Electrification Stories: How one Rochester household moved to an all-electric home
Jonny at a Rochester Electric Vehicles event
Interview by Kayla Lamson, edited by Nick Heid.
Jonny Yucuis is a homeowner in Rochester, Minnesota who has completely eliminated gas appliances and vehicles from his life. His aim is to educate and inspire others by removing the fear surrounding electrifying home and transportation energy use.
CUB's Green Corps member Kayla Lamson interviewed Jonny to learn more about his electrification process and what advice he has to others considering similar changes.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What sparked your awareness on home electrification? Was there anything that inspired you prior to your electrification journey?
“Our daughter was born in 2017 and one night she was not sleeping. I'm trying to rock her back to sleep. I was combing through a lot of articles about the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report saying, essentially: ‘We kind of got to get our act together. We have a shorter timeline than you'd expect for reducing emissions enough to avoid some of the worst effects of climate change.’ You're holding your young daughter, and you got this news in your other hand. That's the point where you think about your kids. You think about those milestones: What's life going to be like for school, for high school, maybe getting married someday? Seeing the trajectory of where we're at, for me, was definitely the thing that got me thinking: ‘All right, what can we do? What can we do ourselves in order to help mitigate this?’
We started looking at electric vehicles, probably the next day, to figure out if they were even viable. I didn't know of any specific ones at the time, but that was our first big change, so we decided to explore it and try to make an impact.”
What have you electrified in your home?
“We've done everything and we don't use any gas anymore. First, we got the electric vehicle, then we switched our lawn mower and outdoor tools to battery powered tools. That was a nice easy next step. From there, we did some work for better insulation and air sealing — ahead of doing the heat pump for our HVAC — just because there's no point in being inefficient with it. After that we did a heat pump for our heating and cooling, then we did a heat pump water heater, and finally we switched our gas stove to [an] electric induction stove. Our dryer was already electric.”
Did you notice any cost change with utility rates when switching from gas to electric?
“Yeah. Obviously, your electric bill is going to go up because you're just using it more. But you're also offsetting the costs for gasoline and natural gas. There’s gasoline from the gas station for your vehicle, outdoor tools, and natural gas for the furnace, and anything else.
For us, it's kind of a wash. For our electric heating, [operating costs] are a little bit higher than what it was for natural gas. Part of the reason for that is that the exact model we got can't operate at such low temperatures as other ones available. If I were to do it again today, knowing what I know now, I probably would have selected from other models that are still efficient at lower temperatures. For heat, it's switching over to resistance backup heat at about seven degrees [Fahrenheit] or so. [There are] other [heat pumps] on the market now that are more efficient, reaching negative five, negative ten degrees. Some of the latest ones are going to be -20, -30 or so. [They’re] becoming more efficient at those extremely low temperatures. For everything else, aside from heating, it's pretty significantly cheaper for operating costs.
For our vehicle, our fueling costs are cheaper than gas. I think it was around one fifth of the cost. Now that gas prices aren't quite as high as they were before, it's probably about a third or a fourth of the cost. There’s very minimal maintenance for electric vehicles.
It’s the same story with our water heater and for cooking. We've been pretty happy with it overall. The thing that I always talk about with people is just start off with, ‘Well, what's your goal? Are you looking to reduce your emissions?’ For us, we were okay with paying a little bit more. For other people, maybe they wouldn't be. That's either not in the cards [financially] or they don't really want that. But there are more, new products now that you don't necessarily have to compromise anymore.”
Can you tell us why you decided to install an Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) in your home?
“I learned of the technology and was trying to figure out if it is viable in Minnesota. There was all sorts of information online. Some said it couldn't work in a cold climate. I found some guy in Minneapolis that had a video of using his heat pump in Minnesota during one of those crazy Arctic Vortex events. It was negative 20 [degrees] at the time and he was showing how his heat pump was still working even at that level. This was some direct evidence that it’s possible here.
Later I was meeting with somebody and talking about how I've been researching heat pumps for our home for a couple years, and all the contractors I talked to said that it's not possible and it's tough. The person I was talking to said, ‘Oh, yeah, you can.’ I said ‘Well, our house is this size and they said our ducting was not right for it.’ We talked and he said his home was similar and had a heat pump. ‘We have one, and you can absolutely do it, too.’ So that was one of the final things I needed.
We installed [our heat pump in] January 2022 and had to work out a few things for the installer. They said it was one of their first to install, so they were learning along the way and had to work a few kinks out. Once it was all set, it worked exactly as expected, and we've been through multiple winters now with it.
I can see the capabilities and the limitations of that [technology]. There are multiple friends of mine that have one as well, and so we can see a little bit of a comparison of how each of these systems work. That's exactly what people need.
You know, you can talk about things theoretically as much as you want, but to hear somebody say, ‘Oh, yeah, we've had it at our house for three winters now — and two of them pretty brutal winters — our house has always been warm.’ It's always been warm and comfortable. I think that's huge for anybody that's considering it.”
Do you have any advice to give someone who's starting their home electrification journey?
“I would say there are more resources available now than ever for knowing which route to go and what to expect. Seek out people that have the real experience. Also just feel confident that there's enough people in colder climates, just know that it is possible. It's just a matter of being smart about how you go about it.
Look for contractors that are specifically promoting that they do heat pump services and show that they have experience with the particular item. We have some in the Rochester area that specifically promote heat pumps. There's demand for it now too. A growing number of people are looking to electrify.
It’s huge if they are specifically promoting it because, to me, that's showing that they have more experience. Other [contractors] might say, ‘We can do it if you need it, but it's not really the main thing that we do.’ Ask if a contractor has any experience with helping with the tax credits, the rebates, that type of paperwork, because you'll need some information from them for utilizing that.
Tell contractors what your goals are. Something like: ‘My goal is to go fully electric.’ There are services that you can send your info to for a home assessment. [They evaluate] different factors like the size and age of your home, the ductwork, the insulation . . . you can get down to some pretty detailed things. Having that sizing correct is pretty important because that's going to affect how much it costs and how efficient it is. You don't want to oversize, you don't want to undersize. A second opinion on sizing with another HVAC expert helps, too.”
Thanks to Jonny for speaking with us and sharing his experience electrifying his life. We hope this article helps further your understanding of energy issues as you consider your own upgrades.
CUB staff are here to answer your energy-related questions. Give us a call at 651-300-4701, email us at info@cubminnesota.org, or sign-up for a free bill consultation here.
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