ATHOL – A year ago, the Selectboard endorsed a proposal to establish a Municipal Decarbonization Task Force to develop a strategy to substantially reduce community-wide fossil fuel emissions over the next several decades.

While the primary goal is to come up with steps to cut town-generated carbon emissions by 85% by 2050, the panel is also charged with advancing strategies to reduce those emissions generated by private businesses and residences. Such methods include the installation of heat pumps or mini splits in single and multi-family homes, apartments and businesses.

With an eye toward that goal, the town’s Energy Committee is holding a heat pump workshop at Athol Public Library this Thursday, Nov. 29, beginning at 6 p.m. The workshop is being led by Loie Hayes of the Green Energy Consumers Alliance. She will present basic information on the units themselves, as well as illustrating the economic differences between heat pumps compared and other heating and cooling systems. Hayes will also discuss the economic incentives offered to consumers who switch from traditional heating systems.

In addition to Hayes, a local contractor will be on hand to answer questions and provide insight into the experiences of consumers who have gone through heat pump installations. Also at Thursday’s meeting will be representatives of Jay Moody HVAC, based in Fitchburg.

“Heat pumps are devices that transfer heat from location to another. People may have heard of mini splits – those are a kind of heat pump,” said Director of Planning and Community Development Eric Smith. “There are actually different types of systems and they essentially work by using a small amount of energy to move heat from a high-temperature area to a low-temperature area. This is achieved by using a refrigerant-type of material that absorbs heat from the source, and there’s actually different types of heat sources; there’s air source, ground source – usually like a geothermal-based system – and the water-based system. It compresses the source to increase the temperature and then basically the heat is transferred over from the system chosen.”

The process, said Smith, is reversed in the summer months, whereby the hot air is compressed to provide a cooling system. The heat pump is run by electricity, which ties into the decarbonization plan, because fossil fuels are not used to generate heat.

“A lot of the heating that’s done these days, unless people are using solar or are otherwise off the grid in some fashion, is basically done by a fossil fuel resource, whether it’s heating oil, or propane, or natural gas,” said Smith. “I think it’s basically heating oil and propane in this area, for the most part. And over time, the grid has to generate more and more electricity by using green power sources. So, if you’re connected to the electrical grid, you’re going to be using more green power, and that’s going to continue to use more solar and either more wind or perhaps more hydro from Canada.”

Smith said heat pumps could initially be more expensive, depending on the cost of electricity at the time consumers choose to change over to the newer systems.

“That’s something we do need people to be aware of,” he said. “But there are incentives to make the change. I know Mass Save has some pretty good incentives available right now. There’s at least one local bank offering 0% interest loans to maybe fill the gap left off the incentives.”

Seating for the workshop is limited to 75 people, so anyone interested in attending is asked to RSVP and register at amoore@townofathol.org. For those persons preferring to attend via Zoom, the Zoom Meeting ID is: 874 2333 6189, Passcode: 947237. The workshop may also be viewed at a later date by going to the Town Energy Committee website: www.athol-ma.gov/town-energy-committee. The workshop is being provided as part of the town’s MassSave Education Grant Program.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.