Colorado Heat Pump Week highlights clean energy jobs, rebates for home and business customers

It's Colorado Heat Pump Week, and the state is using the moment to spotlight both the technology's role in cutting energy emissions and a growing push to train workers to install the systems.

Heat pumps cool and heat indoor spaces, and the Denver Regional Council of Governments recently received a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to promote their use. As the region works to make homes and businesses healthier and improve air quality, officials say the shift is also opening the door to high-paying jobs for workers with the right training.

In Longmont, the nonprofit Power Ahead Colorado hosted an event Thursday for people interested in learning about clean energy technologies, training opportunities and careers in the field.

The event is part of a broader effort to train more than 4,800 workers for the building electrification workforce over the next five years, an initiative that includes upskilling 1,000 existing workers.

"We're talking about the launch of our Green Workforce Hub," said Clay McCombe, Power Ahead Colorado's program manager for workforce and industry. "We can promote heat pumps all we want, but at the end of the day, there needs to be people -- boots on the ground installing them -- HVAC technicians, and right now we're in a really dire workforce shortage."

The EPA grant also funds rebates for customers who install heat pumps in their homes and businesses. Those rebates can be stacked with Xcel Energy incentives, potentially saving homeowners and business owners thousands of dollars on the purchase of a heat pump.

Those interested in clean energy job opportunities can learn more at poweraheadcolorado.org/green-careers. Information on rebates for new heat pump installations is available at poweraheadcolorado.org/resources/rebate-program-overview.

See CBS Colorado anchor Mekialaya White's interview with Power Ahead Colorado Manager Robert Spotts.