Cincinnatians can help slow climate change by modifying the way they power their homes. A city program aims to provide residents with information they need to do so.
Electrify Cincy promotes building electrification, the transition to using electricity as a power source, rather than fossil fuels.
Rachel Bickett, energy equity project coordinator for the city of Cincinnati, said people can take action in their own houses.
“For most people, electrifying our homes and businesses is made up of a lot of very small choices over the years,” Bickett said.
The first steps to reducing household fossil fuel consumption can include updating electrical panels or sealing air leaks in door frames with weather stripping.
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Electrify Cincy operates with the slogan, “When it dies, electrify.”
“When you have to replace HVAC or a major appliance, consider choosing a high-efficiency or electrified option,” Bickett said.
Many appliances can be replaced with efficient and electric options like heat pumps.
“There’s a heat pump hot water heater, there’s heat pump clothes dryers, and there’s HVAC heat pumps," said Nikki Vandivort, clean energy activation FUSE executive fellow in the city’s Office of Environment and Sustainability. "So, it’s technology that takes the heat in a space and moves it outside or takes the heat from outside and moves it inside.”
Residential electrification is a widely supported climate solution, appearing in reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to the Green Cincinnati Plan. That’s because buildings create the majority of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, according to Office of Environment and Sustainability data.
Vandivort said there’s ample opportunity for Cincinnatians to take steps to electrifying their homes.
“We’ve done some initial research and approximately 88% of households do heat with natural gas, so there’s a significant percentage of our housing stock that would benefit from the transition to electrification,” Vandivort said.
Though up-front costs of electrified appliances can be more expensive, electrification ultimately can save households money if supported in an equitable way, according to a 2024 report by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.
The Ohio Department of Development’s Office of Energy and Environment is working on a program that will offer rebates for projects that improve household energy efficiency. It is submitting its plan for federal approval in January of 2025.