How to Climate-Proof Your Home
What You Need To Know
Living on a warming planet means protecting your home from threats exacerbated by climate change, like wildfire and power outages caused by storms. Bloomberg Green explains what steps you can take to ready your home, from installing a fire-safe roof to evaluating backup power supply options for when the lights go out. But playing defense isn’t enough. To lessen the climate impact of your home, consider replacing gas furnaces, water heaters, stoves, and clothes dryers with high efficiency electric versions. Embarking on these improvement projects can be expensive—but the change can save you money in the long run.
Key Coverage
By The Numbers
- $24b Cost of damages caused by U.S. wildfires in 2018
- 40% The increase in energy efficiency if you switch from a gas to induction cooking range
- $70k Estimated cost for the average U.S. household to completely decarbonize (including adding solar and replacing a fossil fuel vehicle with an electric one), according to Rewiring America
Why It Matters
Residential energy use makes up about 20% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. That means it’s not just corporations that need a plan to reduce their climate impact. Replacing your fossil fuel furnace with a heat pump, installing solar panels, electrifying your laundry room, and ditching the gas stove are all ways to decarbonize your house.
It can be expensive to do all at once— but there are state, federal, and utility rebates that can reduce the cost. About half of houses in the U.S. are heated by natural gas, so electrifying your home can provide long-term environmental and economic benefits. And as one family learned, converting to renewable energy can pay off sooner than you think— and may also provide a welcome distraction during tough times, like a lockdown necessitated by a pandemic.
Timeline
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3 years ago Climate-Proofing Your Home: How to Electrify
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4 years ago The Pandemic Made Me Love My Solar Panels
