With rising gas prices and unprecedented tax credits and rebates, DR Richardson of Elephant Energy believes that there’s never been a better time to consider electrifying a home.
As of 2020, 11% of Colorado households were all-electric while 82% used natural gas, according to the Residential Energy Consumption Survey from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This is compared to the 26% of households nationwide completely powered by electricity.
Richardson is one of the co-founders of Elephant Energy, a Boulder County-based company that started a year and a half ago to help homeowners along the Front Range electrify their homes.
“One of the most important levels that we have in terms of the energy transition is to electrify homes,” he said. “We have to stop burning fossil fuels in people’s homes. The good news is that’s incredibly possible. It uses existing technology, and it results in a way better outcome for customers.”
Home electrification includes things like heat pumps instead of furnaces and air conditioners, electric water heating instead of gas, electric cooking and other efficiency upgrades. Many of these technologies are not only more environmentally friendly, but cost less to operate with more efficiency, according to Richardson.