Electrification – Voices of Austin @CCLATX

Electrification of homes and buildings has been a core focus area of Citizens’ Climate Lobby for the past few years. The best way to reduce appliance emissions is to switch to clean energy and, “to increase the efficiency with which we use all forms of energy to provide the services we want – heating, cooling, cooking, lighting, and more.” Did you know, furnaces generally last 15 to 20 years and hot water heaters 8 to 12 years. Hence, it is essential that we start now to accelerate the process of converting these appliances to clean energy.

Upgrading homes and other buildings can both reduce emissions and save people money. Buildings currently represent over 30% of emissions in the United States. About 10% of building emissions come directly from onsite burning of fossil fuels and almost all the rest from generating the electricity buildings use. The biggest sources of direct emissions are space and water heaters, but stoves and clothes dryers are other examples in the residential sector.

Austin Energy has an smart incentive program to help you convert to electric appliances of all kinds, from thermostats to Energy Star refrigerators, heat pump water heaters, clothes dryers, and freezers. If you are putting of replacing your old appliances, now might be the time to take advantage of these discounts! Click on the image below to reach the Austin Energy discount website.

Citizens’ Climate Lobby has developed an electrification fact sheet you can keep handy to refresh your memory about the importance of electrification.

*Follow the link to reach the CCL advanced information page on building electrification and efficiency. It is packed with facts!*

Health is another critical reason we should switch to electricity. A 2020 report by Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) cited research from MIT showing that “combustion emissions from the building sector now contributes to the largest share (37 percent) of premature deaths associated with air pollution, compared to other sectors like transport, industry, and power generation.” Unvented gas stoves produce indoor nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and benzene pollution that can harm human health, including a 24 to 42% increased risk of childhood asthma!

Questions? Reach out to Dana Nuccitelli, Research Coordinator of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. Dana is an environmental scientist and climate journalist with a Master’s Degree in physics. He has written about climate change since 2010 for Skeptical Science, for The Guardian from 2013 to 2018, and since 2018 for Yale Climate Connections. In 2015 he published the book ‘Climatology versus Pseudoscience’, and he has also authored ten peer-reviewed climate studies, including a 2013 paper that found a 97% consensus among peer-reviewed climate science research that humans are the primary cause of global warming. Follow the link above to read more about Dana and to find his email address.

This August, Citizens’ Climate Lobby is focused on one of its core issues: electrification.

But why should we electrify our homes?

With fossil fueled appliances in our home, the air we breathe inside is often dirtier than the air outside of them. Electrifying helps ensure your home is a safe haven, rather than a safety hazard.

Outdated, fossil fueled appliances use energy less efficiently, which drives up your energy usage – and your bills. When you electrify, your appliances will perform better and save you money in the long run.

Your wallet will thank you for electrifying your home. The incentives from the IRA: Inflation Reduction Act make it more affordable than ever. Don’t leave money on the table – take advantage of these incentives today!

CCL notes, “Fossil fuels are literally prehistoric. Bring your home into the modern age with electrification and reap the benefits of cleaner, safer energy.”

On a personal note, in the 1960s my Camp Fire troop in Southern California attended cooking classes at the local gas company. I have fond memories of those events, which were carefully orchestrated and enjoyable. Of course, we cooked on gas stoves. Today however, we know more about the health risks of gas appliances. Even the venerable chef Julia Child sang the praises of gas stoves. Vox notes in, “How the fossil-fuel lobby weaponized Julia Child’s gas stove” (November 2023):

Child had many stoves over her five-decade career, but she was famously devoted to one in particular: the Garland, a squat, six-burner gas range Child used in her home kitchen that cemented gas as her recommendation for professional and home chefs alike. The stove was so iconic that the Smithsonian has dedicated an exhibit to it.

KitchenAid shares a step-by-step guide to converting gas stoves to electric, should you be interested.

I notice that still today in Austin, there are apartment complexes being constructed with gas appliances. Some potential residents specifically look for complexes outfitted with gas appliances (see Every Austin Apartment with Gas Stoves by Everything Austin Apartments).

I am also a fan of historic home restoration and HGTV programs on that topic. The kitchens of historic homes are often outfitted with new versions of old gas stoves, so that they look just like the days when the homes were new. But is this safe?

Scientific American shares in, “The Health Risks of Gas Stoves Explained” (January 2023):

Gas stoves burn natural gas, which generates a number of invisible by-products. The biggest concern for human health is nitrogen dioxide (NO2). This gas is produced when natural gas is burned at high temperatures in the presence of nitrogen in the atmosphere, according to Josiah Kephart, an assistant professor in the department of environmental and occupational health at Drexel University. “We’ve known for a long time that [nitrogen dioxide] has many harmful effects on health,” he says.

Yet, some are still fighting to keep gas appliances in American homes. Vox notes:

In 2023, a mention doubting the safety of gas stoves made some politicians apoplectic. In January, the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Richard Trumka Jr. set off a firestorm for raising the idea of a gas stove ban to which the Republican representative Ronny Jackson from Texas threatened “they can pry it from my cold dead hands.”

Maybe Hollywood – a key partner in the Julia Child and gas industry campaign back in the 1960s – can return to the topic of electrification, and encourage people to electrify their homes. Wouldn’t that be great!

Below you can download a helpful flier about electrifying your home courtesy of Citizen’s Climate Lobby. If you need more information, check out the CCL website and YouTube channel.

CCL Electrification Download

Carolyn M. Appleton, Citizens’ Climate Lobby volunteer (since 2017)