Conor Marshall
The Mountaineers staff at the Seattle Program Center (SPC) have a tradition of ringing a large bell whenever we receive a sizable gift of financial support. On a dreary morning in mid-January, I heard that bell chime. While I figured we were in for some uplifting news, I had no idea how incredible it would be. After years of working to fully fund the transition from gas-powered heating to renewable energy at the SPC, The Mountaineers had been awarded a $324,000 decarbonization grant from Puget Sound Energy (PSE).
In addition to a $150,000 grant secured from the City of Seattle’s Office of Sustainability & Environment in 2024, the PSE grant award gives us the funding needed to convert the building’s heat source away from fossil fuels and achieve one of the largest steps toward our goal of making the SPC a net zero carbon emissions facility. Switching to energy-efficient heat pumps will not only further decarbonize the building and reduce our organizational carbon footprint, it will provide air conditioning in popular programming spaces.
The volunteers behind the project
Funding the installation of heat pumps and securing a key achievement for The Mountaineers carbon footprint reduction efforts wouldn’t have been possible without the vision, expertise, inspiring philanthropy, and fundraising support from members of the Carbon Footprint Reduction Committee (CFRC).
Longtime Committee chair Geoff Lawrence and founding members Jim Burke and Charlie Michel have been discussing the SPC’s transition to heat pumps since 2020. Over the last four years, I’ve had the opportunity to support the work of the CFRC’s dedicated volunteers and have seen firsthand how passionate they are about fighting the climate crisis, one energy reduction project at a time. These committee members are true visionaries. They not only powered the incremental work of discussing new projects, unearthing funding opportunities, and communicating the importance of sustainability and individual carbon footprint reduction to our community, but also encouraged our staff to learn, dream big, and take significant strides to reduce our organizational carbon footprint.
The CFRC was instrumental in achieving net zero status for our Tacoma Program Center (TPC) in 2024, positioning the building as a beacon of sustainability and community resilience, and has already done important work toward our net zero vision in Seattle. In 2019, we added an array of solar panels to the SPC and completed smaller upgrades, including converting to an electric fireplace (thanks in part to philanthropic support from Charlie Michel and other committee members).
The strong community partnerships and deep impact of project success at the TPC inspired the CFRC to bring the same level of sustainability to our Seattle home at Magnuson Park. Following a similar blueprint used to fund and install heat pumps and reach net zero in Tacoma, the CFRC homed in on their next milestone in Seattle by soliciting a building energy audit for the SPC, working with contractors to prepare project plans, and relentlessly seeking grant funding to make this fully funded project a reality.
Our successful application to Puget Sound Energy garnered high marks from reviewers and yielded strong support from Seattle Parks and Recreation and the City of Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment. “I think what really put us over the top and led to our success on the PSE grant was our extensive study and design work,” says CFRC member Charlie Michel.
“Once again, The Mountaineers is a model for an organization with outstanding leadership, committed staff, and dedicated volunteers,” says CFRC member Jim Burke. “We’re setting an example for the nonprofit community by leading the way on carbon footprint reduction. I’m encouraged by our prospects for funding the remaining pieces of the Seattle project.”
Heat pumps at the Tacoma Program Center.
Striving for net zero carbon emissions in Seattle
As a community that cares deeply about a healthy future for our lands, waters, and communities, The Mountaineers recognizes the need to respond to the climate crisis by aggressively reducing our impact on the environment. Our commitment to sustainability is embodied in our organizational vision to achieve net zero carbon emissions from our facilities and operations.
Reaching net zero for the SPC will save an estimated 7,260 therms of natural gas and 85,000 pounds of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere a year. This carbon savings is equivalent to taking eight gas-powered cars off the road each year.
“The Mountaineers is grateful for the investment in and support of this project by Puget Sound Energy and the City of Seattle,” says CFRC Chair Geoff Lawrence. “Their partnership is a critical piece to decarbonizing and achieving net zero carbon emissions at the Seattle Program Center.”
Installation of the heat pumps is anticipated to commence this spring, with a target completion date of late summer. We look forward to keeping our community updated as the project progresses.
HELP US REACH OUR GOAL
Our progress to reduce the carbon footprint of Mountaineers facilities and operations wouldn’t be possible without the support of our community. Thanks to the work of the CFRC and support from members like you, it’s just a matter of time before our net zero vision becomes a reality.
As the implementation phase of the heat pumps project commences, the CFRC will be seeking additional grant funding for outstanding projects to get the SPC building electrification project across the net zero finish line. These sub-projects include:
- Adding solar capacity to the existing solar array and installing a battery backup system. During sunny months, our enhanced solar panel system is expected to generate more electricity than it consumes.
- Installing restroom occupancy sensors, reducing energy use by allowing the fans to turn off when spaces are unoccupied.
- Replacing the electric resistance water heater with a more energy-efficient heat pump water heater.
Although smaller in scale, these upgrades will help power the building during an outage and transform the SPC into a community resilience center. Consider a gift to The Mountaineers Net Zero Fund today in support of this important work.
This article originally appeared in our 2026: Issue 2 of Mountaineer magazine. To view the original article in magazine form and read more stories from our publication, visit our magazine archive.
