Progress Report: The Spark: How Neighbors Are Banding Together to Go Greener

Why this story matters: Beyond the surface-level noise of daily events, there are deep, systemic improvements taking place in our society. This detailed report looks at how coordinated efforts and smart policy are finally yielding the positive results we’ve been waiting for.

Quick summary: This story highlights recent developments related to energy efficient, showing how constructive action can lead to meaningful results.

Welcome back to The Spark, our monthly celebration of how people just like you are creating positive change, one meaningful step at a time. The Spark is generously supported by Laura Rice. Sign up to Reasons to be Cheerful’s weekly newsletter here and you’ll get The Spark in your inbox at the start of each month

In this issue

🌡️ How coaches (heat) pump up homes

🌞 Neighbors unite for cheaper solar

🪟 Build your own heat-saving window inserts

Hand-holding for the heat pump transition

Perched on a small peninsula jutting from Massachusetts’ rocky North Shore, the town of Marblehead appears, at first glance, to be a picturesque piece of the past. But upon closer inspection, inside the antique colonial homes that line its narrow streets, a very modern green revolution is taking root — thanks, in part, to Lisa Wolf.

As a volunteer heat pump coach, Wolf is trained to help her neighbors switch from fossil fuel heating methods, like furnaces and boilers, to more energy-efficient heat pumps. Working one-on-one, she helps homeowners figure out their options, assuages their anxieties and guides them through the steps to make their homes a part of America’s green transition.

It’s an urgent task: About 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from home energy use. Technologies like electric heat pumps are about 3.5 times more energy efficient than conventional alternatives.

Marblehead is one of more than 60 municipalities across Massachusetts that have a heat pump coaching program through the all-volunteer statewide organization HeatSmart Alliance. Co-founded by a retired engineer and a former energy consultant in 2020, the organization conducts multiple online sessions each year to train coaches, who learn how to help their neighbors navigate the often complex process of swapping out their heating and cooling systems for heat pumps.

“There is really no specific set of knowledge that you need to have, but the more you know, the better a coach you are,” Wolf says. Often, providing a list of local contractors and any relevant tax rebates kickstarts the process. “Even that gets people over the first hurdle of having no idea what to do.”

When a homeowner reaches out, coaches go for a walk-through to discuss specific needs. They’ll help homeowners understand nuances of heat pumps, like appropriate sizing, and talk through questions they may want to ask contractors.

Wolf first learned about HeatSmart Alliance when she worked as the sustainability coordinator for the town of Wellesley, and set up a coaching program there. She went on to launch a coaching program through the local volunteer climate group in Marblehead, where she lives, and has since become HeatSmart’s coaching working group lead.

Part of what makes the approach so efficient, she says, is that communities set up their own chapters. This way, coaches are familiar with area contractors and know the particularities of local building stock. In Marblehead’s historic center, for example, homeowners can’t put double-pane windows on the fronts of their homes.

Organizing locally also helps build relationships among people who care about climate change, Wolf explains. “Especially now, when it feels like our deeply held values are under assault, it’s really important to have a community of people with shared values.”

Changing federal policy has been a major challenge, according to Wolf. Interest in heat pumps has sharply declined since Biden-era incentives expired at the end of 2025. But she notes that state rebates are still available.

While HeatSmart focuses on Massachusetts, the alliance has heard from people as far as Colorado and Arizona who have used their coaching resources to launch similar efforts in their own communities. Other organizations provide similar training programs for coaches, focusing on other green energy options.

To start a coaching program, Wolf recommends gathering a cohort of likeminded people and going through a training program together. The model works best, she says, with at least three people in organizing roles: someone to handle IT, like setting up a website; someone to field referrals, connecting interested homeowners with coaches; and someone to do outreach, to make the community aware that coaches are available.

Register for a free training program to become a coach through HeatSmart Alliance (Massachusetts-based) or Rewiring America’s Electric Coach certification program.

HeatSmart Alliance has also published a handbook for coaches.

Ganging up to go solar

In 2007, a pair of teenage friends in Washington, D.C., Walter and Diego, saw the movie An Inconvenient Truth, a cautionary tale about climate change that stopped them in their tracks. But when they talked to Walter’s mother about switching their homes to solar energy, she looked into it and found that the costs were too high. The problem? Scale. To solarize just one home meant paying for all the materials and labor themselves. But if they could get the community on board, they could negotiate a better price.

So they started knocking on doors in an effort to recruit more likeminded folks. Soon, some 50 other homes had signed on, giving rise to Solar United Neighbors, an organization that helps communities across the country form solar co-ops. These collections of property owners, usually ranging between 30 and 100 members, are able to get more competitive bids from solar installers — helping to reduce the price, often one of the biggest barriers faced by homeowners looking to go green.

To learn more about forming a solar co-op, check out Solar United Neighbors’ guide.

Keeping the heat in

Windows don’t just let in light: They also allow up to 30 percent of a home’s heating or cooling energy to escape. In northern New England, when temperatures start to drop, volunteers make older buildings more energy efficient by building window inserts that help prevent heat from seeping out.

Every year, at community builds hosted throughout the region, volunteers with the Maine-based organization Window Dressers build custom-sized pine frames and wrap them tightly in clear plastic. Priced on a sliding scale with lowest income customers getting inserts for free, the simple frames help community members reduce their heating costs and make their homes more energy efficient.

Learn about upcoming Window Dressers community builds or find out how to start your own.

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