Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future

by Saul Griffith

Here are the main purchasing decisions climate-conscious people should worry about: 1. Your personal transportation infrastructure: Everyone’s next car, and every subsequent car, should be electric. (Of course, public transit, bicycles, electric bicycles, electric scooters, or anything that isn’t powered by fossil fuels are even better options.) 2. Your personal electrical infrastructure: Everyone should install solar on their roofs at the next opportunity, whether that be a retrofit, replacing shingles, or when buying or building a new house. You should be installing enough solar to power your electric vehicles and electrified heating systems, not just the small solar systems of today that only accommodate your existing electrical load. 3. Your personal comfort infrastructure (HVAC): Replace furnaces and gas- or oil-fired heating systems with electric heat pumps. Additionally, it is wise to insulate and seal homes. If you are replacing your flooring, it is a perfect time to install radiant hydronic heating systems. Choose efficient air conditioning, and buy systems that allow you to heat and cool only the rooms you are in, instead of the whole building. 4. Infrastructure in your kitchen, laundry and basement: Choose the most efficient and electric refrigerators, dryers, stove-tops, ranges, water heaters, and dish and clothes washers that are available. 5. Your personal storage infrastructure: As the country becomes increasingly electrified, there will come a moment when a...