The all-electric home: Tackling air pollution by cutting off natural gas

Across Salt Lake City, Utah, housing developers are building more net zero energy homes. Facing air quality issues, the state has yet to set more energy efficient codes for new homes, which means the kind of homes being built by developers like Redfish, Garbett Homes, and Ivory Homes, are being constructed on a much smaller scale. Such homes, while costing 2-5% more to build, have shown to decrease energy costs by 50-60%.

Rahr Malting, a brewery in Shakopee, MN, has found a creative way to sustainably address their energy needs. The company partners with the Mdewakanton Sioux Community to use waste barley hulls from the malting factory to generate electricity for their facilities, selling excess power to the public grid while the waste heat sprouts the malt to make beer.

Solar power is an important renewable energy in Germany, but when the sun is out, it can overpower the grid. Likewise, when the sun is not out, the reception of solar power decreases. Germany has piloted battery installations that store solar energy for use when the sunlight is not plentiful and has successfully incentivized citizens to use them to lower costs.

Respiratory diseases caused by air pollution now account for more premature deaths in people worldwide than malaria and HIV combined. To address increasing contamination levels, particularly in cities, scientists have developed a new kind of cement that absorbs pollutants like CO2. The special cement is being manufactured in Milan, and used around in the world in cities like Paris and Chicago.

An economic shift to renewable energy could take decades, but thanks to rapidly evolving disruptive technologies, dropping prices of solar and wind power sources, and increasing market demand for green business, the new age of renewable energy could encompass the world economy much more quickly.

With climate change an ever-increasing threat, one city in Denmark is helping to inspire hope through the successful implementation of a self-sustaining treatment plant that provides fresh water to the local community using only energy produced from the waste and sewage it filters. Other cities are now looking to replicate the model.

WindowDressers mobilizes community volunteers to build low-cost insulating window inserts for older homes. Their efforts have saved nearly 4 million gallons of heating fuel, preventing 44,000 tons of CO2 emissions, and strengthening neighborhood ties while making heating more affordable—especially for low-income households who now represent nearly 40% of recipients.

Inspired by the Dutch concept of “Energiesprong,” or “energy jump,” a developer in France retrofitted a group of townhouses for social housing to be more environmentally friendly. They installed polyurethane facades to avoid heat loss and solar panels on the roof. Upgrading the units to be more green cost more than a conventional retrofit, but over time, energy bills were cut in half. These green retrofits are being implemented in towns around the world and could be a model for developers that want to reduce their carbon footprints.

A pilot energy retrofit project in Florida has shown that these upgrades for homeowners ultimately saves them money and energy, and can be made accessible to people from all types of socioeconomic backgrounds. This private-public partnership retrofitted 56 single-family homes, some with “shallow” retrofits like LED lightbulbs and smart plugs and some with “phased deep” retrofits like energy-efficient windows and air conditioners. The program showed that all participants saved energy and could be scaled to other states.

In London, two community-driven initiatives are working side by side to engage residents in sustainable practices. Energy Garden, a community energy cooperative, has created green spaces in rail stations offers residents community gardens, nature education, and solar power. Repower, the other initiative, works with residents to communally invest in renewable energy for low-income neighborhoods while also providing those neighborhoods with energy jobs and mentoring services.