!["Our hope is that [the tool helps] people feel informed and empowered."](https://www.thecooldown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/vi4udtWPjHBa.jpg?w=1920&h=800)
A new guide provides support for those looking to transition to an all-electric lifestyle.
Last week, Rewiring America launched its free personal electrification planner to help homeowners reduce their reliance on and consumption of dirty energy. The step-by-step tutorial is focused on electric appliance and vehicle upgrades and generates a plan based on your home and priorities.
A similar tool for renters offers information about relevant projects and how to talk to your landlord.
"Our hope is that [the tool helps] people feel informed and empowered," Tom Mercer, Rewiring America head of product, told Canary Media.
All you have to do is create an account, answer some questions about your situation and goals, and voilà — the system spits out a plan. It lists prework, which can include wiring your home to ready it, and potential projects, showing upfront costs, annual bill savings, and federal incentive totals.
Each step features an introduction, costs and benefits, rebates and credits, a project guide, "learn more" articles, and frequently asked questions.
Mercer said the tool would be continuously improved over the next six months, including a Spanish language option, local bill savings estimates, and a connection to vetted contractors. Rewiring also features a handy calculator for projecting potential electrification savings with the specifics of your own home in your own location.
Gerardo Rodriguez, a homeowner in Raleigh, North Carolina, looking to buy a heat pump water heater, beta-tested the tool last year.
"Where it shines is it gives you the information that you need," he told Canary Media. "[It] really does a good job at coaching you through what that [home electrification] process is going to look like."
That could "ease the friction for homeowners by providing a personalized menu of electrification projects," Canary Media reported.
Induction stoves and solar panels are among the projects offered, and the changes could help the United States meet its goal to reduce planet-warming pollution by 50-52% in 2030.
The Biden-Harris administration is also pushing the country to achieve "a net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050" to help keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels.
Worldwide warming has accelerated since 1975, leading to an increase in severe climate catastrophes such as wildfires and prolonged or intense rainfall events.
The objectives mentioned above have been deemed necessary to preserve coral reefs and Arctic sea ice and prevent more deadly heat waves, The Washington Post reported last week, when the European Union Copernicus Climate Change Service announced that temperatures had hit that 1.5 Celsius threshold for an entire year for the first time.
Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the coolest innovations improving our lives and saving our planet.
Cool Picks
