Page 18 - Green Builder Sept-Oct 2020 Issue
P. 18
Electricity that is increasingly
generated from clean and renewable, 70%
sources like wind or solar power
Renewable OR
Gas that is drilled and fracked from 22%
Aspirations the ground
Other 8%
Planned improvement. By a wide margin, Californians who currently have natural gas-powered appliances at home want their
replacements to be renewable energy-driven ones. SOURCE: FM3 RESEARCH
LEAD—AND LEARN—BY EXAMPLE probably most importantly, training for contractors who recommend
Education can play a big role in helping people make the switch to appliances—Californians’ demand for this transition will only grow,”
electricity, according to Talero. As it stands now, many Americans Vespa says.
are not aware of the di erences between electricity and natural gas Many Californians may be personally unfamiliar with alternatives
for homes. to their gas appliances, but they strongly support an array of policies
A survey by FM Research, conducted in California earlier this that would allow them to power their appliances with renewable
year, found that three-quarters of its respondents have natural electricity, FM Research notes. Seventy percent of the rm’s survey
gas or propane furnaces and cook stoves. But percent of those respondents said they want their homes’ power to be generated by
respondents said they were unfamiliar with devices such as air source green sources, such as solar and wind.
heat pumps or heat pump water heaters. And barely over half— From a marketing standpoint, educating and convincing
percent—were even “somewhat familiar” with an induction cook consumers to opt for electrication means stressing the benets of
stove. having suitable products in the home. “There is a growing consensus
This represents an opportunity, according to Matt Vespa, a sta that building electrication is the most viable and predictable path to
attorney with Earthjustice, one of several environmental groups to zero-emission buildings,” notes Betony Jones, an inclusive economics
commission the survey. “With more information on the hazards of consultant to the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation “This consensus
gas, and increased familiarity with advanced electric appliances— is due to the availability of o -the-shelf, highly ecient electric
through events like induction stove lending programs, city expos and, technologies (such as heat pumps) and the continued reduction of
emission intensities in the electricity sector.”
There’s also a wider-ranging marketing
point: electrification’s overall impact on the
Presence of equipment and use of electricity environment. According to RMI, there are two
good reasons for houses to be all-electric: the
in U.S. homes (2015) uses only electricty health of the home’s residents and the health of
uses another fuel the planet. As noted earlier, the use of natural gas
in homes contributes to the million tons of
CO generated each year in the U.S. Gas stoves
air conditioning 87%
alsoemit pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide
clothes drying 64% and carbon monoxide into the home, resulting
in asthma and other ailments. Everyday indoor
cooking 60% activities, such as the cooking of meals, can
water heating 46% enable those invisible pollutants to easily reach
levels that would be illegal outdoors, according
space heating 29% to Bruce Nilles, RMI’s former managing director
hot tub 3% and current CEO of Energy Innovation, a San
Francisco-based environmental policy think tank.
pool 1% Not only is it safer and healthier to go all electric,
but the time is right, RMI adds. “New technologies
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
such as heat pumps and induction stoves are
Power surge. The overall percent of homes using all electricity vs. partial equipment is growing extremely ecient,” the institution notes. “And with
the price of renewable energy falling, people can
steadily, with air conditioning and clothes dryers leading the way. CREDIT: U.S. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION
a ordably run their appliances on clean energy.”
16 GREEN BUILDER September/October 2020 www.greenbuildermedia.com
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