Campaign & Heat Pump FAQs

Kicking Gas is a grassroots campaign to decarbonize the Island County and Snohomish County communities by helping homes and businesses transition away from propane, oil, natural gas, or wood to efficient heat pumps, as well as induction electric stoves and heat pump hot water. Offering decarbonization subsidies of 20 - 75% of the total project cost up to $10,000, as well as a low-interest microloan option, Kicking Gas hopes to make climate action easy and affordable.

Yes! All interested parties must have attended an info session and filled out our five-minute survey no later than May 21, 2025. Sign up for Info Session here, and then take our survey.

Currently, our electric utility, Puget Sound Energy, gets more than half its electricity from burning fossil fuels. However, in the near future, electricity will be clean: State law requires PSE to stop burning coal by the end of 2025 and to provide “carbon-neutral” electricity by 2030. Heat pumps last for 15 - 20 years, so you will be using increasingly clean electricity for the majority of the life of your heat pump. If everyone in the Pacific region switched from gas to an electric heat pump, we would cut our carbon emissions from home heating by almost 80%! 

See PSE’s fuel mix here.

There are also health benefits from switching combustion appliances to electric. Replacing wood stoves, gas-powered heating systems, and propane cooktops with electric alternatives like ductless heat pumps and induction stoves reduces indoor air pollution and is essential for a healthy home.

IIf you live in Island County or Snohomish County AND

• If you live in a home that is heated with propane, oil, natural gas, wood or wood pellets AND

• If your household makes at or below 150% of your county’s area median income

Then your home is (most likely) eligible! Final eligibility is determined by your survey responses, a site visit, and income verification. For detailed eligibility terms, please take our survey so that our team can assess eligibility.

Depending on your household income, it will be 20% - 75%, up to a maximum of $10,000. The 50% subsidy is available to households with incomes at or below 120% of Area Median Income. This is determined based on the size of the household as well as the income. Local businesses are also eligible for a 50% subsidy as well.

There are several options available to help you go ahead with a project if your portion of the cost is a barrier. If it’s helpful to pay half of your portion up front, and the other half a couple of months later when you get the installation, we can work with you to arrange that. We also have low-interest microloans available through our campaign partner, Salish Sea Cooperative Finance. With this option, you can pay $500 up front, and, for the remainder of your cost, get a loan at 5% interest with a term of 1-5 years (depending on what kind of monthly payment works for you). With the money you’ll be saving on energy, in particular if you use propane or oil, we hope that your monthly payments will be mostly offset. Another bonus to getting a microloan is that the money you pay will go back into a dedicated loan fund to be used for future energy efficiency projects, so your money stays local and will continue to benefit the community.

To qualify for a subsidy, we will ask to see a copy of your most recent tax return. We count “income” as the adjusted gross income on the tax return. If this doesn’t make sense for your household, we have alternative methods of verification.

Yes, regardless of whether you rent or own, if your home is heated with propane, oil, natural gas, wood or pellet stove, and you meet our income requirements, there are subsidies available to whomever pays for the installation. We will give you support to talk to your landlord about this.

Yes, we have supported several businesses in making the transition to electric. Please fill out the survey and contact annie@kickgasnow.org for more information.

To receive the decarbonization subsidy, we strongly recommend you use one of our preferred vetted installers. In Island County we are working with Island Ductless Heat Pumps, Energywise and AP Mechanical. In Snohomish County we are working with AirGanic. You may use any local installer, so long as the equipment meets certain efficiency specifications and the installer offers customer service and maintenance that will ensure your system functions for years to come.

The Washington State University Community Energy Efficiency Program along with the Climate Commitment Act is funding the Kicking Gas campaign via For the People, our nonprofit fiscal sponsor. In addition, we are raising funds from the community to further support our work. You can donate to help your neighbors kick gas here.

A ductless heat pump, or DHP, is a highly efficient heating and cooling system that does not require the use of air ducts. Ductless systems consist of an outdoor compressor unit and one or more indoor air-handling units, called “heads,” linked by a dedicated refrigerant line. Indoor heads are typically mounted high on a wall. Each indoor head corresponds with a heating and cooling zone that can be controlled independently.

Ductless heat pumps use liquid refrigerants, copper coils and heat spreaders to extract heat from the outside air—even in frigid winter weather—and feed it into homes. Unlike other heating options, heat pumps provide both heating and cooling services. In the summer, heat pumps can cool your home by reversing the direction of the refrigerant flow. They cool rooms by extracting warm air and moisture from inside the house and expelling the excess heat outside. The system is controlled by a remote control that allows you to set the temperature and the operation mode: heating, cooling or dehumidifying.

Ductless systems are up to three times more efficient than baseboard, wall heat, or electric furnaces.

Heat pumps are inherently more efficient than furnaces since the pumps simply transfer heat, where a furnace is working to generate heat. This means heat pumps require less energy to operate in temperate climates, like Whidbey. Another advantage of heat pumps is that they can both heat and cool.  With either system, home insulation is key.  Ducts are notoriously inefficient as the air will cool (or heat on warm days) as it passes through the ducts, while blowing around dust and other particulates. 

Ductless heating and cooling systems were developed in Japan in the 1970s and have since become a preferred heating and cooling system throughout Asia and much of Europe. In the United States, ductless systems have been used in commercial applications for over 20 years.

Before the Kicking Gas buy down and any tax credits that may apply, a single-zone installed ductless system costs between $5,000 and $7,000. Additional heating zones and greater heating capacities will increase the cost of the system.

Kicking Gas offers a subsidy of 20% - 75% off the total installed cost up to $10,000, for eligible homes in Island County and Snohomish County (getting off of propane, oil, natural gas, or wood), while our funds last. 

Puget Sound Energy offers a $1,500 - $2,400 distributor rebate that is passed on to the customer by some installers, including Island Ductless.

The Inflation Reduction Act offers a Tax Credit of 30% of installed cost, up to a maximum of $2,000, for heat pump installation. Fine Print: To qualify for a tax credit, the heat pump must meet CEE Tier 2 standards for efficiency. If you want to take advantage of the tax credit, be sure to ask whether your installation will meet CEE Tier 2 standards.

The Inflation Reduction Act also will offer a small number of upfront rebates, which will be distributed through State programs, likely in late 2024. The High Efficiency Electric Home Rebate Act Covers 100% of electrification project costs for low-income households (who earn less than 80 percent of their Area Median Income) and 50% for those making less than 150% of Area Median Income.

Yes! Kicking Gas offers a $1,000 subsidy for an electric induction range and a $2,000 subsidy for heat pump water heaters. You can explore more options for rebates to electrify your life with the Inflation Reduction Act Calculator from Rewiring America. While Kicking Gas doesn’t yet have ready to go subsidies for all home electrification projects, we are interested in developing them depending on interest, and with your support. Please contact us to explore the possibilities.

Sorry, this program is targeted to getting people to switch from oil, propane or wood to a heat pump. If you already have a heat pump, then you are already saving!

In some cases, your installer may suggest a ducted system would work better for your situation. We support subsidies for ducted heat pump systems, IF your installer deems that the ductwork is suitable for a heat pump application. For example, if you want to re-use existing ductwork, the ductwork must be well insulated and sized appropriately for the gentle heat produced by heat pumps.

If you are currently heating with oil or propane, a ductless system will save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year. Ductless systems can save 25-50% in heating costs over other heating systems.

With proper maintenance and care, a ductless system should perform for over 20 years. 

A ductless system consists of an outdoor unit, an indoor head, and a remote control for easy temperature control. Connecting the outdoor unit to the indoor head requires only a three-inch hole in the wall for installation, eliminating the need for expensive and invasive ductwork. A ductless installation can be completed in just a few days.

Ductless systems are sized to meet the heating and cooling needs of a home’s individual zones. There is a great deal of flexibility when it comes to system sizing as one indoor unit can provide between ¾ and 2½ tons of heating and cooling depending on its BTU capacity rating.

Ductless systems require basic maintenance to ensure optimum performance. In most cases maintenance is limited to keeping filters and coils clean. These tasks can be performed at home by the resident, or by a heat pump installer. With proper maintenance and care, ductless systems should perform for more than 20 years.

You can run a heat pump on a generator and you should have an electrician determine the proper size. A heat pump on a 20 amp circuit would require a 3,880 watt generator. If you want to do more than just run your heat pump, you need a bigger generator. That said, Kicking Gas recommends you think outside the "generator" box: What would you need to ride out a power outage without a generator? Can you install a battery bank, solar panels, or use an electric vehicle (if you have one) as your battery bank to run critical loads, until the power comes back? More information is available here.

Some folks choose to completely remove old, inefficient systems, and permanently close off leaking ducts. (Yes!) Others may opt to keep some existing heat (for example, an electric space heater or wood stove) as supplementary heating in case of extreme weather conditions or for use in hard-to-reach extremities of the home. Your installer can help determine what is the best choice for you.

At this time we do not have a ready-to-go decommissioning measure, but we would like to help you explore options for getting rid of these. Based on interest and feasibility, we might be able to provide support. Talk to us!

In certain climates, ground source heat pumps (GSHP) can be even more efficient than air-source heat pumps (ASHP), but they have downsides for use around the Puget Sound.  GSHP are best in climates with high temperature variability, where it would take a lot of energy to pull heat from very cold air. In those climates, the steadier temps below ground help the heat pump run efficiently. However, GSHP installation requires extensive digging or drilling, permitting (in some locations), and dirt work with a high up-front cost.  Some properties may not have the ground space, and retroactive maintenance or adjustments to the ground system are costly. Typically, ASHP cost less to install, and will provide the quickest return on investment in moderate climates like the Puget Sound area, where the heat pump can easily work with our temperate climate conditions.