Heating Solutions
Businesses can save money, increase equipment reliability, and create more comfortable and productive workplaces by making energy-efficient choices when installing, renovating, or replacing heating equipment. Incentives are currently available for:
- Central heating systems (including high-efficiency boilers and furnaces);
- Supplemental or space heating systems (including heat pumps); and
- Controls (including programmable thermostats).
Systems can be fueled by natural gas, oil, and propane and can include ductless heat pumps and variable refrigerant flow systems.
Scroll down to learn more about eligible high-efficiency systems and controls:
Central Heating Systems
Commercial Boilers and Furnaces
Many businesses are heated with either a boiler or furnace. Energy-efficient models are available for all heating fuels. If you’re thinking about replacing your system, consider a new high-efficiency boiler or furnace. Click here for a full list of incentivized boilers and furnaces.
Biomass Boilers and Furnaces
Biomass boilers and furnaces are heating systems that are powered by local, renewable fuels. These systems burn pellets or cordwood and distribute heat through a heating distribution system. Click for more information. Click here for more information.
Supplemental or Space Heating Systems
Businesses may be able to offset the load of their primary heating system or meet additional heating needs with a high-efficiency supplemental heating system.
High-Performance Heat Pumps
High-performance heat pumps can be used as a heating system. These heat pumps can be installed in areas of your business that have temperature control issues often time because of heat distribution challenges. Units must meet the minimum HSPF (Heating Season Performance Factor) requirements in order to qualify for incentives from Efficiency Maine. Learn more about available incentives here.
Click here to go to our high-performance heat pump web center to learn more about the technology, read case studies and more.
Variable-Frequency Drive (VFD) Systems
Variable-frequency drives are retrofit systems used to help heat buildings in a more efficiency manner. A VFD system controls an electric motor through changes in frequency and voltage, allowing the heating systems in a building to run more efficiently.
Click here for more details on incentives for variable-frequency drive systems.
Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) Systems
In a commercial setting ERVs are used to condition outside air that ventilates into a building, taking the load off of a heating or cooling system and making them more efficient. There are several types of ERVs depending on the needs of a building:
- Rotary heat exchanger – plastic or metal wheels that rotate between the exhaust and incoming airflow, picking up heat from one airstream and transferring it to another.
- Plate heat exchanger – a fixed core allows air to flow through channels, heating or cooling down material within the channels and allowing energy to transfer.
- Heat pipe heat exchanger – heat pipes, which are filled with refrigerant, are used to transport air between the exhaust and the outside airflow. One channel heats the refrigerant to cause evaporation while another cools the pipe to cause condensation.
- Runaround coil heat exchanger – a water coil is used in the exhaust and in the incoming ventilation air stream. Two coils are filled with a water and glycol mix to keep it operational. Heat is moved from one tube to the other.
Click here for more information on ERV incentives.
Circulator Pumps
Forced hot water (“hydronic”) heating systems use circulator pumps to move heated water from boilers to radiators and back. These pumps run whenever a thermostat calls for heat.
ECM Circulator Pumps
Traditional circulator pumps run at one fixed speed and use some electricity to magnetize their rotor. Electronically commutated motor (ECM) circulator pumps can modulate their speed and use permanent magnet motors that don’t require any electricity to have magnetic properties. ECM circulator pumps provide a number of advantages. Learn more about available incentives here. Click here to learn more about circulator pumps.
Heating Controls
Businesses can improve heating system efficiency by adding controls to existing systems. Efficiency Maine incentivizes burner controls, boiler economizers, boiler resets, oxygen-trim controls, programmable thermostats, and more. Click here to learn more about incentives for heating controls.
Get Started
Ready to upgrade your facility with high-efficiency equipment and appliances? Work with an Efficiency Maine Qualified Partner in order to be eligible for these incentives. See our Qualified Partner video for more information on this process.
Click here to find a Qualified Partner working near you. If you work with a contractor that is not yet a Qualified Partner, urge your contractor to find out more information here. As part of the project approval process, you will accept the C&I Prescriptive Program’s Terms and Conditions.
If you’re interested in getting started with an energy efficiency project in your business but don’t know where to start, you can sign-up for a virtual customer consultation here.