<
https://grist.org/business/illinois-families-are-going-electric-for-free/>
"Jean Gay-Robinson said she “cried tears of joy” when utility ComEd switched
all the polluting gas-fired equipment in her Chicago home to modern electric
versions, at no cost to her. As a retiree on a fixed income, she is relieved
that she’ll likely never have to buy another appliance, her energy bills are
lower, and her home feels safer. “I don’t have to worry about gas blowing up
or carbon monoxide, that kind of nonsense,” she said.
Gay-Robinson is among the hundreds of people who have benefited from a
provision of Illinois’ 2021 clean energy law that allows electric utilities to
meet energy-conservation mandates in part by outfitting low-income households
with electric appliances that reduce their bills — even though such overhauls
actually increase, rather than decrease, electricity use.
Such policies are rare nationwide, but the approach could be a tool to help
keep building decarbonization rolling as the Trump administration kills federal
incentives for home electrification.
Modern electrical appliances — like induction stoves, electric dryers, and heat
pumps that warm and cool spaces — are generally much more energy-efficient than
their fossil-fueled counterparts. That means electrifying appliances cuts the
amount of fossil fuels burned, even in places where gas and coal plants feed
the power grid, said Nick Montoni, senior program director of policy and
markets at the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center at North Carolina
State University. As more renewable energy comes online, the emissions linked
to electrical appliances decrease even further.
Plus, families breathe significantly cleaner indoor air when they change to an
electric cooktop, due to the slew of health-harming pollutants emitted by gas
stoves."
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-octopus-farms/
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
