Bored with being held hostage by the fossil gas business, Kent Wimmer launched into a journey to scale back his Florida residence’s dependency on gasoline. Learn on to study extra about his street to putting in a warmth pump water heater – and the way you don’t must be a clear power professional to be a part of the Clear Vitality Technology.
Reed Winckler | October 11, 2023
| Clear Vitality Technology, Local weather Change, Vitality Effectivity, Photo voltaic
The Clear Vitality Technology is a motion of individuals devoted to taking motion to create a more healthy, extra snug, extra sustainable atmosphere for this era and people to return. All of it begins with setting objectives, massive or small, to decrease your environmental affect.
Kent Wimmer has at all times had a ardour for the atmosphere round him: he studied environmental planning and pure assets, and now works for Defenders of Wildlife as their consultant of Northwest Florida. When Hurricane Michael blew down timber in his yard and daylight poured in, Kent noticed his likelihood to put in photo voltaic panels in his yard, and from there he has continued the electrification means of his Tallahassee residence, one step at a time. His newest challenge was changing his decades-old gasoline water heater with one powered by an electrical warmth pump. On this interview, he advised us extra concerning the course of – together with the necessity for extra clear power job coaching – and the way you don’t want a background in clear power to be a part of the Clear Vitality Technology.
Inform us about your journey to affect your house.
Twenty years in the past I purchased an all electrical home and transformed it to gasoline. On the time, I assumed it extra power environment friendly and cheaper to make use of gasoline to instantly warmth my water and air than for utilities to burn the gasoline and ship me the electrical energy. I had a furnace, a gasoline water heater, a gasoline fire, a gasoline range, and a gasoline grill on my again deck.
My journey with clear power started two years in the past, once I began the method of electrification by deciding that I used to be bored with being held hostage by the fossil gas business and the costs for gasoline that regularly went up and up. I put photo voltaic panels in my yard on the finish of 2020, after Hurricane Michael got here by in 2018 and took out some timber round my home, opening up the sky to the south and west components of my home. Quickly after, I changed my 14 SEER AC unit and my gasoline furnace with a warmth pump HVAC that does my heating and cooling. My water heater was additionally gasoline however was nonetheless going sturdy at 18 years previous.
“I used to be bored with being held hostage by the fossil gas business.”
Final spring, my home-owner’s insurance coverage was going to extend. I went searching for a brand new coverage, however quite a lot of firms wouldn’t even give me a quote, one motive being that my water heater was over ten years previous. I had been fascinated by putting in a tankless or warmth pump water heater however each choices have been costly. However, with the federal tax credit score of $2,000, I did the mathematics and I figured a warmth pump water heater would ultimately pay for itself.
I did my analysis and went with the SANCO2 water heater system – a break up system the place you’ve a warmth pump unit with CO2 because the coolant, then a separate storage tank. You pipe water to the warmth pump, the place it’s heated and despatched to the storage tank, after which to the home. I put in each the warmth pump and the storage tank in my storage the place it’s sheltered and might preserve the coils clear. Plus, the CO2 produces quite a lot of warmth, so the water within the tank itself is quite a bit hotter than it might be in an all-in-one, built-in warmth pump unit. It’s a extra environment friendly system, and it makes extra scorching water.
What are among the challenges you confronted with the set up of the warmth pump?
It was fairly a narrative of getting it put in. For the form of break up system I went with – versus an built-in warmth pump system – there weren’t any skilled installers or distributors in Tallahassee. So, I labored with the producer over a month to determine native installers that may even agree to just accept some coaching to put in it, as a result of nobody had ever put in considered one of these in Tallahassee. We in all probability talked to about six plumbers, and I lastly bought three to agree to supply a quote. With the help from the producer ECO2 Methods, I had the tools shipped to me from a distributor in Gainesville, and ECO2 Methods skilled the plumber I chosen who then put in it. It was difficult, being the primary buyer of a product in my space.
It might have been simpler to simply put in a regular resistance electrical water heater. But when I did that, I’d find yourself having to pay an electrical invoice as a result of resistance water heaters devour extra electrical energy than warmth pump water heaters. And that’s what I’m making an attempt to keep away from.
I may have additionally gone with an all-in-one, built-in warmth pump water heater, however for one, this break up unit is quite a bit quieter than a hybrid warmth pump, and it’s additionally extra environment friendly and simpler to keep up.
What advantages have you ever observed thus far?
An enormous profit is that I’m saving cash. Two years in the past I put photo voltaic panels in my yard. I’ve been producing extra solar energy than I’ve been consuming as a result of I primarily based my photo voltaic system on my previous AC and gasoline setup. I haven’t paid for electrical energy because the first month that I put in my photo voltaic panels.
Whereas Tallahassee has nice web metering, I nonetheless needed to make use of extra of the solar energy I used to be amassing. Wanting on the numbers of how a lot energy the SANCO2 warmth pump would use, I noticed it might just about stability out my energy consumption with my solar energy manufacturing. And since my insurance coverage firm was going to make me change my previous water heater anyway, I figured I’ll as effectively reap the benefits of the electrical energy I used to be producing. Plus, I’m saving cash so far as not having to pay for pure gasoline. Even with out having photo voltaic panels, I’d nonetheless be decreasing my energy invoice.
And naturally, now I’m not pumping international warming gasses out into the atmosphere. With my warmth pump methods, now I can warmth and funky my home and warmth my water whereas eliminating my two greatest makes use of of pure gasoline, which was the furnace and the water heater.
What would you say to people who find themselves fascinated by changing their gasoline water heater for a warmth pump water heater?
You’re going to decrease your carbon footprint by going from gasoline to electrical, and also you’re going to decrease your electrical invoice by going from a regular electrical water heater to a warmth pump water heater. And you’ll reap the benefits of tax credit that deliver the price down for his or her set up.
I nonetheless have a gasoline range, a gasoline dryer, and a gasoline fire we not often use. What I take advantage of most is my gasoline grill on the again deck. I’ve by no means achieved clear power stuff; I’ve been doing panorama and wildlife conservation for my whole profession. However I do know all of it comes again to what we’re personally doing to our personal atmosphere, so that you do what you’ll be able to. That’s the place you can also make a distinction.
That’s my story. As Scottish planner and conservationist, Patrick Geddes stated, “suppose globally, act domestically.” That’s what I’m doing – making an attempt to set an excellent instance by decreasing our carbon footprint, whereas on the similar time doing one thing that’s economically productive, or not less than pays for itself in the long term. I’m simply making an attempt to do the appropriate factor, do my household’s half.
GET INVOLVED IN THE CLEAN ENERGY GENERATION
As members of the Clear Vitality Technology, all of us have the facility to take motion and make a distinction the place we are able to in decreasing our environmental affect. Like Kent, we are able to analysis clear power in our communities and find out about power upgrades to make our houses extra clear and environment friendly. You don’t must be a clear power professional to make an affect – simply able to study and excited to make the leap.
To study extra about clear power motion you’ll be able to absorb your personal residence, be part of us for our upcoming Clear Vitality Technology webinar on October 25. Dr. Stephen A. Smith, SACE’s Government Director, will share a video tour of unpolluted power applied sciences he and his household have applied of their residence one step at a time, beginning with power effectivity upgrades.
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