Climate watch: Start planning how you will electrify your life to help stop climate change

Saul Griffith, 50 years old, was born in Australia, graduated from college there, and then received a Ph.D. from MIT. An engineer and inventor, he founded several companies that pioneered technological innovations. These earned him a personal fortune, as well as a MacArthur Genius award in 2007.

But he was not satisfied with those achievements. He decided to tackle climate change by figuring out what we as a society had to do to get off of fossil fuels.

He wrote a book (highly recommended) called “Electrify: An Optimist’s Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future” that set out his plan: electrify everything that can be electrified and then produce all electricity from renewable sources.

It is such a simple proposition that it masks the difficulties. But Griffith offers facts and figures and believes the task is doable. He notes: “It’s time to demystify decarbonization so that we understand what we need to do to switch our economy from one that relies on fossil fuels to one powered by clean electricity. This requires understanding the machines we use, their energy needs, and how, and how quickly, we can transition those machines to ones that are fueled by renewable energy (predominantly wind and solar).”

Housing is one part of this process that most of us can understand and contribute to. Going forward we must build efficient houses that run on electricity. But what do we do with those houses that run on fossil fuels? How can we persuade people to update their houses? What will it cost? How much will they save from new more efficient appliances?

Griffith helped found a website to answer the many questions. RewiringAmerica.org offers a wealth of information for homeowners, beginning with a calculator that estimates your costs of transitioning to electricity, as well as the savings to be gained. It provides detailed guidelines for how to proceed.

There is no sugar-coating this endeavor. It is an enormous undertaking. Rewiring America states that “a total of 1,063,000,000 machines, or 50 million machines a year for the next 20-25 years must be installed or replaced in the U.S. in order to eliminate household CO2e emissions.” This includes furnaces, cooktops, water heaters, solar panels, and electric vehicles.

But there is good news as well. We do not have to rush out at once and replace all our appliances. Instead, as they come to the end of their useful life, we replace old appliances with efficient ones that run on electricity.

Further good news is that there are substantial incentives to help fund this transition. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 provides hefty tax credits for the purchase of heat pumps and solar panels, for instance. It will also offer rebates for qualified purchasers in low and middle-income households. These incentives are really generous. Check them out on RewiringAmerica.org and see how to make your house more efficient, cheaper to run, and healthier for your family as you cut pollution from fossil fuels in your home.

Here is more good news. People often ask me what they can do to help stop climate change. Electrifying your home is something totally within your control, and you can start right now.

Although, at first, the electricity you use will be mostly produced by old fossil fuel plants, electricity will become increasingly clean as new renewable energy comes online or you purchase solar panels.

So, begin by checking out the RewiringAmerica.org website and start planning how you will electrify your life.