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Fueled by the Inflation Reduction Act, innovative Colorado-based climate tech company is scaling its platform designed to make electrification upgrades seamless.

BOULDER, Colo., November 30, 2022 – Elephant Energy, the leading home electrification platform for homeowners and contractors, recently closed a $3.5M seed round led by Building Ventures, with participation from Daniel Gulati, Workshop, Reuben Munger, and others.

Elephant Energy was founded in 2021 to simplify residential electrification – said differently, make it easy for homeowners to get off of gas. Home-electrification projects are notoriously difficult, as they require the coordination of multiple trades, and very few contractors have the necessary expertise. Elephant Energy is building a two-sided marketplace that will make electrification approachable for both homeowners and contractors.

The company’s technology platform is grounded in building science and enables Elephant Energy to manage the implementation of electrification projects, from tip to tail. Customers receive a personalized roadmap that illustrates the path to full home electrification – all at once, or over time. Then, Elephant Energy handles equipment selection and system design and orchestrates the installation process, which is completed by a network of vetted contractors. The company also helps homeowners secure financing and maximize the mosaic of incentives available from various sources, including utilities players and government funding.

Beginning in January, the Inflation Reduction Act will allow homeowners to deduct up to $2,000 from their taxes for electric upgrades, making it more affordable than ever to replace old furnaces, water heaters, and gas stoves with efficient electric heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, induction stoves, and more. That’s on top of rebates of up to $4,000 already available locally in markets like Colorado, where Elephant Energy operates.

Heather Widman, partner at Building Ventures, commented, “The climate impact of residential electrification is massive, but the process has been complicated and challenging to navigate for even the most determined homeowners. Elephant Energy’s platform provides a streamlined, approachable solution that will unlock these home renovation projects at scale — enabling the widespread electrification we need at this critical time.”

Elephant Energy Co-founder DR Richardson said, “Home electrification is a win-win-win: more comfortable for homeowners, healthier for humans, and better for the environment. The IRA incentives coming online next year will be the rocket fuel that takes electrification mainstream.” 

The funds will be used for hiring, product development, and expansion within and beyond Colorado. “This capital raise will allow us to dramatically scale home electrification and accelerate the transition to a cleaner future,” Richardson added. 

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About Elephant Energy

Founded by DR Richardson and Josh Lake in 2021, Elephant Energy is a climate tech company on a mission to electrify everything, starting with homes. The company’s platform uses building science expertise and proprietary technology to help homeowners confidently upgrade their home appliances to modern electric technologies, lowering carbon emissions in the process. Elephant Energy currently serves the Boulder-Denver metro area, with additional markets opening in 2023. Learn more at elephantenergy.com.

Winter is coming, and with it a stack of “pancaking” gas-heating rate hikes. New federal cost incentives for home electric installations kick in in January.

BOULDER, CO, Nov. 14, 2022 – Winter is coming, and home-electrification experts locally and nationally are urging homeowners to go electric — as a spike in home gas heating prices coincides with unprecedented new incentives for modern home systems from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Elephant Energy, a Front Range home-electrification provider, is expanding its team and service area in the run-up to 2023 to meet expected demand and recommends homeowners start planning now to go electric in the new year. 

This winter, Coloradans’ natural gas heating bills are expected to be double what they were just three years ago, based on U.S. Energy Information Administration data and projections. Natural gas prices are at a 15-year high, and public utilities have been piling on, or “pancaking” rate hikes for years with no sign of stopping.

At the same time, beginning in January, the IRA will allow homeowners to deduct up to $2,000 from their taxes for electric upgrades, making it more affordable than ever to replace old furnaces, water heaters and gas stoves with efficient electric heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, induction stoves and more. That’s on top of rebates of up to $4,000 already available locally. 

“Now is the time to go electric,” Elephant Energy co-founder DR Richardson said. “If your furnace or water heater is 10-15 years old, you should be thinking about upgrading now. Don’t wait until something breaks in the middle of the winter, and you get stuck installing inefficient, last-generation equipment that you have to live with for another decade.” 

There are myriad benefits to upgrading from old, gas-burning systems. Upgrading lowers monthly utility bills by hundreds of dollars per year, improves air quality in homes by eliminating harmful particulates from burning gas, and dramatically reduces a home’s carbon footprint. Switching to electric costs less up front than replacing a traditional furnace and air conditioner, and every installation involves a tax credit, rebate, or other incentive. 

Jules Kortenhorst is an international expert on energy transition and most recently served as CEO of RMI, an independent, non-partisan, nonprofit organization of energy experts. “Burning gas in buildings is not only a threat to climate action but also to human health, as gas appliances are sources of indoor air pollution,” Kortenhorst said. “The good news is, Coloradans will find that it’s easier than ever to make the switch, and there are significant cost savings to be gained.”

Modern electric technology is efficient, but navigating the installation process on your own isn’t. Elephant Energy is a one-stop shop that uses deep building science and proprietary technology to make it easy for homeowners to confidently go electric.  After designing a home-specific roadmap for a customer, Elephant Energy manages every step of the installation process – including applying available tax credits and rebates – to deliver all the benefits of modern, electric upgrades for the best value. 

As the nonprofit Rewiring America recently wrote, “It’s important to acknowledge the hardship of this heightened energy burden that will be felt by so many this winter. But it’s incumbent on us to get the facts right. The best solution is to electrify. As quickly and thoroughly as possible.”

Serving the Denver-Boulder corridor since 2021, Elephant Energy is expanding into Fort Collins, with additional markets opening next year. The startup closed on a $3.5M seed round of funding in September 2022, led by Building Ventures, with participation from Daniel Gulati of Treble, and others. 

Learn more at elephantenergy.com.

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About Elephant Energy

Founded by DR Richardson and Josh Lake in 2021, Elephant Energy is on a mission to build the ecosystem needed to scale residential electrification across millions of homes in Colorado and throughout the United States. The company’s platform provides homeowners and contractors with the resources to diagnose, convert, install, and service modern electrical systems, including heat pumps, hybrid heat pump water heaters, induction stoves, and electric vehicle chargers. Learn more at elephantenergy.com.