Electrifying your home includes addressing solar power, heat pump hot water and air conditioning for heating and cooling.

Converting these services when electrifying your home will make a big difference to your energy efficiency overall, and your home’s performance.

Brendan Lang, electrician and Founder of Get Off Gas, takes us through all the details and considerations for electrifying your home with these items.

Listen to the episode now.

Hello! This is Episode 346, and in it, I’m talking with Brendan Lang from Get Off Gas.

We finished Episode 345 Brendan sharing insights about his own home renovation, and how he tackled it. Brendan has opened his home for Sustainable House Day and uses it as a fantastic demonstration of how to improve an existing home through electrification and energy efficiency upgrades.

If you haven’t listened to Part 1 of our conversation, it’s definitely worth catching up on first. You’ll hear me talk about some of the health and environmental reasons to get off gas in your home, and to consider electrification as a way to improve your home overall, its health, and its ability to then be supplied through renewable energy sources. 

For Part 1, head back to Episode 345 to listen or download the free transcript.

In this episode, Brendan talks more about how he renovated his home, including retrofitting insulation to its roof and walls. 

We also talk specifically about solar, and what to know to get comparative quotes, plus choose the right components. 

And we discuss heat pump hot water units, where they can be used, and what to know before choosing one for your home. Plus, what to do if your budget can’t extend to sourcing one, but you still want a super efficient, electrically run hot water supply for your home.

And we also discuss air conditioning, how to maximise its efficiency for heating and cooling, and why a gas panel, open fireplace or wood burning stove are heat sources to avoid for your health and your home’s efficiency.

Whether you’re seeking to electrify your existing home as a standalone project, or as part of a renovation … or you’re wanting to build an all electric new home, this episode will be super helpful as we dive into the nuts and bolts of it all. 

Now, let’s dive in!

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW

There are a few things I can talk about in Undercover Architect that never fail to trigger a big response.

These include …

• Suggesting you keep your sink out of your island bench
• A family home doesn’t necessarily need multiple toilets, and it is possible to only have one
• Media rooms and even a 2nd living space is not an essential requirement of a family home
• You don’t ‘need’ a butler’s pantry
• A large home built sustainably is still unsustainable

… and of course, getting off gas, and not including open fire places, wood burning fireplaces or gas fireplaces in a home.

Any time I mention any of these, it gets a reaction.

If you’re particularly attached to your gas cooktop, gas fireplace or heating, or your gas hot water …

And you believe it to be an environmentally sustainable energy source … then this episode is not for you.

I do hope, however, you’ll go back and listen to the beginning of Episode 345 where I briefly mention some of the horrific health impacts of having gas in your home. Whatever you believe about its environmental sustainability credentials, I’m thinking that the detrimental health impacts might be sufficient to make you second guess having gas in your home.

As I said in the previous episode, where I stand on this is: I believe we should be getting off gas, improving the energy efficiency of our homes and reducing their energy consumption overall, and then supplying that energy via renewable sources such as localised solar, or through green power from the grid.

I am a firm believer in electrifying our homes.

And so, in this second part of my conversation with Brendan, you’ll hear a lot more detail about the specific appliances and ways to do this in your home.

Let me remind you about Brendan.

Brendan is an electrician with over 10 years experience operating his electrical contracting business, and the founder of Get Off Gas. 

As a keen environmentalist, the core motivation for his work each day is to help prevent an irreversible climate catastrophe by accelerating the transition to renewable fuelled all electric buildings and transport, reducing running costs and improving liveability for all. 

Brendan and his team at Get Off Gas offer expert guided solutions to electrifying homes, from consultation to installation and maintenance, with a strong focus on educating homeowners and tradies to ensure they make great decisions.

Let’s hear the conversation now.

RESOURCES: 

Get Off Gas

Website >>> https://getoffgas.com.au/
Instagram >>> https://www.instagram.com/getoffgas 

Sources cited:

• Climate Council. “I quite gas – and you can too!” https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/i-quit-gas/
• This is Precious. “I’m announcing: I Quit Gas!” https://sarahwilson.substack.com/p/im-announcing-i-quit-gas
• “Annual progress reports.” NHMRC, https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/funding/targeted-calls-research/biotoxin-related-illnesses/annual-progress-reports 
• Australian Energy Regulator. “Gas Market Prices.” Australian Energy Regulator, www.aer.gov.au/industry/registers/charts/gas-market-prices 
• Australian Government. Department of Health and Aged Care. Biotoxins (indoor damp and mould) Clinical Pathway. November 2023.
• “Australia’s Energy Commodity Resources 2024 Overview.” Geoscience Australia, 15 July 2024, https://www.ga.gov.au/aecr2024/overview 
• Bartok, John W. “Unvented heathers spell trouble.” greenhousemag.com, Greenhouse Management, 21 July 2021, https://www.greenhousemag.com/article/unvented-heaters-spell-trouble/#:~:text=How%20much%20water%20do%20we,5%20gallons%20of%20water/hour.
• Ewald, Ben, et al. “Health risks from indoor gas appliances.” AJGP, vol. 51, no. 12, December 2022.
• Forcey, Tim. My Efficient Electric Home Handbook: How to Slash Your Energy Bills, Protect Your Health & Save the Planet. Murdoch Books, 2024.
• Gergis, Joëlle. Highway to Hell: Climate Change and Australia’s Future; Quarterly Essay 94. Black Incorporated, 2024.
• mineARC. “Methane: Health and Safety Hazards Fact Sheet.” minearc systems, 5 Jan 2021, https://minearc.com/methane-health-and-safety-hazards-fact-sheet/?cn-reloaded=1 
• “Mould.” NSW Health, 20 December 2022, https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/environment/factsheets/Pages/mould.aspx. 
• Stanford University. “Quantifying U.S health impacts from gas stoves.” Science Daily, 3 May 2024, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/05/240503172624.htm. 
• Stiell, Simon. “Are gas cookers bad for you? Scientists say they’re sending 40,000 Europeans to early graves a year.” Euronews, 28 October 2024, https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/10/28/are-gas-cookers-bad-for-you-scientists-say-theyre-sending-40000-europeans-to-early-graves- 
• Sullivan, Debra. “Mold in the home and how it can affect health.” MedicalNewsToday, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/288651#mold-and-health 

Access the support and guidance you need to be confident and empowered when renovating and building your family home inside my flagship online program, HOME METHOD >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/the-home-method/ 

Learn more about how to interview and select the right builder with the Choose Your Builder mini-course >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/choose-your-builder   

Access my free online workshop “Your Project Plan” >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/projectplan