|
Check out the recording of our October 17 meeting! ncsa.la/electrify_my_home_10-17_2024 Curious about induction cooking? Missed our event at the Studio City Branch Library? We plan to have more—stay tuned! |
 |
We are here to help electrify LA!
WHY: We have to get off gas and electrify our homes as quickly as possible. In California, buildings contribute to roughly 25% of our greenhouse gas emissions. And it turns out that gas stoves in particular lead to really poor indoor air quality and contribute to asthma.
Check out what the American Lung Association has to say about the fact that indoor air pollution is often worse than outdoor air pollution because we are combusting gas inside our homes. To learn more about the problems with gas stoves (even when they are not on!), click here. There is no safe amount of exposure to gas stove pollution.
HOW: This means switching out our gas stoves, ovens, heaters, water heaters, washing machines, dryers, gas fireplaces, and grills....
If you're wondering how we ended up using gas stoves in the first place, click here for more resources.
The easiest place to go to learn about incentives for appliances available to you, if you are in California, is switchison.org. To go directly to learn about incentives, go here.
And incentives should be stackable—you can use them together!
To look for a contractor (although it might still be hard to find one), you can look here: switchison.cleanenergyconnection.org.
QuitCarbon might also be able to help you navigate this journey and help you find a contractor.
South Coast Air Quality Management District’s (AQMD's) Go Zero Pilot Incentive Program for Zero-Emission Appliances
is expected to start in the beginning of 2025, for single-family and multi-family buildings (as well as small businesses).
You can go directly to LADWP to learn about incentives available through them: ladwp.com/crp.
New and much more efficient electric appliances are often more expensive, but through the Inflation Reduction Act, many people now have access to substantial rebates (known in California as HEEHRA rebates).
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE HEEHRA REBATES.
Heat pumps can be 3 to 5 times as efficient as conventional appliances. Here is a really helpful guide to heat pumps from the New York Times.
For more information about the big picture, check out this great (and free!) article from the New York Times.
ARE YOU A HOMEOWNER?
Redwood Energy is a great resource. Check out their pocket guide for retrofitting single-family homes.
Think you need to upsize your electrical panel? You might not need to!
Before you upsize your electrical panel, read this and check out this.
ARE YOU A RENTER?
It is much harder to participate, but all is not lost!
You can:
Buy a portable induction stove—they are inexpensive and easy and fun to use. They are much more efficient than gas stoves, and your kitchen doesn't get hot! Learn more here and here.
Make sure you have (and use!!!) a vented hood above your stove—the City code requires that you do and the American Medical Association recommends it, because it is very bad for you if you don't!
If you have the space, you can use a microwave oven, toaster oven, crock pot, electric kettle, etc.
If you have a gas or coal grill, replace it with an electric one.
Use a space heater instead of your gas one.
If you have a vertical sash window, you can install a window-unit, aka mobile, heat pump.
Make sure your landlord is aware of all the amazing incentives coming for landlords! Here is a handy guide about how to talk to your landlord from Rewiring America.
Are you in a low-income building with 5 or more units? Check out ladwpcamr.com from LADWP, and make sure your landlord or property manager knows about this program! It can reduce your and your landlord's energy bills.
Consider LADWP's Shared Solar program. You are not actually getting solar power with this program, but you are supporting solar power. And although your bill will be higher in the short term, it will be locked in for 10 years, so will likely be much lower in the long term.
ARE YOU A LANDLORD OR PROPERTY MANAGER?
This is a great resource from USGBC-CA that can help you electrify your building.
Check out ladwpcamr.com for low-income buildings with 5 or more units. This is good for the planet and good for your and your tenants' energy bills!
DO YOU HAVE SOLAR POWER, OR ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT GETTING SOLAR?
When you have or are getting solar power, you realize how silly it is to have gas appliances, when your electric appliances could be powered by the sun. The question is, how much solar power do you need? And not all solar vendors will get this right. It can be helpful to get a variety of vetted quotes. Pick My Solar/Solar.com can help you with this. We aren't getting paid to tell you this—we have just heard from folks we trust that that they are solid!
HELPFUL TIPS
Helpful tip: Make a plan on how to replace your current appliance BEFORE it dies. Once it dies, you don't want to be scrambling and trying to figure this out!
Another helpful tip: And don't forget about insulation and other important conservation tips, folks! And remember to use dryer balls, which can really cut down on your dryer time!
LADWP has many more great energy-saving suggestions at ladwp.com/who-we-are/power-system/energy-saving-tips.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Will I save money with these new appliances?
So many things in life are constantly changing. So it's hard to be in the game of predictions. But we think it's safe to say that over the life of the appliance (in the long run), you will save money. These new appliances are much more efficient, are heavily incentivized, and are much better for your health.
Who are the HEEHRA rebates available to?
HEEHRA rebates are available to single-family households, which include properties with 4 or fewer units, manufactured/mobile homes, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and individual condominiums, between 80% and 150% of the area median income for some rebates and below 80% area median income for others. (See the chart here.)
For multi-family properties with 5 or more units, the property must meet one of these criteria:
- at least 66% of occupied living units are at or below 80% of the area median income (check this chart)
- it is in a Senate Bill 535 disadvantaged community (DAC) (check this map) and
at least 50 percent of occupied living units are at or below 150% of the area median income (check this chart)
More details about the multi-family criteria are at techcleanca.com/incentives/heehrarebates.
This tool, homes.rewiringamerica.org/calculator, can help you find out what you are eligible for.
What about financing??
The Inflation Reduction Act will provide for financing, so contractors should be able to front the costs for you.
What about other incentives that aren't available yet?
The South Coast AQMD Go Zero pilot program incentives will be available early 2025.
What incentives are there for going solar, which makes going electric (to some) make more sense?
There are federal tax credits. Check out this blog for rental properties and the Homeowner’s Guide to the Federal Tax Credit for Solar Photovoltaics.
Solar panels can, in the long run, pay for themselves.
We lost power during the heat wave; how will the grid sustain all this new demand?
LADWP partnered with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) a few years ago to conduct the LA100 study, which developed a pathway to 100% renewable energy in LA by 2035. This relies on investing heavily in renewable energy such as wind and solar power, demand response technology (e.g., balancing our usage of energy across the day, assisted by technology such as smart meters and time-of-use incentives), and economies of scale—believe it or not, to a degree, because we are such a large city using a lot of power, it actually becomes less expensive.
The results of Southern California Edison's Fontana Zero Net Energy Homes Case Study showed that although all-electric homes do use more electricity, this additional consumption occurs mostly during off-peak hours when there is abundant capacity on the grid.
Also, some of these new electric appliances come with a battery, so that you will be able to use them even if the electricity is out.
Our power supply is still pretty dirty; how does using electric appliances help if they are supplied with gas, coal, etc.?
Our electric grid is getting cleaner all the time. You can see here that in 2022 almost 53% of LADWP's grid was composed of clean energy. So that is half as bad right there.
Also, these new appliances are much more efficient than conventional appliances. Heat pumps reduce emissions compared to gas appliances even when utilities are still primarily using fossil fuels for electricity, because heat pumps are so efficient.
What will happen to all our old appliances? Will they get recycled?
From an LASAN refuse collection superintendent in charge of bulky-item pickup—yes, appliances get recycled. Refrigerators are drained of all hazardous gases and oils and disposed of by a state certified recycler. The remaining metal along with stoves and other metal items are broken down and recycled.
INTERESTED IN DOING A DEEPER DIVE ON A PARTICULAR TOPIC? HOSTING YOUR OWN EVENT?
Let us know if you’re interested in co-hosting your own event with us, just for you and your friends, colleagues, and neighbors.
Are you interested in an induction cooktop demonstration and tasting? Or you want to talk about health concerns associated with gas stoves?
Maybe you want to explore the energy savings that come with going electric?
Do you want technical support for switching appliances?
You want to talk solar?
Maybe you want to brainstorm with others in your building about little ways you can get off gas?
Or do a deep dive into specific LADWP programs?
Or maybe something else! Let us know. You can bring a group of 15 people together, and we'll co-host a small gathering with you. Contact Lisa Hart at [email protected] or 323.660.2780 (cell).
HELP SPREAD THE WORD ON SOCIAL MEDIA—POST A SELFIE VIDEO!
We want selfie videos spreading the word about home electrification!
Post one and tag us!
#ElectrifyLA
facebook.com/neighborhoodcouncilsustainabilityalliance
facebook.com/groups/LosAngelesNCSA
instagram.com/ncsa_la
youtube.com/@ncsa-la
tiktok@LANCSA (or @lancsa7)
x.com/LA_NCSA
We are here to help! Questions? Comments? Contact Lisa Hart at [email protected] or 323.660.2780 (cell).
Updated December 20, 2024
Do you like this page?