A Boston-Area Family Shifts Their 18th Century Home Off Fossil Fuels – CleanTechnica

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Is it really possible for homeowners to recreate a traditional Colonial New England home so that it uses renewable energy sources? A residential couple who live outside Boston wondered the same thing. How could they get off fossil fuels and do so in a way that made sense for their family? Here’s a snapshot of their journey and its successful results.

In 2017, Amelia Wesselink and Tim Maher purchased a 120-year-old, Colonial style house in Roslindale, Massachusetts. Granted, it needed some work, but the 1,800 square foot home worked for their family, which now includes two school-aged children. When they were confronted with initial energy infrastructure repair needs, they really had no idea how fully they would embrace green energy. It ended up reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and saving them money on their energy bills.

“If there is a home improvement we can make to reduce our carbon footprint, we’re going to do it,” Wesselink says. “It can be kind of overwhelming … but my advice would be: just do it. Don’t be afraid of this.”

The Boston Globe chronicled their journey.

What Does It Take to Switch Off Fossil Fuels?

Goodbye, leaky oil tank: If you’ve ever lived in a northern older home, you know that a leaky oil tank strikes fear in the heartiest of souls. But when the oil tank started leaking last year in the Wesselink–Maher home, they rallied and converted adversity into opportunity. Their solution? An air-source heat pump. Air-sourced heat pumps are relatively inexpensive because they exchange heat between indoor and outdoor spaces without relying on the costly underground networks deployed by ground-sourced heat exchange systems.

Of course, over the years, heat pumps have garnered a reputation for only functioning effectively in mild-weather southern states. Enter startup Elephant Energy, which offers personalized home electrification roadmaps. Maher told the Globe that the company assured them that a heat pump would keep their home warm. “They were like, ‘Well, we’ve been doing this in Denver for years … and no one’s been frozen out of their house,’” Maher related. The Roslindale couple took the heat pump plunge, and no longer do they have a $600 oil bill.

Noisy air conditioner? Not anymore: The heat pump offers dual energy provisions: heat in the winter and air-conditioning in the summer, so there’s no need for AC window units any longer. Wesselink remembered, “You’d have to turn up the volume on the TV” because the air conditioners were so loud. Maher elaborated that the heat pump is “the biggest comfort difference … having basically central A/C everywhere is awesome.” Now an app informs the couple about five different zones across the house, and they can customize the home’s inside temperatures to their liking.

The couple took advantage of Mass Save’s zero-interest loan for heat pumps alongside other available financial incentives. Maher said the heat pump cost slightly more than the $6,000 he would have paid for a new oil tank.

Mass Save is a collaborative of Massachusetts’ electric utilities and energy efficiency service providers. It works to empower residents, businesses, and communities to make energy efficient upgrades and offers several incentives:

• 75% or more off the cost of insulation projects;
• No-cost air sealing; and,
• A heat-pump rebate of up to $10,000.

Hot water heater is history: You would know it! Fairly soon after the heat pump was installed, their hot water heater stopped working. It was decision time once more for Wesselink and Maher. Would gas or renewable energy make more sense for the replacement? They turned again to Mass Save, learning that the technological advances and increasing energy efficiency found in the new generation of environmentally friendly heat pump water heaters (HPWH) make them a worthy investment to reduce both carbon emissions and utility bills at once.

In fact, earlier this year the US Department of Energy finalized Congressionally-mandated energy-efficiency standards for a range of residential water heaters to save US households approximately $7.6 billion per year on their energy and water bills, while significantly cutting energy waste and harmful carbon pollution.

Gas stove is gone: The couple stared at their gas stove, the only remaining gas appliance they owned. They financed an induction stove in part through Mass Save rebates. As Maher explains it, “You buy a $1,000 stove, they wrote me a check for $500 back.” The family is finding the efficiency of the induction range quite appealing. “You go to heat water for tea, and by the time you get the teacup ready, the water’s boiling.”

No more gas guzzling transportation: Out went the 2004 Acura next, and in came a 2024 Kia EV. They added a driveway charger from Amazon, and, to complete this project, they needed to update the home’s electrical panels. As our intrepid CleanTechnica writer Steve Hanley notes, “Roughly 40 million homes in America have 100 amp electrical service. That was considered quite something during the Carter administration, but it is barely adequate for the demands of an all-electric home today, particularly as we gravitate toward new technologies that allow electric vehicles to interface with the utility grid.”

Utility bill savings: With all the new comforts in their home, the Roslindale couple discovered another benefit: the savings on the family’s utility bill. Even with a new EV and hot water heater and drawing on air conditioning during the hot summer, the utility bill came in at 10% less electricity each month than it did last year.

Independence through solar is next: Down the line the family will look into adding solar panels to their home. Fortunately, homeowners can access some financial incentives at the federal level through the Investment Tax Credit, which covers 30% of the cost of equipment and installation. However, this credit doesn’t apply to the upfront cost — it’s credited on the homeowner’s taxes based on their tax liability.

Final Thoughts

Yes, the Boston-area grid is powered by roughly 50% natural gas. However, heat pumps still use considerably less energy than oil or gas furnaces.

Is there an even bigger picture of necessary and substantial clean infrastructure deployment needed to transition households and businesses to clean energy? You bet. The shift from aging, polluting fossil fuel infrastructure toward a cleaner, efficient, and electrified future is underway, gathering momentum that will reshape energy landscapes.

Most New England states target 80% to 100% emissions reductions below 1990 levels by 2050, economy-wide. A new report by Clean Air Task Force (CATF) and Acadia Center examines the critical role community engagement will play in the buildout of new, clean generation and transmission to meet New England’s 2050 decarbonization goals. The report outlines how an increasingly decarbonized grid — the network connecting power generation, transmission lines, and local utility wires to homes and businesses — is at the center of New England’s journey to address climate change and will be the primary means by which the region reduces emissions.