Manufactured — or mobile — homes make up about 8% of the housing in Maine. Most of them are heated with oil, kerosene, or propane.
Mistro: “And all of these are relatively expensive heating fuels.”
Dan Mistro is with Efficiency Maine, an agency that runs the state’s energy efficiency programs.
He says electric air source heat pumps can provide a cheaper — and cleaner — alternative.
So his group has been running a pilot program to show that heat pumps can heat homes even during Maine’s cold winters.
Casagranda: “We had two days last year where it was 15 below … but we were fine. You know, I was very comfortable, so it worked well.”
Marianna Casagranda of Freeport was one of 10 mobile homeowners who received a heat pump system in the first year of the program. She’s used it as her sole source of heat since January 2022.
Casagranda: “And it’s been going great since then.”
Participants had the option to revert to their old heating systems free of charge if they did not like the heat pumps. But nobody chose to.
Casagranda says heating her home now costs less than when she was paying for propane.
And she says she’s happy to reduce her impact on the climate, so she’s keeping her heat pump.
Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media