Nith Valley Ecoboosters to host webinar focused on transitioning the home from gas to electricity

Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Nith Valley Ecoboosters and Reep Green Solutions are looking to educate area residents on why and how they should transition their home from natural gas to electricity.

The two organizations are hosting a free webinar April 1 from 7-9 p.m. called Getting Off Gas – Electrify Your Home featuring keynote speaker Heather McDiarmid, a climate consultant and the founder of McDiarmid Climate Consulting who specializes in decarbonizing single-family homes.

“I’m going to be going through some of the reasons people might want to electrify,” McDiarmid said. “And it’s not just about reducing emissions, though I would hope that is a motivator for many. It’s also about improving homes and reducing the amount of energy that the home consumes.”

Buildings are Canada’s third-largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Much of that comes from the natural gas, oil and propane used to provide space and water heating, but other equipment in and around the home also uses fossil fuels, such as gas stoves, fireplaces, lawnmowers and generators. According to McDiarmid, electrifying this equipment can significantly lower a home’s GHG emissions while providing many other benefits.

Not only is McDiarmid a climate consultant, she has also personally gone through the process of fully electrifying her home, allowing her to share her personal experience with the process and with using electric appliances like an induction stove and a heat pump.

During the webinar, she said she will present information on a number of topics, including:

problems associated with the use of natural gas;

heat pumps and other electric alternatives to gas furnaces, water heaters, stoves, dryers and fireplaces.

the minimum specs someone should look for in these alternatives; and

information about the federal interest-free-loan program and the new Ontario energy efficiency rebate program.

“The electric options are often simply just better,” McDiarmid said. “ … Probably most people have heard about heat pumps; you can replace your gas furnace with a heat pump. We’ll talk about heat pumps, but it’s not the only thing that you can electrify. There’s your cooking; I adopted an induction cooktop over 10 years ago and there is no way I’m going back to gas. It is so much better.

“ … Electric dryers don’t require a vent to the outside. Isn’t that amazing? That changes a whole bunch of things. It means renters can put in a dryer into their apartment. There are some that will plug into a regular outlet and no vent to the outside. That opens up possibilities for where you can put it, and you don’t have to put this great big hole to the outside that, of course, is going to be leaking heat in the middle of the wintertime.”

McDiarmid will also direct webinar participants to Canada’s Home Electrification Toolkit at buildingdecarbonization.ca/canadas-home-electrification-toolkit/, a virtual toolkit with information and resources on electrifying the home she prepared for the Building Decarbonization Alliance.

“I’ll talk a bit about that and what’s in it and what people can access there, sort of helping people to do their research on the various topics of discussion,” McDiarmid said. “It goes into these things in far more detail than I have time to talk about at this workshop.”

For more information on the webinar and to register, visit nvecoboosters.com/index.php/services/.