Roger Mitchell, dean of the Maine Energy Marketers Association’s Technical Education Center, talks about heat pump training at the Brunswick facility on Thursday. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

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.

Brandon Stinchfield, lead technician for Horizon Homes, installs heat pumps at Homestead Village in Westbrook on Thursday. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

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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.

Chris Sorois listens as Roger Mitchell teaches a course at Maine Energy Marketers Association Technical Education Center in Brunswick on Monday. The center is offering a 40-hour Heat Pump Training course later this month and again in October. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

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.

Students listen as Roger Mitchell teaches a course about refrigeration systems at the Maine Energy Marketers Association Technical Education Center in Brunswick on Monday. The center recommends students take this course before enrolling in the 40-hour heat pump training. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

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.

Roger Mitchell, dean of the Maine Energy Marketers Association’s Technical Education Center, talks about heat pump training at the Brunswick facility on Thursday. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

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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Athletes aged 45 and older compete in the Maine Senior Games cycling event in Brunswick on Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. Cooper Sullivan photo

BRUNSWICK — Winning the Maine Senior Games’ cycling race may not compare to the prestige of a Tour de France victory, but that hardly mattered for the athletes who competed Sunday.

This was the fourth straight year the 20-kilometer race was held at Brunswick Landing. It was also one of the largest fields, with 45 cyclists from across Maine and New Hampshire competing.

The 10k time trials and 20k road race attracted cyclists aged 45 and older. Maine and New Hampshire collaborate on the Senior Games cycling race and host one event. The 2023 event featured a field in the low 30s, organizers said.

Gary Prince of Stratham, N.H., said Sunday he was trying to earn a trip to the 2025 national Senior Games, held next July and August in Des Moines, Iowa. The top-three finishers in each age division qualify for the national competition.

Prince, 82, has been cycling for over 30 years and won competitions up and down the East Coast. He and his wife Lorraine center their vacations around where the next road race is. Once Gary signs up, they pack their car with a makeshift mechanic station in the trunk and make a trip of it.

“His legs are aching, and I ask him ‘Why keep doing it?’ Lorraine said about her husband in between Sunday’s races. “He wants to do it. He never gives up.”

“It’s a good way to meet people and to bike at the same time,” Gary added.

Race results were not available Monday at press time.

For other athletes, like Kathleen Judice of Dayton, the Senior Games are the best opportunity to challenge themselves and compete against a field of one.

“I don’t have the foggiest idea,” Judice, 54, said prior to her first official bike race since the 1990s. “I’m just going to push myself and see what I can do.”

Judice, 54, and her husband Stephen, 53, signed up for the Brunswick 10-kilometer time trial less than 24 hours earlier, after the masters track and field meet they were participating in Augusta that Saturday finished at a reasonable hour.

Athletes aged 45 and older compete in the Maine Senior Games cycling event in Brunswick on Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. Cooper Sullivan photo

Even as a lifelong athlete and current track and field coach, Judice is a Senior Games rookie. She hopes to qualify for 2025 Nationals in one of the triathlon sports. She also wants keep signing up for other events, like buoy toss or cornhole just because they look like fun.

“The community is so friendly, welcoming and helpful,” Judice said. “I didn’t have the right size shotput at a track and field event and someone said ‘Here, just borrow mine.’”

The community aspect is one of the reasons Suzanne LaCroix of Standish stays involved as a Maine Senior Games volunteer. Since starting in 2017, LaCroix tries to help out at as many events as she can.

On Sunday, she and 12-15 other volunteers were tasked with standing along the 2.1-mile-long loop around Southern Maine Community College, the Brunswick Rec Center and the Naval Aviation Museum to direct traffic- both cars and cyclists. Although it wasn’t an official task, LaCroix would cheer on every athlete with the same enthusiasm as the last.

“Everyone that participates encourages each other,” she said. “People are now friends and they have their own support groups.”

LaCroix wasn’t the only cheerleader, as a crowd of about 20 stood by the finish line. Signs saying “Chafe Ur Dreams” and “Use Yer Legs” were waved during each lap.

Volunteers are crucial to the operations of Maine Senior Games. As Karen Reardon, the organization’s lead coordinator, explained to the athletes beforehand, safety concerns have seen the number of cycling races around the country go down.

Reardon did not hear of any course safety issues on Sunday and considered it overall to be a “good day,” a testament to the volunteer team after early morning car trouble and technical issues with the timing system almost put a damper on the event.

“There’s a bigger cycling community that wants to keep everything rolling,” Reardon said. “They love their sport, they have a passion for their sport, so they’re here to try to do their thing. We’re here to try to make that happen.”

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The delivery service that moves library materials across Maine will resume Sept. 3, months after it was suspended because of a contract dispute.

Sarah Schultz-Nielsen, director of Lithgow Public Library, packs interlibrary loan pouches back into a shipping bin at the Augusta library in June. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Libraries were notified in June that the popular interlibrary loan service would be suspended while the state heard an appeal from Freedom Xpress Inc., a Brewer-based company that handled the deliveries for 12 years but was not awarded a new contract. Ultimately, an appeals board upheld the Maine State Library’s decision to give the contract to STAT Courier, a national library courier company based in Missouri.

Maine State Librarian Lori Fisher said in a statement Monday that the van delivery service “has been deeply missed” by academic, public and school libraries that rely on interlibrary loans.

“I am grateful to the public, school and academic libraries who bore the brunt of this pause in service due to the complex legal appeal process we were required to navigate after the Request For Proposal award was announced,” Fisher said. “We heard from many Maine residents who were impacted by the disruption in service, which underscores the need for information and resource sharing statewide.”

More than 180 libraries participate in the service, with more 1 million items transported each year, according to Fisher.

The state’s bid process did not require the contract be awarded to the lowest bidder. According to the state library, STAT Courier was chosen because it provides a dedicated service – its trucks, drivers and sorters deal with library materials only – with no additional stops for other types of deliveries. The company has three sorting hubs in Maine with a process to shuttle materials between them to help with efficiency.

After Freedom Xpress filed an appeal, the Department of Administrative and Financial Services told the state library that it could not yet sign a new contract, but was able to start final negotiations to limit the amount of time the service was suspended.

Fisher said STAT Courier will officially begin van delivery service on Aug. 26. During a one-week transition period, the company will get stranded materials back to their home libraries and test new delivery routes.

After the service disruption was announced in June, library directors and patrons lamented the pause. The loss was particularly acute in rural towns, where small libraries have limited resources. Some libraries got creative to fill the gap while the appeals process was underway.

The South Portland Public Library teamed up with eight others in the area to offer a smaller version of interlibrary loans they dubbed “Mini-ME.” Kevin Davis, director of the library in South Portland, said patrons are looking forward to again having access to materials from many libraries.

“Working with our local library colleagues, we have done our best to minimize the impact created by the disruption in delivery service this summer,” he said in a statement. “However, nothing can match the selection and diversity of materials available when delivery service is fully up and running.”

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