Residents Against Wood Smoke Emission Particulates, a 501c3 nonprofit organization (RAWSEP) is writing a grant with help from Expert Match at the Department of Energy to offer grant money to bring cost of switching from indoor residential wood burning for home heating to a Heat Pump that works at temperatures down to 40 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit or Centigrade, the two temperature systems converge briefly at 40 degrees below zero).

The Federal rebates for Heat Pumps starting in 2024 are expected to range up to $8,000, based on a sliding scale of household income. RAWSEP will research the possible government rebates for each household’s switch from indoor residential wood burning to a Heat Pump, and help the household apply for the Federal grant. Then RAWSEP would like RAWSEP’s 2024 grant to fund bringing the amount of money a household of modest means has to pay for switching to a Heat Pump from a wood burning stove (or furnace) to zero. That is one of the two aims of the grant that is now being wrritten.

The Department of Energy (DOE) would like preliminary statistics on how many indoor residential wood burners would like to switch to Heat Pumps, using both Federal rebate and RAWSEP rebate. This will help the DOE Expert Match and RAWSEP plan the budget for the grant. So the Survey has at least two purposes 1)To help RAWSEP create a ballpark budget for the grant and 2)Give RAWSEP the emails of potential households who would like to make the switch from Wood Burning to Heat Pump, so RAWSEP can contact the household when grant money is available in 2024.