The federal government has invested $500,000 in a program to help heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) technicians build skills to install heat pumps.

The funding was announced by Julie Dabrusin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, and supports a proposal put forward by the Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada (HRAI).

The current residential HVAC workforce employs thousands of technicians whose skills need to be updated as the heating and cooling industry evolves. The federal investment will help HRAI to:

• create a benchmark of skills and knowledge needed to safely and competently install and service electric heat pumps;
• identify the skills gap in the existing workforce;
• work with colleges to develop training that can be delivered in an accelerated and flexible format to address the identified gaps; and
• pilot this training with a small group of gas and licensed technicians in Ontario.

“This project will identify specific skills deficiencies and the education the current workforce may need to support today’s (and tomorrow’s) heat pump technologies,” said Martin Luymes, Vice President, Government and Stakeholder Relations, HRAI. “It will inform employers and training providers in the industry about needed training development and will help focus apprenticeship efforts for in-the-field experience.”

Electric heat pumps are a proven technology that heat and cool homes and other buildings by using electricity to move heat from one space to another. In the winter, they draw heat from the outside air and pump it into indoor spaces. In warmer weather, they remove heat from an indoor space, thereby cooling it.

As of 2023, seven percent of Canadian homes are using electric heat pumps as their primary heating system, one in four Canadian homeowners is planning to replace primary heating systems in the next five years, and 300,000 heat pumps were shipped to Canada in 2021, 20 percent more than gas furnaces.

The average Canadian home that uses heating oil spends $2,000 to $5,500 on energy bills per year, depending on the province or territory – making it the most expensive heating option. Homeowners who switch from an oil furnace to a cold climate heat pump could save approximately $1,500 to $4,500 per year on their home energy bills.

HRAI is receiving funding for its project remedying the heat pump technology skills gap from the Low Carbon Economy Fund’s Implementation Readiness Fund stream and the federal Toward Net-Zero Homes and Communities program.