How to Electrify Your Life: Ask a Contractor (Part 2 of 2)

02/09/22 • 44 min

What burning questions do you have about what it takes to remove fossil fuels from your home or workplace and switch to all-electric appliances and equipment? What should you know before you choose a contractor? For example, do heat pumps work in cold climates? And what is a mini split, and is it right for my building? In part two of our how-to series, Electrify This! host Sara Baldwin speaks with residential HVAC contractor Larry Waters, founder of Electrify My Home, LLC and commercial HVAC specialist Steve Kroh, commercial manager for Shamrock Sales, Inc. Both contractors will respond to top questions from our listeners. Tune in to learn all you need to know to reduce pollution, address climate change, and plug in to the electrification movement where you live and work.
Guests:
Larry Waters is the Founder of Electrify My Home, LLC and is a 40-year veteran of the HVAC industry. Since 1994, Larry has focused on residential Heating and Air as a service technician and sales professional and in 2014, he shifted his focus to high-efficiency heat pump installations to replace gas. He has designed and installed over 400 electrification projects in the greater Bay area of California. Larry serves as an advisory board member of Gridworx and the Building Decarbonization Coalition. Larry is also a Building Performance Institute certified building analyst and earned a 2021 Eco leader award from Green Builder Magazine.

Steve Kroh is Commercial Quotations Manager for Shamrock Sales Inc. a Manufacturers Rep firm in Denver, Colorado specializing in boilers, water heaters, pumps, expansion tanks, and controls for the Hydronic heating Industry. He has 25 years of experience in the field, and works with customers in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Montana.

To Dig in Deeper, Check out these Must-Read Resources:

Electrify My Home, LLC
Shamrock Sales, Inc.
Building Performance Institute
Electrify Everything in Your Home: A Guide to Comfy, Healthy, Carbon-Free Living, by Joel Rosenberg – A Rewiring America Publication
The Switch Is On

To Dig in Deeper, Check out these Must-Read Resources:

Electrify My Home, LLC
Shamrock Sales, Inc.
Building Performance Institute
Electrify Everything in Your Home: A Guide to Comfy, Healthy, Carbon-Free Living, by Joel Rosenberg – A Rewiring America Publication
The Switch Is On

Previous Episode

How to Electrify Your Life: Getting Started at Home (Part 1 of 2)

Want to electrify your life and not sure where to start? Then tune in to a special two-part series of Electrify This! to find out how you can cut pollution and save money by making the switch to clean, efficient electric alternatives. Host Sara Baldwin speaks with Joel Rosenberg, the author of the new e-book called Electrify Everything in Your Home: A Guide to Comfy, Healthy, Carbon-Free Living, and Panama Bartholomy of the Building Decarbonization Coalition about the steps homeowners and renters can take to transition to a clean, electrified life. We’ll also discuss the big electrification wins of 2021 and the new The Switch is On campaign aimed at helping households and contractors plug in to the electrification movement.

Guests:
Joel Rosenberg is an educator and entrepreneur focused on helping solve the climate crisis and is the Author of a new e-book, just released, called Electrify Everything in Your Home (which is a Rewiring America publication). Joel has worked on science and engineering education at the Museum of Science, Boston; the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany; the Lawrence Hall of Science at U.C. Berkeley; Maker Media; and Otherlab. He is also the co-founder of 3D Fab Light, an industrial laser cutter company. Joel has a mechanical engineering degree from MIT, and a master’s from Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Panama Bartholomy is the Director of the Building Decarbonization Coalition, which is a multi-sector forum advocating for and creating solutions for our pollution-intensive building stock. Previously, Panama has served as the European Director of the Investor Confidence Project, an Advisor on Energy and Natural Resources to California Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, the Deputy Director of the California Energy Commission’s Efficiency and Renewables Division, and an advisor for Chairwomen Douglas and Pfannenstiel. He is also a former board member on the U.S. Green Building Council and past president of the Northern California Chapter.

To Dig in Deeper, Check out these Must-Read Resources:

Electrify Everything in Your Home: A Guide to Comfy, Healthy, Carbon-Free Living, by Joel Rosenberg – A Rewiring America Publication
The Switch Is On
Building Decarbonization Coalition
Energy Sage
Database for State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIREUSA.org)

Next Episode

Looking for Freedom from Fossil Fuels: Decarbonizing the European Union

Russia’s unprovoked Ukraine invasion sent shockwaves across the world and shined a spotlight on the true costs of our global fossil fuel reliance, especially for the European Union (EU). The EU’s 27 members buy a quarter of their oil and more 40 percent of their gas from Russia, and EU households are facing high energy bills and accelerating impacts from the climate crisis.
On this episode of Electrify This!, host Sara Baldwin speaks with energy policy experts at the Regulatory Assistance Project and Agora Energiewende to explore how the EU can end its reliance on Russian gas and oil, achieve its climate goals, and ensure its consumers benefit from the transition. Tune in to learn how consumers can lead the way through electrification combined with a clean grid that puts the EU on a path to a more prosperous, safe, and peaceful future.
Guest Bios:
Michaela Holl is a Senior Associate at the independent thinktank, Agora Energiewende, working to influence EU clean energy policies. Prior to this, she worked as a policy analyst at the European Commission, the EU s executive arm for 16 years on a broad range of EU legislation from tobacco regulation to renewables and energy efficiency. She also worked as assistant to a Member of the European Parliament. Michaela holds a Master degree in European Economics from the College of Europe in Bruges and a Diploma in International Business and Cultural Studies. She is also a visiting lecturer at Technical University Munich’s School on governance and co-host of the bimonthly Watt Matters Podcast.

Jan Rosenow is a Principal and Director of European Programmes at the Regulatory Assistance Project and has several board appointments including the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the Coalition for Energy Savings and the Carbon Free Europe. Jan is also an Honorary Research Associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and has been appointed Special Advisor to the House of Commons’ inquiry into decarbonizing heating. He was named one of the world’s Top 25 energy influencers and co-hosts the Watt Matters podcast.

To Dig in Deeper, Check out these Must-Read Resources: