More and more homeowners are upgrading to ultra-efficient electrical appliances like heat pumps to lower their energy bills, reduce the amount of indoor air pollution in their homes, and increase room-by-room comfort and convenience. Like any renovation project, though, the logistical hurdles and headaches can make the process feel daunting.
But one fast-growing startup believes it's cracked the code, especially for innovative heat pumps.
"What we're trying to do is make [home electrification like heat pump installations] as simple as Uber did for rides," David Richardson, CEO of Elephant Energy, told The Cool Down.
Before Uber came along, you didn't have much visibility about what you were getting into: "When you wanted to get a taxi, you didn't know if it was a 1-star taxi … you didn't know the price, you didn't know the route that you were going to take to get from A to B. You didn't always know if you're going to get from A to B."
By extension, Elephant Energy is building a totally unique system to ensure you're getting from A to B when it comes to heat pumps and other home electrification — through an easy-to-use digital roadmap, transparent pricing upfront, and personalized assistance.
"And then when you hop in the 'car,' you're still going to get a good experience," Richardson added.
In a conversation with TCD, Richardson walked us through how customers can save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars by switching to energy-efficient appliances like heat pumps — as well as why having a "comfort adviser" along the way can be such a game-changer.
🚕 How 'Uber' for heat pumps actually works
Just like you get instant access to the route map, total price, and driver details with Uber or other ride-sharing apps, with Elephant Energy homeowners get free upfront access to a personalized "electrification roadmap," which breaks down everything you need to know about electrification upgrades in your home — as well as pricing, performance guarantees, and installation next steps.
Electrification actions within the roadmap include replacing your existing stove with a hyper-efficient induction range, upgrading to a heat pump over an aging HVAC setup, installing an EV charger, and getting rooftop or community solar.
→ To start, you'll share a few stats about your home and your goals in a quick, five-minute quiz. That unlocks the free roadmap within the Elephant Energy portal. If you're just looking for information, you'll be able to learn the key benefits of each action and dive into further resources.
→ When you're ready to begin a project, one of Elephant Energy's "home comfort advisers" will help you fine-tune the design (more on that in a sec), recommending the best tech for your setup. You'll also get a detailed pricing quote that includes the incentives you qualify for upfront.
→ Lastly, Elephant matches you with the best contractors for your specific project from its vetted network. You'll also get a dedicated project manager who's available to resolve any potential issues during or after the installation process.
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The cost 💰 "What we've taken care of on the backend is to make sure that you trust us to make sure that you're going to get from A to B. You know what the price is, ahead of time. You think that's a fair deal. And it's super transparent [and] digitally enabled the entire way," Richardson said.
"What Elephant is delivering is that high-quality installation with a lot more transparency, education, simplicity upfront."
🤗 Why everyone needs a 'comfort adviser'
When you're looking for transparent prices, a digital portal and easy checkout might be all you need. But electrification upgrades — like heat pump technology and EV charging — are often new to many homeowners. That's why having a really knowledgeable person to talk to is so crucial.
Elephant is looking to do just that with its "home comfort advisers." Not only are they the real people finalizing your project design, but they're the ones saying, "OK, you want a heat pump. Let's talk about what that means for you. What questions do you have? How do we make sure that we've answered every single question that you might have, because it is a really big purchase for your home," Richardson said.
At the end of the day, these comfort advisers are there "to help you as a homeowner understand what are the choices you have available — and when you're ready to make a purchasing decision, they're the ones to guide you to that decision," he added.
🗺️ Where does Elephant Energy currently operate?
California, Colorado, and Massachusetts as of now. The team has plans to go live in another East Coast state later in the year.
The startup is growing quickly, with 1,200 heat pump installations under its belt so far.
"It took us 15 months to do our first 100 heat pumps. We now do 100 heat pumps a month, and we'll be doing 100 heat pumps a week at the end of the year," Richardson said.
💰 How homeowners can save money with electrification upgrades
Richardson laid out three main ways homeowners can save hundreds to thousands of dollars every year by switching to energy-efficient electrical appliances.
1. Rebates and incentives
The Inflation Reduction Act offers all homeowners up to 30% off many home electrification upgrades, and while the federal incentives may be in jeopardy under the new Trump administration, many local- and state-level incentives remain in place.
"There's lots of different rebates and incentives available. … Customers are going to save money on the upfront purchase price of a heat pump or a heat pump water heater versus a fossil fuel appliance," Richardson said.
The problem is that "getting all those rebates incentives correct is really hard. If you're in Denver City, it's one set of rebates. If you're in Denver County, it's a different set of rebates." And, of course, different equipment qualifies for different rebates too.
"One of the things that we do under the hood is make sure that we're really, really good at optimizing [for] all the rebates and incentives available [for each homeowner]," he noted.
Elephant also offers financing for electrification upgrades. That includes local financing opportunities like Colorado's RENU program and the HEAT loan in Massachusetts. "Our goal is to find the best available solutions for you," Richardson said.
2. Energy efficiency = money saved
Heat pumps, for example, are three times more efficient than traditional HVAC systems. Depending on what fuel source you used before making the switch, that could translate to huge savings.
"If you have delivered fuel or propane, this is going to save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars every year," Richardson said. Same for electric resistance heating. Switching from natural gas likely will only have modest savings outside of areas with steep gas prices, but those with solar panels will certainly save a bunch of money, he noted, because the value of the panels can then extend to your heating (and cooling) needs directly and efficiently.
3. Elephant's proprietary energy database
"We have a pretty cool database at this point of actual energy usage by home," Richardson explained.
For example: "We have really good models of, 'Here's how much energy a typical 2,000-square-foot home in your neighborhood typically uses.'" But what if a homeowner uses 20% more than that average? "That tells us there's some energy-efficiency opportunities," Richardson said. Elephant can then help the homeowner "make some really thoughtful decisions around what energy efficiency upgrades you might want or that could be easy and affordable to do that could save you money."
Elephant also offers a "performance guarantee" to ensure that its design modeling keeps you comfortable no matter the weather.
"One of the things that we're really good at is using building science to really accurately predict the heating load required for a home, and so we have a guarantee that … if we size something wrong — if your house won't stay warm on the coldest night of the year, or if your home is hot on the hottest day of the year — we're going to fix it. We're going to make sure it's right," Richardson said.
💚 Why home electrification is so good for the planet
Residential homes account for about 20% of climate-related emissions each year — mainly from heating and cooling. Switching to efficient appliances drives down energy usage. And when you can couple that with energy drawn from renewable sources like wind and solar (not fossil fuels like natural gas), homeowners can really make an impact.
"If we're going to make a dent in the universe, this is one where we can potentially really, really help homeowners make a huge dent in their own carbon emissions," Richardson said.
🐘 By the way, what's with the name 'Elephant'?
"Because every other company that you call is 'Bob's Heating & Air' or 'Joe's Electrical,' and we wanted to create a brand that stood for something a little bit different," Richardson explained.
"Elephants are a pretty amazing animal — the keystone species. They shape the environment around them," he said. "Climate change is the elephant in the room, [and] as we started, 'Elephant' just made so much sense."
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