Electrification 101

Rule 3: Be Efficient (Part 2)

Hello. Welcome back to our climate-friendly home series. We’re stoked you’re here. If you’re new to the party, here’s what we’ve covered thus far: 

1. The basics of a climate-friendly home 
2. Rule 1: Don’t burn stuff 
3. Rule 2: Don’t use energy made from burning stuff 
4. Rule 3: Be efficient. 

Today, we’re digging deeper into rule 3. Where our last edition focused on the importance of energy audits and weatherization, this post is all about making sure your systems are running the way they are supposed to run, AND that you aren’t replacing things all the time. 

Embracing this rule comes with lots of perks: It can help ensure you aren’t stuck with a broken heating system when the in-laws are visiting over the holidays (yikes), prevent an unforeseen trip to the local appliance store on what was supposed to be a spectacular ski weekend (eek), and make your place a climate-friendly haven (yay!). Want to learn more? Let’s get into it. 

Why It’s Important to Make Things Last

To understand why “making it last” is so critical for efficiency, we first need to do a teeny science lesson on something called embodied energy.  

Let’s say you buy a new fridge. It’s a rad new fridge with a computer that tells you when to buy new milk. As the most efficient fridge of its size, it will use 10% less energy than your old fridge. This is cool. (See what we did there?)

That fridge is made of parts and materials that took energy to make.
It took energy to put it on a boat and get it across the ocean to a warehouse.
It took energy to get it delivered to the store where you bought it, and more energy to get it to you and get it installed.

All that energy tied up in making that fridge and getting it to you? That’s embodied energy. And while that feels like a lot, the reality is that, over time, your energy-efficient fridge is going to “pay for” that embodied energy by SAVING lots of energy each year. So getting that new one IS better for the planet…in the long run.

But what if you have to buy a new one every 5 years? Does it “pay for” itself then? Nope. That’s why, beyond saving yourself the extra expense of having to replace appliances more often than necessary, making things last is a crucial component of a climate-friendly home. 

So, How Do We “Make It Last”? 

In short: We’ve gotta take care of our stuff. We’ve got to do our required yearly maintenance, as well as recommended preventative maintenance. 

This means we need to vacuum the fridge coils. Change the filters on our heat pumps. Keep our induction stovetops nice and clean. Regularly flush our heat pump water heaters. Doing this maintenance ensures our system doesn’t have to work extra hard (i.e., inefficiently) because the filter is super dirty or other maintenance hasn’t been performed. 

If keeping our systems maintained gives us an additional couple of years of life for our systems and appliances, that might mean that we buy one whole fridge fewer over our lifetime (in other words—BIG embodied and pocketbook energy savings). 

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If you’re in an Elephant Energy coverage area (Colorado and Massachusetts, and more to come), give us a shout to learn about our maintenance packages that’ll keep your climate-friendly upgrades in tip-top shape. And if we aren’t in your area yet, ask your installation specialists when you make these home upgrades to see what they offer by way of keeping your systems singing year after year.

Rule 3: Be Efficient (Part 1)

Hi, hello, and welcome back to Elephant’s climate-friendly home series! In each edition, we’re breaking down simple steps you can take to reduce your carbon footprint so you can feel good in your home and feel good about your home. Here’s what we’ve covered so far: 

• What is a climate-friendly home? 
• Rule 1 of a climate-friendly home: Don’t burn stuff 
• Rule 2 of a climate-friendly home: Don’t buy energy made from burning stuff 

Today, we’re digging into rule number 3: Be efficient. This one’s a biggun, so we’ve split it into two parts. Ready to learn about all things efficiency in your home? Read on. 

What “Be Efficient” Entails 

Imagine this: You’re walking down a sunny street in your local business district on a warm summer day. As you meander past a store, you’re met by a WHOOSH of blissfully cool air being pushed out to you on the sidewalk—their door is open and their AC is on full blast. While a delicious moment for you and your sweaty face, it’s pretty awful for the store’s climate impact (not to mention their energy bills). 

When we talk about being efficient, we’re talking about NOT doing this. And believe it or not, if you haven’t weatherized your home, you’ve probably been doing something similar the entire time you’ve owned your place. Every house tends to have leaky areas—where cold air is able to escape during the summer and heated air during the winter. The great news? By doing an energy audit and doing the necessary weatherization upgrades, you can put your home on the path to maximum efficiency. 

What It Looks Like in Your Home 

The first step to upping your home’s efficiency is getting an energy audit. During an audit, an expert conducts a thorough inspection to pinpoint precisely where there are inefficiencies (i.e., cracks, crevices, and leaks where air is escaping) throughout your home. This includes inspecting heating and cooling systems, insulation, window integrity, sealing, and more. 

Once you’ve completed an energy audit, you can make the weatherization upgrades that will have the greatest impact on ensuring your place is comfortable, efficient, and environmentally friendly—talk about a wins-all-around situation! 

Remember how we mentioned this rule encompassed a LOT? Though weatherization is a huge component of being efficient in your home, it’s not the only component. Stay tuned for our next post in the series, where we’ll dig into more ways to up your home’s efficiency and make it as comfortable and climate-friendly as possible. 

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Want to learn more about how to make your home as climate-friendly as possible? Our tool, Your Electrification Roadmap®, gives you personalized recommendations based on your distinct preferences, goals, and needs.

Rule 2: Don’t Use Energy Made from Burning Stuff

And…we’re back! Howdy. Hope you had a great week/weekend/whatever day of the week it was for you. Whether you spent the time since our last post looking at all the ways that you can stop burning stuff in your home, are just now diving back in on your climate-friendly home journey, or are joining us for the first time, we’re glad you’re here. (Psst – if this is your first time here, we recommend starting with our intro to the climate-friendly home, followed by our blog on rule number 1, before digging into rule number 2 here!) 

Today, we’re talking about Elephant Energy’s rule number 2 for a climate-friendly home: Don’t use energy made from burning stuff. Ready to learn more about what that means and what it looks like to put this rule into practice? Let’s begin. 

What “Don’t Use Energy Made from Burning Stuff” Looks Like 

In our last post, we explored the different upgrades you can make to stop burning stuff in your home. TL;DR: There are tons of climate-friendly solutions available to help you quit burning things (ahem, gas) at home. 

But what about the energy needed to power these climate-friendly upgrades? 

Enter: rule number 2 of Elephant’s climate-friendly home. As its name suggests, this rule is all about the type of energy you’re using in your house. And spoiler alert: just like a climate-friendly home doesn’t burn stuff, it also doesn’t use energy that comes from burning stuff. 

Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to tap into clean and renewable energy sources instead of relying on that coal burning plant:

Option 1: Make Your Own Energy 

Obviously, your best bet is to make your own energy. You might start by looking into installing solar or geothermal, both of which are great, renewable sources of energy (with lots of incentives available to make them more affordable). And the great thing about making your own clean energy? You can design your system to meet your home’s distinct needs. 

That said, these options aren’t available to everyone (big hugs to those of you with flat roofs or lots-o-shade).

Option 2: Join Community Programs

If you can’t make your own, your next best energy option is to join a community solar program. These programs allow you to either purchase a portion of a community array or pay a subscription fee for a portion of the energy a community system produces. Unlike rooftop systems, the energy generated from a community solar project is not used to power owners’ and/or subscribers’ homes directly: Instead, it replaces (or reduces) what they pay their utility company for electricity.

Option 3: Purchase Clean Energy 

And if neither of those is an option? We recommend buying green or checking out local or state programs for renewable energy and efficiency. By making small (or large!) adjustments to where you’re getting your energy, you can reduce your home’s carbon footprint, thus putting you one step closer to a climate-friendly home. 

So, there you have it! By embracing renewable sources of energy, you’re well on your way to having a climate-friendly home. Stay tuned for next week, where we’ll dig into rule number 3: Be efficient. 

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Want to transition to a climate-friendly home, but overwhelmed by how many options are out there? Check out our electrification roadmap tool. In less than five minutes, you’ll have a personalized roadmap that shows you exactly where to begin.

Rule 1: Don’t Burn Stuff

Last week, we introduced the Climate-Friendly Home and outlined how it can help people make a real difference as we face the climate crisis head-on. ICYMI—Elephant has 3 simple rules to achieving a climate-friendly home: 

1. Don’t burn stuff. 
2. Don’t buy energy made from burning stuff. 
3. Be efficient. 

Today, we’re digging into rule number 1: Don’t burn stuff. Read on to learn more about what that means, and what it looks like to adapt your home to this rule.

What “Don’t Burn Stuff” Means 

Humans have been burning stuff to power our lives and homes for half a million years. We burn stuff to stay warm. We burn stuff to cook our food. We burn stuff to power our vehicles.

Burning stuff produces fossil fuels which fuels global warming…you get the picture. 

Friends, it’s 2023! We’ve gotta stop burning stuff. Our ability to solve the climate crisis depends upon it.

What does that look like though? Put simply, we can replace every appliance in our home with something that doesn’t burn stuff. And the best part? We’re not asking you to make any trade-offs.

In every case, the modern electric version works even better than the crusty old fossil-fueled dinosaur that’s being replaced (harsh but true).

What “Don’t Burn Stuff” Looks Like in Your Home 

Ready for some great news? We already have all the solutions we need to make a burn-free home a reality. And the technology is not even all that new.

For instance, take heat pumps. The origins of today’s heat pump technology can be traced back to the 1800s. Millions have been sold all over the world, and they’re used in all climates–even very cold ones (think Norway, Netherlands, and Finland).

You might have heard that heat pumps are magic (and we concur). That’s because they work as both an air conditioning unit AND a heater. Flip a switch, and instead of burning gas to heat your home (à la your furnace), a heat pump  moves existing energy where you need it: into your home to heat it during the winter, and out of your home to cool it in the summer. And, they’re 3-5 times more efficient to boot.

But our “don’t burn stuff” rule goes beyond just switching to a heat pump. Let’s think about all the other things in your home that might burn stuff (in other words, anything that runs on gas right now). Here are some of the biggest culprits—and their burn-free swaps: 

Burns Stuff	Doesn’t Burn Stuff
Furnace	Heat pumps and mini-split heat pumps
Water heater	Heat pump water heater
Gas clothes dryer	Electric dryer or heat pump dryer
Cooktop and oven	Induction range
Gas/wood fireplace	Electric fireplace

“But wait!” you might say.  “So WHAT if I go all-electric? I know that the electricity I’m putting into these machines just comes from a coal plant half the time anyway. So why bother?” 

Well, THAT, folks, is a topic for next time. And don’t fret – there is a solution! In our next piece in this series, we’ll dig into the second rule of having a climate-friendly home: “Don’t use energy made from burning stuff.”

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Excited to start transitioning away from burning stuff and towards cleaner, climate-friendly technology? That’s great! If you’re unsure where to begin, we’ve got you covered with our tool, Your Electrification Roadmap®. Answer a few quick questions about your home and goals and, in five minutes or less, you’ll have a unique-to-you roadmap that shows you exactly where to start. 

Introducing the Climate-Friendly Home by Elephant Energy

We’re going to cut straight to the chase: The climate crisis is one of the biggest challenges facing our society, and the path to solving it is going to require excellence, innovation, and speed across a number of areas. And for most of us, many of the things that need to happen to solve climate change often feel really big and totally out of our control. Policies need to be changed. Industries need to adopt new technologies. There are giant science projects that have to be funded, tested, and scaled (we’re looking at you, DAC).

For the everyday person, it can feel impossible to do anything that really moves the needle. Sure, we can buy paper straws, recycle and compost, and support local farmers. But do these small actions truly make a difference in the grand scheme of things? Is there anything we can do that will actually help in time?  

We have good news: Yes! This sense that we can’t do anything impactful to help mitigate the climate crisis is, quite simply, untrue. The fact is, 34% of climate emissions stem directly from decisions we make around the kitchen table: from the cars we drive to the home appliances and systems we choose and the energy we purchase to power them.

Here at Elephant Energy, we noticed a lot of confusion around that last piece, and decided to use our expertise in climate, building science, and home comfort to deliver an accessible, clear solution.

Introducing the Climate-Friendly Home, brought to you by Elephant Energy

So, what’s a Climate-Friendly Home, you ask?

Climate-friendly homes are defined by three simple rules:

1. Don’t burn stuff.

2. Don’t use energy made from burning stuff.

3. Be efficient.

By following these three rules, homeowners can create homes with no fossil fuel emissions—in other words, they can do something that REALLY helps. We’ve all got the chance to be early adopters – taking action now allows us to set the precedent and be on the right side of history (while encouraging others to do the same!)

“But wait!” some homeowners might say. “Even following those three rules feels like a lot to tackle. Where do I even begin?” 

We get it. Making the shift to a climate-friendly home can feel overwhelming. Luckily, we created these rules to break the process down into achievable, understandable, simple steps—and we’re here to support you along the way. 

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Eager to dive into your journey toward a climate-friendly home? Our tool, Your Electrification Roadmap®, is the perfect place to start. It’s easy: answer a few quick questions about your home and goals, and get a unique-to-you roadmap that shows you exactly what to do (and when!).