Maine’s Heat Pump Boom Has Been Promising for Rural Workforce Development. Can It Last?

Maine’s Heat Pump Boom Has Been Promising for Rural Workforce Development. Can It Last?

This story was originally published by the Maine Monitor. The sputtered drone of a vacuum pump filled the former milking barn that now houses Kennebec Valley Community College’s heat pump lab. Instructor Dave Whittemore, who held the yellow vacuum in one hand and displayed an app tracking atmospheric pressure on his phone in the other, explained in a raised voice how to do an “evacuation,” ridding the heat pump of air and moisture to avoid malfu…