Electrification program seeks to improve indoor, outdoor air quality
Utah Clean Energy is beginning what it’s calling the Electrification Collaborative Project, an EPA-funded partnership with local member organizations to make home electrification more affordable, more accessible, and easier – and the project is focusing its efforts on Salt Lake’s Westside. The project involves free in-home consultations to help residents identify where they can upgrade, as well as guidance navigating rebates and creating an economically feasible timeline for electrification.
Sam Karthan, Project and Program Coordinator at Utah Clean Energy, said the first step in any such consultation is to explain what electrification actually is. “Electrification means switching from fossil fuels to electricity to power your household appliances in order to improve indoor and outdoor air quality. For example, using an electric cooktop or heat pump instead of a gas stove or furnace.”
Electrification’s impact on indoor air quality is immediate. According to Karthan, natural gas appliances create hazardous pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide, through exhaust during use or through passive leaks. Gas stoves are the primary offenders, though improperly installed furnaces can also be a source of leaks or exhaust.
A 2020 report by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) found that gas stoves can produce indoor nitrogen dioxide concentrations 50-400% higher than homes with electric stoves, with corresponding health impacts.
“Children are at increased risk from illnesses associated with gas stove pollution,” noted Karthan, explaining the RMI report’s findings. “Living in a home with a gas stove increases their risk of having asthma by 42%,” he said, and the report cited additional impacts to things like lung function and learning development.
Electrification also improves outdoor air quality by reducing methane leaks from natural gas and taking advantage of an ever-cleaner electrical grid. According to Karthan, electricity production is becoming consistently cleaner, so the electricity powering appliances creates less and less pollution with each advancement in clean grid technology.
According to Karthan, the electrification program involves “evaluating families’ existing appliances, and then creating a personalized plan to outfit their home with newer, cleaner appliances. We call these ‘Electrification Plans,’ and they are tailored to your specific home with resources and recommendations to follow-through with when your appliances reach the end of their useful life.”
Specifying end-of-life for existing appliances is important for the program, as it’s meant to help households electrify on a timeline that makes sense economically. “The goal is to help families adopt all-electric appliances that are better for their wallet, health, and the environment,” said Karthan.
Thomas Kessinger, the Program Manager at Utah Clean Energy, expanded on the program’s financial considerations: “In an electrification consultation walkthrough, we’re helping households come up with a plan to take advantage of tax credits and rebate programs that are getting rolled out over the next 10 years.”
“It’s definitely a process, and not an event,” continued Kessinger, “and we’re using a measured approach, not just trying to rip out people’s appliances before the end of life.” This focus corresponds with Kessinger’s and Karthan’s repeated insistence that the program isn’t for the affluent; rather, it’s meant to support low- and middle-income households that are often priced out of making home improvements like this.
Replacing older modes of power production with newer, cleaner ones isn’t without precedent in Utah’s history. “100 years ago in Utah, we made the switch from coal to gas, because we were concerned about air quality,” explained Karthan, “and now we’re making the switch form gas to electricity for the same reason.”
Programs like this one also aren’t unprecedented. A little over a decade ago, a yearlong, federally funded energy efficiency program proved the case. The program’s final report claimed that 1,277 Utah households made energy-efficiency appliance upgrades, a number “well above the national average” which ultimately produced “average energy savings for those homes at 25%.”
The electrification program is also federally funded, and it relies on partnerships with local community groups referred to as convenor organizations. These convenor organizations include Calvary Baptist Church, the Salt Lake chapter of the International Rescue Committee, Guadalupe School, and the Westside Coalition; their role is to convene their community segments in partnership with Utah Clean Energy to help residents learn about electrification and access grant programs.
Kessinger explained that the program represents a more localized approach for Utah Clean Energy. “We have been helping Utah and its cities achieve climate and air quality goals for the past 20 years,” he said. “Now, we’re taking that a step further. This is the first time we are taking on a project of this nature, where we directly reach communities and households to expand their awareness of electrification.”
The program is focusing on Salt Lake’s Westside communities because the need for improved air quality is greater.
“We have an equity angle essentially getting at the disparity between the Eastside and the Westside when it comes to public health and exposure to air pollution,” said Karthan. “It’s just much higher on the Westside, which is why we’re focusing on working on the Westside. Those neighborhoods have a higher burden of air pollution that’s affecting their health. Switching from natural gas to all electricity can impact that.”
At the upcoming convenor organization cohost events, residents will have an opportunity to speak with representatives from Utah Clean Energy and request a free electrification consultation walkthrough. These events will begin in October, though at time of writing, specific dates and locations had not yet been confirmed.