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Your guide to green living in Montgomery County, MD |
“From the cars we drive to the utilities that heat and illuminate our homes, schools, and hospitals, we Americans depend on safe, reliable sources of energy for our personal mobility and comfort. At the same time, because it is vital to keeping our farms, factories, and defense systems functioning smoothly, we also depend on secure, reasonably priced energy for our economic productivity and national security.” Those words are from the first ever Energy Awareness Month which began in 1992. Since then the country has been celebrating some variation of Energy Awareness/Action Month to ensure that residents know how to use less energy, switch to renewable technologies, and keep money in their pockets.
Montgomery County has been a national leader in responding to the challenge of climate change and has been celebrating Energy Action Month since 2016. The County aims to reduce GHG emissions 80% by 2027 and 100% by 2035.
The only way to tackle the impacts of climate change is to: ELECTRICY EVERYTHING which is our theme for 2022 Energy Action Month.
Electrifying everything refers to replacing our fossil-fuel economy with wind, solar, hydro, electric vehicles, heat pumps, and a masterfully designed electric grid that allows a two-way transfer of energy.
According to Rewiring America, there are ten places in and around your home to electrify. This preview picture from their Guide to Comfy, Healthy, Carbon-Free Living shows you where to look — from your garage to your kitchen to the attic to the roof.
Once you electrify:
For years, we have been told that electricity is dirty and the process of generating it and transmitting it involves substantial losses; as the grid is now receiving more energy from renewable energy sources like hydropower, wind, and solar – it is important to ensure that we are using as little energy as possible through conservation methods like turning off the lights and taking shorter showers, and become more energy efficient by replacing technologies that still run on combustion, like gasoline vehicles and natural gas heating and cooling, with alternatives that run on electricity, like electric vehicles and heat pumps. Get as much of our energy consumption as possible hooked up to the power grid.
For Energy Action Month 2022, we focused on four areas where you can electrify things in your home:
Electrify Your Ride – Week of October 3 – 9, 2022
Electrify Your Home – Week of October 10 – 16, 2022
Electrify Your Kitchen – Week of October 17 – 23, 2022
Electrify Your Lawn – Week of October 24 – 30, 2022
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© 2011 - 2024 My Green Montgomery |
Is this a fake news site.
What is the cost of running a 97% efficient furnace B’s electric heat in the winter
Provide some real hard facts to back up your proposed ideas This is just to la la land
Michael,
Thank you for reaching out – as you can imagine, the cost depends on a lot of factors and BGE has a calculator to help make the comparison: https://www.bge.com/WaysToSave/ToolsResources/Pages/HeatingComparisonCalculator.aspx – hope that helps.
I would like to know the dollar cost to heat with all electric or 97% efficient gas heaters Provide actual figures so we can for ourselves analyze the relative costs and efficiencies if alternative fuel. Traditionally,electric has been the most expensive way by far Will the county subsidize the added costs to go all electric
This program is just a list of recommendations and suggestions for residents to help us electrify what we can. There is no one size fits all approach so we offer people to do what they can. There will be some money available through the Inflation Reduction Act and other opportunities as well. Hope that helps!
Add a new string trimmer to your yard tools collection, the first thing you’ll notice is that there’s a LOT of choice out there. Almost too much, actually… it can make picking out a trimmer a bit tricky.
We need the message “Electrify Everything” posted all over the place – on buses, transportation kiosks, signs in grocery stores bulletin boards, etc. with a great logo (like a lightning strike) to call attention – you must be more creative!
Thank you for this idea Sylvia – we will work on it!!!
Larissa,
Thank you for all the hard work you and your team do to keep us inform and active about climate change and energy topics! I certainly love these initiatives. I practice the thermostat one but not at 68 but 69oF during winter! also, I complied all my errands to fewer trips 🙂
Best!
My house is all electric. About 3000 square feet and my average monthly cost is $260 with some months being around $210 and some being close to $300. I have 8 year old heat pump that I will soon replace.
That is great news! Don’t forget to take a look at the calculator to help you decide how you want to purchase equipment: https://www.rewiringamerica.org/app/ira-calculator
I’m interested in joining a solar farm. I am having a hard time finding recommendations, comparisons, advice on how to choose. Can you direct me to such a resource?
Community, or shared, solar makes it possible for anyone with an electric bill to access solar energy, even if they can’t put it where they live. Residents receive the same benefit as installing solar panels on their roofs by subscribing to a large commercial project in the same utility area.
Here are projects available to Montgomery County residents:
Paddington Square – Montgomery County Green Bank has its first project and this is the County’s first community solar project built to serve income qualifying households. Subscribers will play a critical role in shaping the future of energy in Maryland: https://groundswell.org/project/paddington/
Oaks Landfill Community Solar Project – This is a groundbreaking project for Montgomery County and Maryland as a whole. This is the largest community solar farm in the country to reserve 100% of its power for income qualifying residents who receive their electricity via Pepco. This ensures residents who qualify to receive 25% savings on their electricity costs every month: https://neighborhoodsun.solar/solarfarms/oaks-landfill/
Ampion – There will soon be solar panels installed on the WMATA stations at the Naylor, Southern Ave, Cheverly, and Anacostia Metro stations. As a result, residents in Montgomery (Pepco service territory) can sign up for shares of the clean energy produced by these solar farms! If you’re looking to go greener, support local clean energy AND save on your electric bills: https://ampion.net/montgomerycounty
Additional Community Solar Projects: https://www.solarunitedneighbors.org/go-solar/community-solar/find-a-community-solar-project/?_state=maryland
We need the slogan “Electrify Everything” to be put everywhere; on buses, transit kiosks, signage in grocery shops, bulletin boards, and other public spaces, for example.
I installed new heat pumps this year but the tax advantages are not clear to me. I also have a technical question on heat pumps and radiant floor heating that we have in parts of our house, and hot water generation.
https://mygreenmontgomery.org/2022/electrify-everything/#comment-70664