Residential electrification is essential to fighting climate change
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Household energy use is responsible for approximately 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
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Only about one third of households use electricity as their primary heating fuel.
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Housing units that relied on natural gas for space heating produced on average 2.53 tons of carbon per year, compared to an average of 1.76 tons of carbon produced by households that used electricity for space heating.
Electrification of buildings and homes will reduce electricity consumption and help lower energy bills for households
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Estimates show it would help workers and families save $1050 to $2600 per household.
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Almost 30% of U.S. households reported that they had difficulty paying their energy bill or that they had to keep their home at an unsafe temperature because of energy cost price concerns.
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These higher costs disproportionately fall on lower-income households, households of color and households with children.
Residential and building electrification provides major health and safety benefits for workers and families
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The health risks of exposure to air pollution indoors are greater in homes where household appliances burn fossil fuels. Carbon monoxide, a product of incomplete combustion, sends approximately 50,000 people to the ER and kills more than 400 people every year via carbon monoxide poisoning.
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Electrification dramatically improves health outcomes, especially for the most vulnerable Americans. Research has shown that the inhalation of the indoor air pollutants is dangerous for health and can cause early deaths. Replacement of gas stoves with electric stoves cut the concentration of nitrogen dioxide in kitchens in half.
Reducing short-term investment costs can help overcome barriers to electrification
- Congress can make residential building electrification widespread and affordable through broad based investments in low-carbon technologies, industries and jobs, as well as improving decade old legislation on energy efficiency in buildings.
For more on the economic benefits of electrification: How Electrifying Homes Will Reduce Energy Costs for Families and Help Communities Transition to Clean Energy
