Helping people electrify their homes to significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions and realize some financial savings is the goal of a webinar set for next month.
On April 1, the Nith Valley EcoBoosters and Reep Green Solutions are co-hosting “Getting Off Gas – Electrify Your Home!” to teach you the whys and the hows of making the switch.
The keynote speaker, Heather McDiarmid, founder of McDiarmid Climate Consulting, told The Observer there’s an electric option for replacing all devices run by fossil fuels.
“That includes everything from switching your furnace to a heat pump, your water heater, your stove, your fireplace, your backup generator, your lawnmower – everything in and around your house, can go all-electric,” said McDiarmid.
There are many things to consider when looking into switching to electric, noted McDiarmid, from pricing to and how to avoid a panel upgrade.
“When making that decision, electricity isn’t going to be the right decision for everybody, but you need to know what it is to ask questions about. You need to know the pros and cons if you’re going to make a good decision.”
McDiarmid will be taking attendees through the process of electrifying their homes. She suggested planning and taking inventory of how old your equipment is. If a water heater is only two years old, there is no need to switch, but it is a good time to research for replacements in the future, as there won’t be time to research an electric option during an emergency replacement, for instance.
Electrifying your home is not only greener, but a lot of the technology is simply better than the current gas models, according to McDiarmid.
“They’re just better technology, and many of these options are things that your average person may not have heard of, so they can come to learn about some of the options that are now available and why they’re better than what we’ve been using in the past, and that can be energy efficiency,” she said.
“It can be if emissions reduction is your priority, then going all-electric is the best way to go. But it can also be things like better home comfort, less noise, more convenience, faster performance, better performance.”
One product that McDiarmid is a huge fan of is her induction cooker, which she switched to ten years ago and has never looked back. She considers it the best thing she’s cooked on.
Many electric home upgrades like a heat pump are often met with being told that you must upgrade your electrical panel. In the webinar, McDiarmid aims to also show that this is often not the case and hopes to show the different options to avoid that outcome.
According to McDiarmid, buildings are Canada’s third-largest source of greenhouse gases, which is why electric homes are the future.
“I’ve been working in this space for a while, and it’s fairly clear to me that all-electric homes are the future. This is an opportunity for people to understand where things are heading and why they want to get on board now,” she said of the webinar.
More information can be found online at www.nvecoboosters.com.
