Featured CED Projects
Alaska Healthcare Innovation Accelerator (AHIA)
The Alaska Healthcare Innovation Accelerator (AHIA) brought together Alaska's healthcare innovators — from idea-stage founders to established organizations — for a free, cohort-based program designed to turn promising concepts into real solutions for our state's unique healthcare needs. Presented by the Alaska SBDC and the UA Center for Economic Development, the program paired participants with one-on-one coaching from mentors and clinicians, hands-on customer discovery, and a statewide network of peers, culminating in an Innovator Showcase where founders presented validated business models and pitches ready for their next steps.
Heat Pump Deployment in Alaska: Analysis and Policy Brief
This policy brief explores the potential for air source heat pumps (ASHPs) to serve as a viable, widespread alternative to natural gas furnaces and boilers in Anchorage. The University of Alaska Center for Economic Development (CED) conducted a two-part analysis: (1) a quantitative model estimating household heating costs, natural gas savings, and the economic feasibility of switching under a range of scenarios, and (2) stakeholder interviews with energy experts, utilities, policymakers, and housing professionals to identify barriers to adoption and develop policy recommendations.
Key findings:
Heat pumps can reduce household natural gas use by approximately 24% compared to furnaces or boilers.
At current electric rates, switching would cost the average homeowner about $2,300 more per year.
Revised electric rate designs could improve the financial case for adoption.
If 25% of households adopted heat pumps by 2045, Anchorage could avoid more than 1 million tons of CO₂ emissions.
Alaska Public Media recently highlighted CED’s study on the impact and viability of increasing heat pump adoption in Anchorage. Listen to the radio interview here: https://lnkd.in/e75SqNMx
Legislative Fact Sheets
Data often influences legislators’ decision-making, but finding the information they need, when they need it, can be challenging. Information broken down by district can be especially hard to find.
UA CED created the 2025 Economic and Demographic Factsheets as a way to provide quick, handy reference information that’s relevant to legislators when making decisions impacting their districts. We’ve included indicators like population, educational attainment, income levels, use of public benefits, and more. We hope this is useful to lawmakers, their staff, journalists, and members of the public.
