How to Make Building Electrification Work for You
How to Make Building Electrification Work for You
To sign up for classes at SCE's Energy Education Centers, click here.
Ruby Rose Yepez works as a Southern California Edison senior advisor in Customer Service, helping new construction customers take advantage of incentive programs to encourage building and transportation electrification. But perhaps her toughest job is trying to persuade family and friends about the benefits of converting their homes to all-electric systems and appliances. Yepez says making the switch can save customers money, is better for the environment and has health benefits, especially for vulnerable communities that are impacted the most by carbon emissions.
“I found one reason they’re hesitant to convert to electric systems is the perceived high cost of electric retrofits. That is a misconception. In most cases, customers who switch from a gas furnace and air conditioner to an electric heat pump HVAC system will see savings over the lifetime of the new appliance,” she said. “Plus, the health benefits from better indoor air quality are significantly important to me as a mother with three young children.”
Building electrification is installing or converting older systems and appliances that use fossil fuels to newer, more efficient electric ones, including heat pump heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, heat pump water heating and induction cooking. Electric heat pumps, for example, are three to four times more energy efficient, so their overall energy use and associated costs will be less. Plus, you’ll save money on your fossil gas bill because you’ll decrease or eliminate consumption.
To help customers learn more about the benefits of building electrification, SCE’s Energy Education Centers launched a series of free webinars for participants to learn the basics, including what a heat pump is, what they do and why efficiency is important. Webinar participants will also hear about induction cooking and tips to help them transition their home to all-electric. The next webinar, “Overview of Building Electrification,” is on Nov. 1.
“Electrification today reduces total greenhouse gas emissions in a single-family home by 30% to 60% relative to a fossil-fueled home. As electricity gets cleaner, these reductions are estimated to increase to almost 90% by 2050,” Yepez said. “This has been the only approach to home decarbonization proven to have significant results, and these classes are a great way to learn how to do it.”
The class is taught by Kavita Rodrigues, an SCE energy efficiency and conservation advisor with more than 20 years of experience in architecture, including international passive house design and zero net energy design. Rodrigues creates and develops curricula on building electrification and decarbonization, focusing on California’s climate goals, the urgent need for decarbonizing the building sector and how building electrification plays a key role in the clean energy transformation.
“The decarbonization of our economy is one of the most pivotal tasks of this era. And building electrification is one of its key components,” Rodrigues said. “There is, understandably, a lot of apprehension around how this transition will affect our daily lives. This class is an opportunity to get others as interested and excited about this subject as I am.”
To sign up for an online course, click here. For more information on building electrification, visit All-Electric Homes Overview. To learn more about Clean Energy, visit edison.com/clean-energy.