Switching to Clean Energy | The 5 Laws of Adopting the Clean Energy Life

Warren Evans

Switching to clean energy can be a profitable and fulfilling endeavor, albeit there will be some obstacles along the way.

As technology advances, the ease and sophistication with which we can control our homes with smart technology and power our lives with renewables will be truly revolutionary.

However, as you prepare to switch to clean energy, we want to provide practical advice to ease the transition and order your priorities.

We’ve developed two different models to assist with the transition, known as The Clean Energy Life’s Five Laws and the C.A.R.E.S. model.

Law #1: Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should

We like to give our readers a brief pause before embarking on this journey to decide what is truly right for them. It’s easy to get swept away by new technology and overspend on products that won’t deliver the results you want.

Changing too much too quickly is an easy way to get burnt out and undermine your perception of your journey and the results you gather along the way.

That’s why one of the main components of the C.A.R.E.S model is to assess what is most important to you and what will deliver the biggest bang for its buck.

Law #2: You’ll Know It Once You’ve Seen It

When embarking on something so revolutionary as buying an EV or switching to solar, it’s essential to see the changes with your own eyes for you to truly feel confident in your life changing decision.

Nevertheless, once the results are clear, you can never unsee them. Going back to a life of fueling up at gas stations, worrying about gas rates, or even dealing with inefficient heating and cooling will be a distant memory.

Seeing the results of your actions in motion will only fuel your desire and curiosity to do more–but don’t forget the first law!

Law #3: No Pain, No Pain

“No pain, no gain” may be a good mantra when you’re subjecting your muscles to a very intense workout, but it’s generally a red flag when making a healthy transition like this. Sure, there are learning curves, but switching to clean energy is about convenience and comfort, not struggle or pain. When becoming a Clean Energy Lifer, you should expect each change will be an upgrade and make your life easier, not more painful. The Clean Energy Life is about upgrading your lifestyle while reducing your emissions and at the same time saving you money, this journey is not meant to take you backwards to hard times before electricity.

Law #4: Inspect What You Expect

Monitor the changes you are making and take note of what’s working and what’s not working. For example, if you have an EV but are still paying high rates at charging stations, does it make more sense to install your own charger?

Similarly, if your new home energy monitor or programmable thermostat isn’t saving you hundreds of dollars annually, you’re probably not using it right.

Compare the results of your changes to your expectations to see if further improvements should be made. Of course, patience is the key to any transition.

Law #5: Give It Time, Check, and Adjust

Switching to clean energy is a long-term investment that may not pay off for years.

However, we urge you to be patient; the savings will accrue.

In the meantime, analyze your changes and find ways to build upon them.

By finding ways to make your home and car more efficient, you will compound your results and receive more immediate savings, those newly discovered savings could then be put to good use to help fund your next round of Clean Energy Life Improvements, thus saving you even more money, that is an example of the virtuous cycle as defined in the next article below called the C.A.R.E.S. model.

The C.A.R.E.S Model

Now that we’ve established the conceptual framework of your clean energy transition, we thought we’d develop a practical model for switching to clean energy that is easy and repeatable.

Each step of the C.A.R.E.S model doesn’t necessarily need to be followed in order, but it does work best to start from the beginning.

Concern

First, you need to develop a concern about this particular issue. For many, the incentive to switch to clean energy may be to reduce their carbon footprint. On the other hand, you may be incentivized to switch to clean energy to reduce your electric bill or someday go offline and gain additional independence from the electrical grid. Whatever your reason, you need honest concern or “caring” to work toward solutions and develop goals that highlight your energy priorities.

Assess

Next, assess your energy consumption to find ways to reduce it and opportunities to switch to clean energy.

We suggest calculating your carbon footprint and then have a professional home energy audit conducted to find opportunities where you can implement energy efficiency and reduce your carbon emissions.

The assessment stage is where you create a game plan to meet your energy goals and start on the path toward The Clean Energy Life.

Reduce

The reduction stage is relatively straightforward, though we want to emphasize that reduction is more focused on waste, not comfort.

For example, we are not asking you to turn out the lights an hour early each night. Rather, you can cut your consumption by switching to LED bulbs which consume a quarter of the electricity incandescent bulbs do.

Furthermore, many of the steps we’ve highlighted on this website focus on efficiency and sustainability through weather stripping, insulation and energy efficient appliances.

Smart home devices, programmable thermostats, and heat pumps are all designed to be more efficient and to reduce your consumption without compromising your comfort.

Electrify

Next, focus on transitioning all remaining fossil-fuel-powered sources into electric-run motors where it makes sense. Electric stoves and clothes dryers, as well as battery-operated lawn mowers and solar appliances make a big difference, but for this step, you’ll need to transition to an EV or hybrid to truly embrace electrification.

Not only do electric motors produce no carbon emissions as compared to gas-powered engines over their lifetime, but they are also significantly more efficient in converting their primary fuel source into power.

Electrifying your appliances will make them more efficient and also last longer–saving you more money.

Sustain

The final step of this process is to convert to a more sustainable power source (i.e., renewable energy). While electrifying your house will make it more efficient, it will still be a major carbon emitter if it’s powered with fossil fuels from your electricity provider.

Solar, wind, geothermal, and other renewable energy sources promise a bright future for consumers and are more accessible than ever.

By some estimates, a solar panel can pay for itself in 9-12 years and will last over three decades.

Furthermore, if you store any excess energy generated from your panel in a battery backup, you could cut your power bill down close to $0.

That makes your home both more sustainable and possibly energy independent.

Next Steps

Now that you have a comfortable framework to operate from to switch to clean energy, it’s time to start evaluating your options and doing more research. Be sure to explore this site and discover how affordable different EV options are and ways to make your home more energy-efficient.

Go to our shop to see items we recommend to help electrify your home and reduce your consumption.

As always, be sure to follow The Clean Energy Life’s Five Laws so that you are always making the right decision for yourself.