affects everyone’s health, resulting in dehydration, heat stroke, asthma, heart disease, Lyme disease, longer allergy seasons, eco anxiety, and much more,” Jaramillo said.

“We took on this project for the design challenge but also the concern for significant extreme weather impacts that communities face, including wildfires, droughts, floods and more intense hurricane seasons. Creating this house to educate the local community was one way we felt like we could ‘do something’, and we had a lot of fun working on it together!” said Sacks.

The Olin students generously volunteered their time during finals, amid COVID challenges and during dorm move out. This successful student/community collaboration earned the float the “Chairman's Award” during the Veterans Parade that honored Wellesley residents who are recipients of the Purple Heart.

Heat Pump Webinar Is Here If you Missed It

12/14/2021

Last week's webinar on cold climate heat pumps was really enlightening.

If you missed it, here are the slides presented by Chris Haringa of AbodeEnergy, as well as the slides from a Wellesley heat pump homeowner, Moneer Azzam.  We'd like to give a big thanks to both of them, plus to Janice Coduri and Susan Bevilacqua, and others for their first-hand observations.  You can view a video of the presentation here.

For more information, we suggest the following links:

1. Half-hour overview of heat pump technology for the New England climate, presented by Abode Energy and Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership:

2.  Wellesley MLP's Clean Comfort Program (free heat pump advice from Abode Energy plus MLP heat pump rebate info)

3. We suggest that you take the time to get a free energy audit, then completely weatherize your home (insulation, air sealing) before installing your heat pump.

You can get this free energy audit either through Homeworks Energy - a MassSave partner (if you heat your home with gas) or through Energy New England (if you heat with oil, propane or electric resistance).

Homeworks Energy also gives substantial rebates for weatherization.

Stay Warm!

Winter Heating With Air Source Heat Pumps Webinar - Tuesday, November 9th, 7-7.30 pm

10/27/2021

Experts share information on:

New/modern heat pump technology in our New England climate
Costs - Heat pump performance and operating cost comparison
Best Practices - How to optimize the use of your existing system and heat pump
Informational Resources

This event is presented by Abode Energy Management in partnership with Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP). Abode strives to support Municipal Light Plant customers in their adoption of clean heating and cooling technologies. NEEP is one of six Regional Energy Efficiency Organizations (REEOs) funded, in part, by US Department of Energy to support state efficiency policies and programs.

To Register for the Event, click here.

Olin College of Engineering and Sustainable Wellesley’s Tiny High Performing Home Wins Chairman's Award During Wellesley’s Annual Parade

Heat Pump Webinar Is Here If you Missed It

Winter Heating With Air Source Heat Pumps Webinar - Tuesday, November 9th, 7-7.30 pm

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