Building Electrification and Efficiency

Today, nearly ¾ of America’s buildings use fossil fuels to heat space or water, or cook food, creating on average 28% of our carbon pollution each year. In Ann Arbor, it’s over 30% of our carbon pollution. Half of brand new homes today are still built with fossil fuel for space heating, water heating, and appliances, locking in the usage of those carbon polluting devices for decades. 

“Building Electrification” means switching from using fossil fuels in our buildings to using clean energy. For new homes, we need to start using electric appliances when they are built – heat pump HVAC systems, heat pump water heaters, heat pump driers and induction stoves.  And for existing homes, we need to transition to these same appliances when it’s time to replace or upgrade.

Improved building efficiency, such as better insulation, better windows and doors, and reduced air leakage, are all critical first steps to reducing carbon emissions.  Reducing usage through efficiency measures is almost always to most affordable way to reduce your carbon footprint.

The federal Inflation Reduction Act offers many incentives that make both building electrification and efficiency more affordable. Apart from reducing carbon emissions, building electrification offers these benefits

• Electrification delivers cleaner air inside our homes and buildings
• Improved efficiency lowers utility bills
• Equipment upgrades and retrofits and tighter building envelopes create more construction jobs

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