In April, we published “2024 in review Part I,” which discussed the HeatSmart Alliance’s (Alliance) coaching and outreach efforts last year. Part II will cover what our technology working group has been up to, as well as update you on membership growth and changes in our organization.
The HeatSmart Alliance is known for connecting people in Massachusetts to heat pump coaches who can educate them about the ways these devices can reduce energy consumption, what kind of heat pump is best suited to their lifestyle, and how to talk to installers.
But there is more going on behind the scenes at the Alliance, as well. We have a Technology Working Group that’s staffed by retired engineers, which reviews the latest research on how to use and install heat pumps. It produces and maintains User Guides and Tech Notes that offer detailed advice to heat pump coaches and their clients.
Last year, the technology working group published tech notes on Air-to-Water Heat Pumps, Heat Pump Water Heaters, ducting for Central Air Source Heat Pumps, and Ground Source Heat Pumps, among others. See the full list on our Recommended Resources page, and stay tuned: Some of their findings will be turned into blogs.
The Technology Working Group also maintains the Heat Load Analysis (HLA) Tool that’s posted on our website. For those of you who don’t know, the HLA is a sophisticated Excel workbook that coaches can use to estimate a household’s heat load and heat loss rate. It is one of our most popular resources.
Membership
But to continue coaching homeowners, getting the word out about heat pumps, and staying current on the latest heating and cooling technologies, the Alliance needs new volunteers! Fortunately, the organization keeps growing. While there were just over 100 of us in 2023, by the end of last year, we numbered 142, and we had a presence in 61 Massachusetts communities– up from 43 the year before!
We’re so grateful for, and energized by, all the wonderful people who partner with us and who are helping us move the needle on reducing carbon pollution!
Organization
Last year was important for another reason as well. It’s when we decided that the organizational structure we were relying on was no longer meeting our needs.
When the Alliance came together in 2021, there were only a handful of us, so we opted for a flat, one-member-one-vote model of decision-making. But as membership grew to over 100, we found it difficult to respond to new situations in a timely way: Every choice we faced – whether it was approving the annual budget and fundraising plan, hiring a web-developer to update our website, or allowing members from out-of-state – had to be submitted to a general vote, with people who were intimately familiar with the Alliance’s activities having as much say in the outcome as members who were much less involved.
So, after a lot of internal discussion and reviewing advice from volunteer management consultants, we decided to transition to a more traditional model of decision-making with an elected board of directors.
After a general vote, the plan was approved by our membership and went into effect in June of 2024.
Today, we are proud to have 7 highly committed board members helping set the Alliance’s direction, four of whom are longstanding Alliance members, and three of whom are from organizations that have missions similar to ours.
We are confident that this organizational model will allow us to broaden our impact and address future challenges, so that we can continue to show our friends, neighbors and communities how they can lead the way on sustainable energy use.
