Introducing Volted: Electrify your Life.
A pragmatist's guide to a carbon-free home that makes your life better
Many of us are actively thinking about electrifying our lives both to do our part in addressing the climate crisis as well as to reap the personal benefits. Research shows that more than 40% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. comes from our homes and personal vehicles. Electrifying everything — replacing the fossil fuel burning machines we rely on everyday with plugged-in alternatives that can eventually be powered entirely by clean energy — is a critical piece of erasing this big chunk of emissions and slowing planetary warming.
Despite the overwhelming challenge that climate change presents, this is one place where we as individuals actually have the power and autonomy to help make real progress. From the car we drive, to how we heat our homes, cook our food, even to how we cut our grass — we can save the planet, one electric lawn mower at a time. What’s more, electrified alternatives offer promised upsides to us as consumers from cost savings, superior product experiences, and improved health. A clear no-brainer, right?
Not so fast. If you’re anything like me and have tried to begin electrifying your home, you’re probably asked yourself: “If this is so important, why does this all feel so hard?” You may not know quite where to start. The road to electrifying everything may feel opaque, confusing, and has perhaps resulted in a blank stare or two as your electrician tries to explain the difference between voltage & amperage (I’ve totally been there). At the end of the day, you have limited time, budget, and energy to spend here and want to minimize the hassle and legwork required to get this done. You also don’t like the idea of paying a premium or sacrificing your family’s quality of life for the sake of the planet when the responsibility for doing so feels like it should be placed elsewhere. If you’re going to pay to replace perfectly working products with electrified options, it sure as heck better make your life better in some way in addition to helping the planet. After all, your partner, neighbor, or roommate may not be as climate-conscious as you are — and you’ll need to sell them, too.
If this sounds like you, you’re in the right place. The goal of this blog is to provide helpful, unbiased, and crystal-clear guidance on how to walk the home-electrification path — and to walk it together (my wife and I recently purchased our first house in Concord, MA and are on our own journey to electrify our home). Think of Volted as a pragmatist’s guide to personal electrification. The aim here is not just to help you cut emissions, but to do so in a way that is a net-positive to your life — providing both cost savings as well as superior product experiences for you and your family. After all, anything less than a win-win for you personally and the climate will slow the rate of the renewable transition we need at this pivotal moment for the future of our planet.
On this blog, we will explore personal electrification topics like:
Planning for your transition to an all-electrified home and prioritizing the order in which you make the switch
Deep-dives into electrified products (e.g. EVs, heat pumps) and honest reviews of available product options. Think Wirecutter for your climate-friendly purchases
Explainers for foundational concepts in electrifying your life (e.g. what is a volt versus an amp anyways, and why do I need a 240V outlet for my EV)?
What rebates and tax credits are available to you after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and how to access them
Volted will feature well-researched investigations and splice in personal stories from real people (including me!) walking down the home decarbonization path. With any luck we can work together to create a growing community of folks who, over time, can reach the electrification milestones of cancelling their natural gas service and skipping trips to the gas station.
In addition, we will explore these topics in a way that is useful for people in a variety of different residential living situations, including (but not necessarily limited to):
Single Family Homeowners
Multifamily Homeowners
Renters
In each of these environments, the individual has varying degrees of access and ownership of the energy-consuming components of their homes — as well as different stakeholders to engage during your electrification journey. If we’re going to decarbonize our homes at the required scale and speed, we need to provide a clear path to do so for dwellings of all types that take into account these differences in governance.
With that framing, stay tuned for Volted’s first post on Home Electrification 101 — a high level primer on why home electrification is important, and what major pieces are needed to do so. This article will create a roadmap for your electrification journey, and set a foundation for deeper exploration into each and every piece of the personal decarbonization puzzle.
Let’s get to it!
Way to go Jeff!