Passive House and All-Electric Homes are like Chocolate Falling in Your Peanut Butter

By avoiding natural gas and pairing all-electric energy with Passive House, we have buildings with even better energy efficiency, lower energy bills, higher indoor air quality, less risk of fire, higher comfort and better performance. We should advocate for buildings that are longer-lasting and more resilient and responsive than those that rely upon fossil fuels.

From an economic standpoint, heat pumps for heating/cooling and water heating, LED lighting, and induction ranges can potentially add a premium to the already constrained budget. This should be tempered with the cost savings of the improved energy efficiency of these systems over time. Heat pumps can be up to 250% more efficient (and up to 500% more efficient in some water heating applications) relative to the combustion of natural gas, thus saving money and impacting cash flow positively from day one.

“Additionally, it typically costs between $1,500 and $2,000 to install a gas line to the building. These initial savings can be put towards these systems and can temper the upfront costs of upgrading to all-electric.

The main behavioral change of going all-electric is letting go of the gas cooktop. This is likely the biggest hurdle to removing gas from a building (at least in the residential vernacular—commercial buildings can have a different set of constraints).

These gases and particulates have been associated with negative health effects such as respiratory disease, chronic respiratory illness in children, decreased pulmonary function, depression, cancer, nervous system disorders, birth defects and organ damage, among others.

An induction range does not combust anything, therefore bypasses a lot of these issues. As always, it is a good idea to have a vent hood with a large capture efficiency that includes make up air and is vented directly to the outside to capture any cooking particulates.

All-Electric Water Heating

Switching to an electric heat pump hot water heater can present challenges. Heat pump water heaters can dump cold air into the surrounding conditioned space. This should be avoided (or at least cleverly managed), if possible. One solution is to order a venting kit that brings in make-up air and vents to the outside, thus avoiding some of these issues.

There are newer split hot water heaters such as the Sanden System, which locate the condenser on the exterior of a building, similar to a HVAC heat pump. They are extremely efficient, topping out at a whopping 500% efficiency.

The natural gas industry would like to make you think otherwise, by promoting concepts like ‘Balanced Energy Solutions’. However, the goal of this post is to get you to take an objective look and consider the rewards of switching to an all-electric and Passive House building. You could say that the combo is as natural as chocolate and peanut butter.