January 2023 newsletter

Jan 15, 2023

Happy New Year!

Thanks to everyone who has joined the ElectrifyPDX Healthy Home Revolution.

Here are a few updates as we hit the 3 month mark of this new campaign, including upcoming in-person and virtual events (times/dates in bold).  Please forward to friends who’d be interested, too!

We’re hiring! See our Program Manager post, applications due 1/17.

Get the first sign on your street– or add a neighbor! Nearly every day a new person enrolls (56 so far), so we just printed a new batch of signs. If you haven’t already, please sign up, update your adhesive badges, and help spread the word! If you’re planning to electrify or are working on it, use this link. If you’ve already gone 100% renewable electric, go here for full certification.

Education & Outreach

  • The most common question we’re getting: How do I switch to an electric range?  Find out here.
  • Got individual or big-picture electrification questions? Ask away, in the ElectrifyPDX FaceBook forum, with 130 members and growing! You can now follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn.
  • Wondering how to get friends excited about going electric? Share Rewiring America’s super-easy-to-use IRA savings calculator to learn about federal incentives for upgrades.
  • On Jan. 18 at noon, watch the next installment in ElectrifyNow’s terrific webinar series: Tankless Gas Water Heaters – and the Infamous Methane Puff. Find videos for nearly any topic you can imagine here.
  • Looking for New Year inspiration? Listen to our favorite episode of “A Matter of Degrees” podcast with guests Sarah Lazarovic from Rewiring America and Marilyn Waite with the Climate Finance Fund. Hint: home electrification is in the first half of the episode.
  • Would your group enjoy an introduction to home electrification?  This month alone, we’ve teamed up with Brian Stewart of ElectrifyNow and hosts to present at the First Unitarian Church, Adidas employees, the Cully Association of Neighbors, and provide continuing education for real estate agents. These have consistently been fun, inspiring, and well-attended.

Electrification Open House.  Join ElectrifyPDX member, Will Musser & family, at their NE Portland home between 11am and 2pm on Jan. 21st for an open house to learn how they converted to 100% renewable electricity.  Learn more and RSVP here.

Business and Multifamily certifications: Affordable housing leads the way…

  • Our first business certification goes to Verde Builds! Among many other things, they run a program that installs well over 100 heat pumps in the homes of low-income Portlanders every year. When they moved their office to Cully Blvd, they installed one there too, making their home base all-electric, renewably sourced.
  • Our first multi-family certification is also in the Cully neighborhood: Mamook Tokatee, developed by NAYA in partnership with Community Development Partners. This new, 56-unit community has a mix of studios through 3-BR units. The building is powered 100% by electricity, and rooftop photovoltaic panels provide electricity for the common areas. This same team is nearly finished with a 50-home community on NE Prescott that will also be certified, Hayu Tilixam.

Local partner list grows… Electrification is a huge workforce opportunity, so we’ve added a new webpage featuring local contractors ready to help with electrification projects. If you know folks we should add to the list, let us know! (To make it easy, they’re organized by project type.)

Looking ahead…

  • Hacienda CDC has received PCEF funding to convert 6 existing communities, containing 243 apartments, to all electric power. These upgrades will positively impact over 1000 low-income residents in our communities, 92% of whom are people of color. The project includes removing gas-powered heating, installing solar arrays totaling 849.5 kW, heat pumps and cooling devices where needed, as well as LED lighting, and new bathroom fans. An average energy savings of almost 70% is expected for residents.
  • Central City Concern has contacted us for construction signage at their upcoming 85-home, all-electric Meridian Gardens development. This project will qualify for full certification, with a central heat pump hot water heating system, ductless mini-splits in each unit, a 63.2 kW photovoltaic array, and 8 EV charging spaces.

Easy ways to help out:

  • We’ve been so busy launching this program that we haven’t collected photos to share of ElectrifyPDX members and their signs. Case in point: this text-heavy newsletter.  If you’ve received your sign and want to share your joy, please snap a photo (ideally with your household and the sign in it) and send it to Eli – info@electrifypdx. We’ll contact you with questions about your image use preferences.
  • Let us know if you’d like to write up your electrification story; we may be able to help with editing and add it to the ElectrifyPDX blog or create a FB or Instagram post you can share.
  • Would you like to co-present with us to your neighborhood association or another group? Contact info@ElectrifyPDX.org; we are always booking engagements.
  • Do you have an idea for a good Southwest Portland sign distribution site? Currently, folk can pick up signs in Cully and Kenton and we need a site, perhaps in the Hillsdale area?
  • Meeting in-person just feels so good!  We had a really nice ElectrifyPDX happy hour in late 2023, and would like to do so again. If you’d like to co-host an in-person gathering to eat, drink, and talk electrification in your neighborhood, let us know.  We can help plan it, spread the word, and join the fun.

Gratitudes…

  • Madeline Kovacs designed a snazzy flier and started a LinkedIn page!
  • Brian Stewart generously teamed up with his fabulous presentation
  • Thor Hinckley and the UU Community for Earth members organized a terrific Jan. 8 event and continue to table each Sunday
  • Kara & Eric Brody arranged the Adidas presentation and shared fabulous outreach photos
  • and the many other people who enrich and grow our ElectrifyPDX community!

Correction from our December newsletter

We were happy to learn that our comment that Community Solar won’t be around for another round of funding in Oregon is incorrect. There are no plans to sunset this awesome program! And if it ever turns out that advocacy is needed to keep it rolling so people of any income (and roof orientation/shading/ownership) can get the benefits of renewable electricity, we’ll let you know.

A note from our fiscal sponsor: 

Please join Families for Climate and partners next Tuesday, January 24 at 8pm for the 4th annual Oregon Legislative Preview to learn about key climate justice bills this session. Registration link and panelist info here.

Take care!
– The ElectrifyPDX team
(Noelle, Eli, Madeline, Joe, Amy and Allyse)