Date of Award
2025
Document Type
Honors Thesis (Open Access)
Department
Colby College. Economics Dept.
Advisor(s)
Jen Meredith
Second Advisor
Dan LaFave
Abstract
Heat pumps are a growing trend as climate adaptation measures around the world and are gaining significant popularity and attention due to a number of environmental and social factors across Maine. Homeowners in Maine face difficult financial and personal pressures when considering a heat pump. Impacting this decision is a high cost of energy, a substantial rebate offsetting the purchase price, as well as summers and winters that are warming beyond record highs and lows. Previous research has looked at specific populations or large regions without considering the long-term personal drivers of this decision. I use data from Efficiency Maine, NOAA, and the US Census Bureau, to construct a dataset that captures the cost, location, financial, and social drivers that influence heat pump adoption. I uncover significant correlations between warm weather, rebate incentives, and politics on town level heat pump adoption. My findings have implications for the appropriate policy levers and interventions that need to be made to increase the heat pump adoption rate across the state to hit statewide targets and beyond.
Keywords
Economics, Adoption, Adaptation, Incentive, Heating, Air-Conditioning
Recommended Citation
Margolis, Micah J., "Drivers of Heat Pump Installation in Maine: Climate Shocks, Politics, and Incentives" (2025). Honors Theses. Paper 1487.https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/honorstheses/1487
