WAITSFIELD, Vt. (WCAX) – A pair of Mad River Valley inns are doing their part to help the environment, switching to heat pumps and hoping to lead by example.
The Waitsfield Inn’s Frank Giubardo this winter swapped out their oil-burning system for heat pumps.
“It is the right thing to do,” Giubardo said. “Having two 300-gallon tanks of oil down in the basement of this place, it never felt right to me.”
Green Mountain Power assessed the 200-year-old inn, pitching in 55% of the $160,000 project. Giubardo covered the rest with a low-interest loan through Efficiency Vermont and the Vermont State Employees Credit Union. He’ll pay it off in five years and save over $5,000 annually.
Giubardo says guests are amazed at how quiet and efficient the pumps are. “If the room is cold and we turn it on, it cycles up really quick and the room gets warm,” he said.
And Giubardo isn’t the only innkeeper making the switch. Down the road, owners at the Featherbed Inn installed heat pumps 18 months ago. Like Giubardo, co-owner Mick Rookwood wanted to reduce their carbon footprint. “I believe that it’s worth us investing in our children’s future — our future, and our children’s future — even if it doesn’t save us money,” Rookwood said.
Efficiency Vermont connected Rookwood with a $40,000 grant from GMP. He paid the remaining $45,000 out of pocket. He expects to break even in a decade or so. He says he’d make the change again but had hoped for a quicker turnaround. “That’s really hard to justify investing that much cash in something that has a 10, maybe 15-year payback,” he said.
Efficiency Vermont’s Tori Thibeault says they recognize the switch to heat pumps can be daunting and expensive but they aim to find the best possible deal for clients. “Our goal is really to make sure that businesses are aware that there is this financing option for their energy efficiency project,” she said.
Rookwood says he wants to see larger grants put toward these projects. “If we’re gonna get serious about decarbonizing, we need to start throwing more money at it,” he said.
The owners of both inns say they hope more businesses consider whether a switch to heat pumps could work for them.
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