Combustion can no longer be seen as the one cost-effective means for electricity generation, space heating, transportation, or even cooking. But consumers have been slow to upgrade from fossil fueled machines to efficient electric-powered equipment. Maine exceeded a goal of over 100,000 residential installations of heat pumps since 2019, yet many households in the Northeast are not familiar with this type of heating and cooling. If an existing heating system stops working, an unprepared homeowner is most likely to maintain the same fuel source. Two years after passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), many U.S. homeowners are unaware of available electrification and efficiency incentives.
Rewiring America, Inc. (RAI), a non-profit organization, was founded to provide consumer home electrification education, and became leaders in web-publicizing the IRA’s tax credits. They offer free online training to volunteer coaches who will provide outreach and consulting in their communities. Their course spans heat pumps for space heating/cooling and hot water, solar, battery storage, and induction cooktops. Coaches can help homeowners become more savvy energy consumers. While not energy professionals, they offer free objective help for developing transition plans, understanding rules for available incentives, and finding energy auditors and contractors. In May 2024 I joined 700+ other “Electrification Coaches” nationwide. Much of this article’s content reflects our training.
RAI notes that 42% of U.S. CO2 emissions arise from our household energy consumption—mainly how we heat and cool, what we drive, and other home energy choices. Collectively we have opportunities for making significant reductions in pollution when adopted in many homes. New electrical appliances are typically two or three times as energy efficient as their fossil counterparts, lowering waste and operating costs, and often benefiting comfort and safety. Transition costs are reduced by Federal tax credits, or rebates for lower income households, including $8000 for heat pump purchases! New York led states in rolling out rebates, with others to follow in 2025.
Your vehicle is likely to be the largest emissions reduction opportunity; electric vehicles have much lower operating costs despite our region’s high electricity rates.
After transportation, heating our Northeast residences offers the major opportunity for reducing emissions and operating costs. New Hampshire’s Department of Environmental Services estimates annual energy cost savings of more than $2,700 when a typical household replaces propane heat with heat pumps, or more than $1000 when replacing oil. And the same equipment offers very efficient cooling for increasingly hot summers. HVAC suppliers may propose costly “backup” fossil fuel heat. In the past, backup may have been needed to take over when heat output of old “standard” heat pumps dropped way off at frigid temperatures. Backup is typically unnecessary with cold climate heat pumps which maintain heat output in sub-zero outside temperatures (see graph). Proper home air sealing and insulation also have comfort and efficiency benefits.
An ideal early step toward electrifying your home is to plan ahead for when fossil fuel appliances are nearing their end-of-life. Check out RAI’s Personal Electrification Planner:
https://homes.rewiringamerica.org/personal-electrification-planner.
To locate a coach within your region, fill out a ‘Find a Coach’ form that goes to RAI staff who can hopefully match you up with an available coach. https://ethbn4yv43q.typeform.com/to/fvNSTqSP
There will be over a thousand Electric Coach volunteers by the end of 2024 nationwide. Please consider applying to become a coach, as more growth will be needed. Training spans four weeks, with a weekly 90-minute webinar-type class enhanced by smaller hourlong interactive sessions. Weekly quizzes and a short trial coaching experience are part of becoming certified. For my final project, I applied several tools to a client’s goal of replacing a gas boiler with a heat pump with the challenge of having 100 Amp electrical service–borderline for some heat pump installations.
By the time of publication, available training sessions will be in 2025. Check at https://homes.rewiringamerica.org/learning/electric-coaches for information and application.
Click here to see more in the Green Energy Times.
~Bill Coder