Insulation — An essential decarbonization tool
One of the most important steps in achieving a decarbonized home is also one of the least sexy: insulation. While heat pumps are critical, it’s also important to make sure your HVAC doesn’t have [...]
Heat Pump Water Heaters 101
Did you know that water heating is the second-largest source of home energy use after HVAC? Taking hot showers, doing laundry, and washing dishes can really rack up both the BTUs and the bills. [...]
Financing the Electrification Transition
Let’s face it: electrification can be expensive. Just installing an air source heat pump will often cost $10,000 - $15,000 for a 2,000 square foot house. Upgrading from gas appliances to a heat pump water heater, [...]
Cold Climate Heat Pumps: A Nationwide Application
Cold climate regions of the United States – like the Northeast and Alaska – have historically been the hardest to decarbonize using air source heat pumps. Fears over poor efficiency and equipment failure in [...]
Community Solar: An Inclusive Option for Building Decarbonization
More than half of our electricity in the United States still comes from the combustion of fossil fuels. That means that even fully electrified buildings aren’t as decarbonized as they could be. Installing batteries paired [...]
Bio-Based Materials: Ideal Candidates for EPA Funding?
The U.S. Enviromental Protection Agency (EPA) just released a request for information (RFI) that could help revolutionize the way embodied greenhouse gas emissions are tracked. For context, the EPA was allocated $350 million through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to help [...]
Time-of-Use Rates: The Most Cost-Effective Decarbonization Tool
Back in September, we discussed strategies to prevent grid strain during periods of high electricity demand. Today, we’ll do a deep dive into one of those potential solutions: time-of-use rates (TOUs). Time-of-use rates are a unique [...]
Preemption – The Gas Industry’s Greatest Weapon
In 2019, the City of Berkeley (CA) voted to phase out gas hookups in nearly all new construction. This pro-electrification move led to numerous lawsuits against the measure and spurred the gas industry to develop a bulwark against [...]
2022 Year in Review
With 2022 coming to a close, it’s time to recap the biggest building decarbonization developments of the year. While it’s impossible to cover everything, here are some of the highlights. Federal government leads the [...]
Heat or Eat: Addressing the Energy Burden Conundrum
The cost of electricity has jumped nearly 18 percent in the past two years alone, according to data from Buildings Hub. Influenced by factors including economy-wide inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the national average [...]