A ductless heat pump, visible above the wood cabinet, provides quiet, efficient heating in the winter and cooling in the summer.

If you’ve got an aging baseboard or wall heating system in your home, you may be eligible for help replacing that system this year.

Chelan County PUD is planning a pilot program in 2012 to help install ductless heat pump systems. The PUD will offer rebates of approximately $750 per eligible household to help offset the cost of the units, which ranges from $2,000 to $6,000. Homeowners with electric baseboard or wall heaters would be given top consideration, but homes with other electric heat types may be eligible. Local contractors will be invited to participate in a training course to learn about installing and maintaining ductless heat pumps.

A ductless heat pump is a highly efficient and easily installed primary heating and cooling system for electrically heated homes. Ductless systems are ideal for replacing or supplementing less efficient electric baseboard or wall heaters (and window air conditioners in the summer).

Ductless systems operate using 25 percent to 50 percent less energy than electric resistance zonal and forced air systems. Regionally, use of a ductless heating and cooling system in a single-family home with zonal electric heat is estimated to save 3,500 kWh annually. Using Chelan PUD’s average cost of $0.03 per kilowattt hour, upgrading to a ductless heating and cooling system as a primary heat source can save approximately $105 per year. In addition, ductless heat pumps are safer, quieter, and heat rooms more efficiently than zonal heat. And they provide air conditioning in the summer.

If you are a Chelan County homeowner interested in upgrading from baseboard or wall heating systems to a ductless heat pump, send an e-mail to conservation@chelanpud.org or call (509) 661-8008.

More information about how ductless heat pumps work, their costs and energy savings is available at goingductless.com.

Contestants in Chelan PUD’s wintertime energy-savings contest continued to reduce their electrical use through the spring and summer. 

A review of electric bills shows six of the nine contestants saw significant energy savings in spring and summer of 2011 compared to the spring-summer periods of the previous two years. The remaining three contestants showed similar use to what was experienced in previous years. 

Chelan County is a heating climate, meaning most of the electricity used by residents is to keep their homes warm in the winter. A smaller portion of overall energy use is attributed to summer air conditioning. 

The Reduce Your Use contest ran from January 1 through March 31, 2011. Nine contestants received home energy analyses and recommendations from PUD experts about how to save energy – from adding insulation and weather-stripping to adjusting their thermostats – as they competed against each other to see who could reduce their energy use by the greatest percentage. Overall savings averaged 19 percent. 

The PUD continues to offer rebates to all customers who add insulation and replace old windows. Learn more here.  For tips on saving energy and money in your home, see the Chelan PUD website.

Chelan County PUD customers can now go paperless and receive their bills electronically. The change saves paper, which is good for the environment, and it saves the PUD money that would be spent on paper and mailing costs.

Customers can sign up for the PowerPay option on the PUD website.

Customers who choose paperless billing receive email notification when their bills are due. They can see current and past bills online, as well as use improved electronic and phone payment options. More than 40 percent of PUD bill payments already are made electronically.

Savings to the PUD for electronic billing average 54 cents per bill. Overall savings will depend on how many customers choose the paperless option.

Chelan County PUD will distribute free compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) to customers from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27. Drive in to your nearest office in Wenatchee, Leavenworth or Chelan to receive a bag of 20 free, energy-saving bulbs.

The 13-watt bulbs replace 60-watt incandescent bulbs. The bulbs have a light output of 900 lumens, with an average life of 10,000 hours. In Chelan County homes, using one 13-watt CFL will save an average of $15 over the life of the bulb.

Customers must show a recent PUD electric bill when picking up the bulbs. Offer available while supplies last.

In the average U.S. home, lighting accounts for about 20 percent of the electric bill. The easiest way to start saving energy is to change light bulbs to compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).

Learn more about CFLs and changes to federal lighting standards on the Chelan PUD website. You can also calculate your savings by switching to CFLs. Recycle used CFLs at PUD offices in Wenatchee, Leavenworth and Chelan.

Ron Johnston-Rodriguez is retiring this summer from the Port of Chelan County, where he’s been the tireless leader of efforts to make this region a nationally recognized center for plug-in electric vehicles. 

But he won’t be going far. He’ll become the new director of Plug-In North Central Washington. It’s essentially the same job he’s held for the past six years but with a new salary (none to start) and under the auspices of a different agency. 

The North Central Economic Development District is becoming the umbrella organization for Plug-In North Central Washington, formerly known as the Advanced Vehicle Initiative (AVI) Consortium. The district covers Chelan, Douglas and Okanogan counties. 

That momentum includes installation of electric vehicle charging stations at Stevens Pass and at Sleeping Lady Resort near Leavenworth. Both are Level 2 stations, requiring four to six hours for a full charge. The City of Leavenworth has applied for a grant to set up a Level 3 station, with a fast-charge time of 20 minutes. Several businesses, including the new Marriott Springhill Suites in Wenatchee and Icicle Ridge Winery in Peshastin, plan to install charging stations in the next year. Eventually, Johnston-Rodriguez said, there will be an extensive network of charging stations available from Seattle to Wenatchee. 

Johnston-Rodriguez serves on the Washington State EV Task Force which has applied for a $500,000 federal grant for infrastructure planning.  Corporate sponsorships, membership fees, and revenue-generating events and services will augment grants and other sources for the new Plug-In North Central Washington, he said.  

He predicted 2012 will be a big year for electric vehicles. More all-electric Nissan Leafs, delayed due to the Japanese earthquake, will become available. State and federal funding will kick in to build the much-anticipated fast-charge stations on both sides of Stevens Pass. Businesses will learn more about EV and install their own charging stations. And consumers will be looking for information to help them decide whether to charge ahead with EV. 

The development of practical electrical vehicles and consumer acceptance of them is gratifying for Johnston-Rodriguez. Establishing a new Plug-In Center as a limited liability corporation under the regional economic development district makes sense and assures a permanent home for EV efforts, he said.

“We’ve had 30 people (in the AVI Consortium) here who’ve been working on this for years,” he said. Members of the consortium performed ground-breaking work, including transforming the port’s white Toyota Prius into Washington’s first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

The port’s goal – and Johnston-Rodriguez’s job – has always been to enhance economic development. But the focus has evolved. Initially the AVI group hoped to make Chelan County an important testing ground for plug-in hybrid vehicles. Now the push is to make the area friendly to eco-conscious tourists driving EVs and to attract visitors to demonstrations of EVs operating in real-world applications. The fact that the area’s electricity comes from clean, renewable hydropower is an added benefit, he said.