The All-Electric Home

WaterFurnace Total Electric Award

Have you heard the new catchphrase “electrification” recently? While you may not have heard about it outside of transportation, Electrification is a rising megatrend across the United States. It means using the low cost and plentiful electricity we have on hand to power systems that traditionally run on fossil fuels. In your home, that would boil down to cooking and heating. Because our electrical grid is rapidly growing in efficiency and decreasing dependence on the dirtiest fuels, this makes sense.

But like most great ideas, this one isn’t new. Sixty years ago, all-electric homes were promoted to grow a new electrical infrastructure. Today, the concept works to stabilize the existing electrical infrastructure and take advantage of more efficient electrical technology.

“Wait just a second… how does it make sense to make electricity out of, say coal, and then send it 100 miles away to your house?”

WaterFurnace Geo Newspaper Article

Well, the short answer is, no, that doesn’t make sense. However, and this is changing every day, your co-op is providing cleaner and cleaner electricity. Resources like hydroelectric dams in Arkansas, nuclear plants in Virginia, and wind farms in Kansas are adding significant capacity to our grid. In 2023 renewable sources outpaced coal in electricity production. 2024 shows no signs of that trend slowing down.

Your cooperative can make and deliver electricity for cooking and heating that is cleaner and more reliable than the best in-home fuel burning systems. And chances are, as a member of an electric cooperative you own your electric company while your fuel provider is strictly in business to make a profit.

Here are two great examples of why it makes sense to go all electric:

  1. An electric induction stove delivers about 85% of the energy it uses to your food. A gas stove only gets 15% of the energy consumed into your food. If you’ve cooked over a gas stove in July, you know this firsthand.
  2. Heating and cooling your home with a geothermal heat pump delivers between 400% and 600% efficiency. (Most of that energy comes from the ground) As a bonus, most of these “geo” systems also deliver “free hot water” for storage in your water heater. By contrast, gas furnaces and water heaters operate between 78% and 96% efficiency.

Those are two great ways to move toward a more reliable and affordable energy future.

We invite you to visit these websites to learn more about the electrification megatrend: