[00:00:00] Speaker A: It's almost Earth Day. Let's dig into why electrification of everything is part of the solution.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Welcome to the your Energy Footprint podcast.
[00:00:09] Speaker A: Where we cover easy ways to lower.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: Your energy bill and other ways to make your home more sustainable, with a few energy industry highlights sprinkled in. Hi, I'm Robin Seidoff and I've been in the energy industry for the past 20 years in both utilities and power generation, and I'll explain everything you need to know for some quick wins in your home to become more sustainable and save some money. Now let's dig in.
[00:00:33] Speaker A: Since this is a weekly podcast and April is the month we celebrate Earth Day, I'm going to make it the theme of this month's episodes. I realize it's the general theme related to every episode of this podcast anyway, since generally saving energy not only saves money, but is surely reducing your carbon emissions as well. For the next four weeks I'll be covering electrification. Today I'll talk through why the goal is electrification to begin with, and then in the next three weeks ill cover some of the bigger decisions on electrification that we can make as consumers.
Ill be talking about home heating vehicles and my own experience with solar that we installed in early January.
Also while were talking through general housekeeping. I will be adding consulting services in the next few months, probably the second half of June. Im working through the details, but ill be offering time slots to discuss any questions you may have about going solar, as well as a package to discuss your options for going solar with a written report of my analysis. Some of these will be available to anyone, but there will be more options for those who have purchased my course as well. Of course my email list will be the first to know when I launch the signups for these consultations. So sign up if you're interested and haven't already. Now let's get into it. You may have heard the term electrification of everything floating around, or maybe that's.
[00:01:51] Speaker C: Just me, but this is one of.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: The major initiatives to address climate change and reduce carbon emissions. Heres the thing burning gas or oil or coal will always produce carbon emissions. Full stop. Whether its in your home or in a power plant, its contributing to climate change. While I hear many people pooh pooh Ev's because they may be charged from coal or natural gas plants, a car is a major investment that you may only make once every ten years. This is always my objective, but I havent personally kept a car that long yet. Each time I sell a car, though, it's likely to remain on the road for many years to come with a new owner.
While it may not be 100% free of emissions, it does get incrementally cleaner as the power grid reduces emissions as a whole.
The Department of Energy announced a goal for the US to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2035 in 2022 as a step to reach the greater goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050 because the energy industry is driven by regulations. This will happen if the necessary laws and regulations are passed by government. But even if they aren't, I believe 100% that the grid will keep getting more and more renewable because solar is the cheapest new form of electricity out there right now. If each of us as individuals make choices to reduce our carbon emissions when it's time to make those big investment decisions, and the best decision you can make across the board right now is to go electric.
If youre thinking of renovating your kitchen, please check out an induction cooktop. I do enjoy cooking on gas, which.
[00:03:26] Speaker C: I dont currently have anyway, but I.
[00:03:29] Speaker A: Will give up the possibility in a hot second to be able to boil water in under a minute. Not to mention the articles in the past few years about indoor air pollution from gas stoves. I dont think that we need to have a collective panic attack about it, but it is another plus for going electric.
If you also have an old inefficient furnace, air conditioning unit or water heater.
[00:03:50] Speaker C: That you'd like to replace, then please.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: Consider a heat pump. And yes, there is a heat pump water heater that is much more efficient than the electric hot water heater that you may be thinking of. And of course, as I already mentioned, if you're thinking about purchasing a new car, then please consider going fully electric. I would say this is likely the hardest choice to make at this point given the still limited options. But the options are still improving for families despite some car companies pulling back for any of these decisions. Whichever choice you make, you will certainly not make a change for the next ten to 15 to 25 years. Unless maybe it's a car, but somebody else is going to be driving that car, which would take us well past the net zero target for the US of 2035.
If you're on the fence, here's my final argument for today to go electric in 2020. I was working from home like everyone else, and I upped my energy industry podcast consumption and closely tracked the price of natural gas for a few months. Remember when it actually went negative for a minute? Well, when natural gas prices are low due to low consumption, then with everyone staying home at the time, the pipeline of developing new resources came to a halt. Now, add in the move towards net zero targets and the long term incentive for natural gas companies to invest new resources is low. The impact of the lack of investment showed up a few years later with the spike in natural gas prices, which I'm sure you remember.
Of course, that was the year we moved into our current home. And no, I didn't lock in my fuel oil rate for the winter. Yes, I forgot that I knew the spike was coming. I never had a house with fuel oil before.
This is the standard cycle, as I understand it, in the oil and natural gas markets. But with uncertainty in the future of natural gas and oil, I would imagine this cycle may occur more frequently in the future than it has in the past. Do you think that your fuel oil prices are going to go up by more in the next decade than they have in the past? I do, but I don't know by how much for now. An increase in fuel prices do generally directly impact the price you pay for electricity, but once there are enough renewable resources on the grid, the two should decouple.
That's it for today. Stay tuned for the next few weeks as I go into more detail about heat pumps, electric vehicles and an update on my first three months with solar at my own house. If there are any topics you'd like me to cover in future episodes, please reach out and let me know. You can email me
[email protected] or find me on instagram at yourenergyfootprint.
On next week's episode, we'll talk about why you should consider a heat pump when it's time to replace your furnace and air conditioning unit. If you've enjoyed today's podcast, please rate and review it to let other listeners find us. I really appreciate it. Our mission at your energy footprint is to educate consumers on ways you can be more energy efficient at home, as well as how to make significant investments like solar while saving money. You can find more information on our courses for homeowners interested in installing rooftop solar on our website, www.yourenergyfootprint.com. All of our information is unbiased and based on my 20 years of experience working for utilities and as a renewable developer. We are not affiliated with any installers.
