Creating Your Personal Carbon Reduction Plan, Part 2 of 3

Electrification with Renewables

Apr 18, 2022

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of three pieces for Intertwine on handling your personal carbon emissions. It is a guide to how to make a real difference.

Also: Please consider a paid subscription to Interwine. It makes a big difference.

When it comes to climate change, there's a whole lot of hootin’ and hollerin’ about lifestyle choices. Some of these choices can have a real impact, while others seem more oriented to letting people feel like they are doing something when maybe they are not. In part 2 of thinking through your carbon reduction plan, the focus is on electrification and renewable electricity sources.

Transportation—Own an Electric Vehicle… or Don’t

Our current transportation system is highly dependent on burning stuff—gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. And yet, we need to get around. We have to procure food, clothing, and other items from stores. We have to get back and forth from work. And we need to get to social gathering places and events. These core needs are predominantly served today by the automobile.

In the quest to shrink carbon footprints, many people argue that you should change to public transportation or turn to bicycles. Either one can be quite practical if you are in certain living situations. For example, if you don’t have children, live in an urban area where many stores you need are nearby, and your work is close and does not require professional attire, biking can be excellent. Or, if you are way out of an urban area and have a good commuter train access that terminates close to your office or place of work, then that public transportation can be great. But let’s face it: If public transportation will shrink your carbon footprint but double or triple your commute time, there’s a real question as to its efficacy as a strategy. This means less time with your family and friends, not more. It means less time for extracurricular activities like playing guitar, art class, or other enriching activities. It means less time for making a difference on climate change. For most people that will make their life worse, not better.

Our better bet today is to electrify. As soon as you can, obtain a new electric vehicle if you want to make a difference. Why go EV? Because the second step is to power it with solar energy. Electricity is the only energy we have that can be created without burning stuff, and burning stuff is what causes climate change. Right now, we do burn fossil fuels for most of our electricity. But that is changing and will continue to change. As it does, you will be able to meet your transportation needs ever more cleanly.

You can also make a paradigm shift. In the near future, more and more cities will roll out fleets of driverless EVs. Companies like Uber will operate them. You will hail a vehicle using your phone app, the vehicle will show up and take you where you want to go. With no driver, the cost will go down and likely become less expensive than owning a car. So here's the deal: It's more convenient, your costs go down, and you will save the carbon associated with building the car in addition to that generated by operating it. Fewer cars need to be built, lower cost to you (i.e., no insurance, gas, repairs, maintenance, etc.), and increased convenience—you will never need to find a parking spot again! Your life will be better in almost all respects.

Electrify Your Home and Go Solar

If you own a home, office building, industrial building, or apartment, that building has certain needs. It must be heated, cooled, and lit, both inside and outside. If your property is a home or apartment, cooking, laundry dryer, and hot water are also essential. How you provide these needs can make a world of difference, and you are in a unique position to lead change. Here are some things to consider.

First, go electric for the same reason as noted regarding vehicles—you can arrange to get electricity without burning anything. Even if you have a gas furnace that is 100% efficient, it still emits carbon dioxide, just less of it. The same is true for water heaters and dryers, gas ranges, and gas ovens. All burning of natural gas creates carbon dioxide output. When you stop burning gas, you reduce your carbon footprint, especially if you can make your electric energy renewable.

The transition to electricity can also save you money. The biggest difference you can make is by changing your climate control system from a furnace to a heat pump. Heat pumps use about half the electricity and cost 1/3-1/2 less to operate annually than a furnace, plus they are less expensive to have installed and they use no natural gas. The reason behind their efficiency is simple: heat pumps do not generate heat. Rather, they concentrate heat from outside a building and pump it into the building. They can even heat a home from the air outside that is below freezing by concentrating the heat that is in that air. Today, the economics for heat pumps are even better as the Biden administration pushes them as part of their climate change program.

For water heaters, many options are better than burning more gas. You can go to an electric water heater, and if powered with solar electricity, that will be a big improvement. There are also direct solar water heaters, but these will depend on your climate and access to sunshine. In some places, heat pumps can also be used for hot water, but this is less compelling in most locations.

Your other appliances should also be electric—the dryer, stove, and oven. But look for the most efficient ones you can find. For lighting, LEDs with soft light are by far the most important innovation to have inside your home. For outdoor lighting, many solar outdoor lights are on the market that do the job well. Just make sure you get a Kelvin rating of below 3,000 to keep the light warm and not an irritant to you or your neighbors.

The benefits of electrification only accrue to climate impact if your electricity is coming from renewable sources. So the final step—which you can begin without changing your appliances—is to ensure your electricity comes from renewable sources. If you can build a rooftop solar system, I highly recommend it. In almost all parts of the country, you will save a lot of money. If your site is not feasible for solar, subscribe to a solar garden or wind farm to ensure your electricity is coming from that source.

When you source your electricity with solar, wind, or other renewable and replace your appliances that burn stuff with those that use electricity, you have effectively taken your entire building out of the carbon creation game. Your life will be better, not worse, your costs will go down, and you will be more comfortable in your home or office. Plus, you will have a far bigger reduction in your carbon footprint than if you just decided to turn down the thermostat to reduce energy consumption.

Conclusion

The way to beat climate change on a personal level requires electrification of your household followed by sourcing your electricity from renewables—with the best answer being solar on your rooftop. If that's not available, solar and wind garden subscriptions are the next best. In this way, you can take your home off of the carbon-producing map—a worthy goal for all climate activists—save yourself money and live a better life.

That’s the end of part 2 of your carbon reduction plan. Next week we will address diet and advocacy. Don’t miss it!

By sharing this post, you can help others figure out their own impact and make their own plan to help reduce carbon. Please feel free to share on your social media or email to a friend.

You can find my newsletter Intertwine: Living Better in a Worsening World here.

In Case You Missed Them

Note: Use the links below to access my current articles published on Medium.com or other platforms.

Wall Street Owns Your Water; You Just Don’t Know It Yet

They’ll be selling it to the highest bidder

Carbon Footprint Myopia — Let’s Get Our Heads Out of the Sand

How to Make a Bigger, Better, Bolder Contribution

Anthony Signorelli

Ideas, insights, and imagination to help you live better in a worsening world. Topics include Men, #MeToo, and Masculinity; Postcapitalism; Climate Change; Digitalization and Cryptocurrency; Green Energy; Retirement and financial planning… basically everything that addresses making life better in this challenging time of history.

To help me continue this work and find other insightful writing, join Medium here. It’s only 5 bucks and Medium pays me half to keep this work going. Much appreciated.