By Derek Eder

This is Part 1 of the series Electrifying Our Old Oak Park Home. You can read Part 2 on installing Heat Pumps here, and Part 3 on Electric Appliances here.

As bad news about climate change continues to frequent the headlines, it can feel hopeless. What could we, a single household, possibly do to make a meaningful contribution to such a huge, global problem? Should we recycle more? Stop eating meat? Stop using plastic bags?

We’re often told these kinds of actions help. But if we step back and look at the bigger picture, it becomes clear that these kinds of efficiency and lifestyle changes won’t be enough. Climate scientists and the UN have told us we need to get to net zero emissions by 2050. Is there anything more we could possibly be doing to ensure a more sustainable future for our kids?

The answer, if you haven’t guessed already, is yes—we can do more. In January of this year, my friend Juan-Pablo Velez gave a talk on fighting climate change via electrification. I’d heard of electric vehicles and thought they seemed like something I’d switch to eventually, but what I hadn’t considered until then was everything else in my home that uses fossil fuels: our gas furnace, our gas hot water heater, our gas stove and our gas clothes dryer.

Taken individually, these small appliances don’t contribute much to climate change, but if you look at all the 5 million buildings in Illinois, a full 15% of our state’s total emissions come from appliances like these.

*Illinois climate pollution by source, from* *decarbmystate.com*

But that’s not all! Even our electric appliances are drawing power from ‘dirty’ sources. 24% of Illinois’ emissions come from the coal, oil, and natural gas power plants in our state that generate our electricity.

As a homeowner, there are significant steps I can take to do my part in eliminating my own personal climate pollution: replace our appliances with electric ones and generate free, clean energy with rooftop solar panels.

And here’s the good news: electric versions of all appliances already exist, they’re comparable in cost to their gas counterparts, and they will likely reduce your utility bills and improve the air quality in your home. Additionally, the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides huge incentives on these purchases, making them even more cost-effective.

*Check out* *Rewiring America’s IRA Calculator* *to find out how much you can save when electrifying your home!*

We are in the process of doing just that: electrifying our Oak Park home and completely eliminating all our household emissions. We don’t need to wait for some new technology to be invented, or some new program to make this transition. We can start now, and do our part to save the planet, improve our quality of life, and save money in the long run.

This post is an attempt to document our process as we go, with the hopes that it will inspire our neighbors to do the same and learn from our efforts.

Note: Before we dive in, it's worth noting that, so far, this project cost us about $12,000 up-front after all the rebates, grants and incentives. It will pay for itself in 9 years, and then make money for us after that. Still, there are other incentives available that could reduce this price even further, especially the Illinois Solar for All program, which provides large grants for solar projects if you make less than 80% of the area median income ($83,000/year for a family of four in Cook County).

To continue this story, go to Derek Eder’s blog and find all the content below.

Table of contents

Where to begin?

Starting with solar

Getting a new roof

Installing the solar panels

Monitoring the system

Bottom line costs and payback period

For the policy folks

Resources