I've been reporting on decarbonization and the environmental issues for almost four years. Now I'm choosing to do more than write about it with this free electric coach course.
Our homes are a significant source of carbon emissions that are warming the planet, and sometimes it feels like we don't know how to fix it. Residential and commercial buildings account for 13% of greenhouse gas emissions in the US. Some of that is a result of burning fossil fuels directly for heating and cooking, but a little more than half comes from indirect emissions of home electricity use, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To reduce those emissions, Americans will need to electrify our home systems that burn fossil fuels, while (just as crucially) increasing efficiency to use less electricity overall, especially until the grid decarbonizes. But that's much easier said than done: The US has some 147 million housing units, each of which will have a unique path to electrification and energy efficiency. Sounds like a lot of work, right? It is. Even our CNET survey revealed that more than half of Americans view energy efficiency upgrades as unattainable or not worthwhile. Recently, I've felt the pull to get my hands dirty and help change this. This probably started when I read Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson's new book, What If We Get It Right?, and used her climate action Venn diagram to help me figure out what more I could do. I first landed on the idea of "writing about climate change," but the book encouraged readers to choose an action they weren't already doing, and that went beyond simply communicating about the climate (guilty on both counts). So when I stumbled upon a free course run by Rewiring America and Abode Energy Management to become a certified electric coach -- basically, someone who can help homeowners speed up their transition away from fossil fuels -- it felt like a great way for me to take action. The course taught me more than I ever thought possible about heat pumps, home insulation and electric appliances, just to name a few topics. And I also got connected to hundreds of other coaches who are excited about…