“We must change our manner of thinking if humankind is to survive”
Albert Einstein
Why Are All-Electric Buildings Important? - Because they are healthy and affordable and reduce annual building carbon use by 50% to 90%!
Energy used in buildings is the largest source of climate pollution in the world and in California buildings represents 25%, second behind transportation. The California vision for sustainable homes is for them to be highly efficient all-electric buildings incorporating photovoltaic solar (PV) and EV charging. And, as needed, including a battery backup microgrid system for resiliency. These all-electric buildings powered by renewable energy create a climate solution for both our buildings and transportation.
The Sierra Club is a leader in promoting the beneficial electrification of new and existing homes, apartments, businesses, institutions and government buildings as an essential part of the CA climate change solution (https://www.sierraclub.org/articles/2020/11/californias-cities-lead-way-gas-free-future) .
The latest studies, including Research from E3 (April, 2019) , show that moving from gas to clean, electric appliances can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings by up to 90 percent by 2050.
In Napa areas using Marin Clean Energy (MCE) with 50% renewable electricity as the base, new all-electric residential buildings would reduce the annual operational carbon roughly 75%. For Napa customers subscribing to MCE deep green 100% renewable electricity the carbon savings would be over 90%.
The study also shows the vast majority of homeowners and developers in California can expect considerable financial savings from building and living in all-electric homes - saving between $130 – $540 per year compared to homes that burn gas.
Beyond the economic and dramatic annual carbon reductions from buildings, there are also substantial health and societal benefits from renewable electric systems. A 2020 RMI study of “Gas Stoves: Health and Air Quality Impacts and Solutions” (https://rmi.org/insight/gas-stoves-pollution-health) shows that gas stoves can emit elevated indoor nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels often exceeding indoor guidelines and outdoor standards. These elevated toxic gas levels of NO2 can have a number of adverse respiratory effects, including asthma in children. The study concluded that replacing gas stoves with eclectic stoves produces the greatest decrease in indoor NO2 concentrations.
How you can take action now:
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Support your communities’ adaption of the Title 24 2019 All-Electric residential reach code for new construction and natural gas infrastructure regulations– over as 32 communities have already done – including Santa Rosa.
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Join Napa Climate Now (https://www.facebook.com/napaclimatenow), Org350 Bay Area (https://350bayarea.org/ ) or the Sierra Club's effort for beneficial building electrification (https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/building-electrification-cuts-emissions-cities-ditch-coal-gas)
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Replace existing gas heating, water heating, drying and cooking with high efficiency electric technologies such as heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, electric dryers and induction cooktops. Rebates are available through BayREN.
As for me, I have a “Fork in the Road” story. Senior year in college, I planned to be and artist until I had a vison of humanity running out of a big sewer pipe over a chasm like lemmings. My cellular realization was that all of our human systems were open-ended “sewers” in a closed system called Earth. And that would lead to disaster – who will focus on our global sustainability? I left the art studio for a graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering & Product Design at Stanford University, was one of the original energy managers at Stanford and have focused on energy and utility sustainability ever since. I have been a Sierra Club member for over 40 years, retired from U. C. Berkeley in 2017 and founded the BeyondFire LLC. consulting company with my son Lucas in 2009.