HOME & VEHICLE SOLUTIONS
Want to learn about electrified and sustainable solutions for your home and vehicles in one place? Every one of these solutions have been implemented by your neighbors right here in Rochester, MN.
Home & Vehicle Electrified & Sustainable Solutions
There are electrified and sustainable solutions for nearly every aspect of your life, but the information can be hard to find or confusing. We’ve put together an overview of the technology and methods available today that will be featured at Electrify Rochester Expo. We’ve also gathers local, regional, and federal incentives available now and in the future.
Energy
Home Solar Power
Home solar allows you to harness the energy of the sun and power your home with renewable energy. Minnesota ranks 16th in the US for solar installed. Home solar can be paired with batteries to store excess energy to use for backup or after sunset. If your home appliances and / or vehicles are electric, home solar can help you achieve low or no direct emissions. If you generate more energy than you consume, you can send that excess power back to the grid in exchange for credits.
Incentives
Local Energy Programs
Local utilities offer a variety of incentive programs to help offset the up-front costs of electrified appliances as well as special rate programs. Incentives are available for installation of home solar, home heating & cooling with heat pumps, electric water heating, electric vehicle charger installation, and more. Special rates are also available for off-peak energy usage. Talk with local utilities about utilizing these programs at the Expo.
Incentives & Programs Available
Home Electrification & Efficiency
Electric Home Heating & Cooling With Heat Pumps
There are multiple all-electric or electric hybrid methods to heat your home in the cold winters and cool your home in the hot summers. Think that you can’t heat your home with all electric options in a northern climate? Not only are many Rochester area residents already using all-electric heat pumps for their HVAC, Maine, another northern state with similarly cold winters, is showing us what’s possible. Maine is on their way to having 100,000 heat pump HVAC systems installed across the state.
Air Source Heat Pumps
The technology that’s growing in popularity for home heating and cooling is heat pumps. Despite the name, heat pumps can be used for heating and air conditioning. Heat pumps have an outdoor condenser that might look like a standard air conditioner. When it’s hot outside, your heat pump works like a standard air conditioner and moves heat out of your home. When it’s cold outside, the heat pump outdoor unit gathers heat from outside and moves it into the house.
Heat pump technology has progressed dramatically with many brands able to gather heat down to sub-zero temperatures.
Heat pumps can also be paired with supplementary or 2nd stage heat for the times a year that temps reach a point that heat pump heating is no longer efficient.
Geothermal Heat Pumps
Air source heat pumps can work down to very cold temperatures, but may need to work a little harder as outside temperatures get lower.
Geothermal heat pumps use the relatively constant temperature of the earth to provide heat in the winter and remove heat and cool the home in summer.
Benefits Of Heat Pumps For Home Heating & Cooling
Heat pumps offer the flexibility to replace a standard furnace in a traditional central system or use a mini-split system that allows you to have a ductless, independent system in different areas of your home.
Innovation is continuing to improve the technology with the ability to efficiently work down to lower temps.
Remove indoor combustion fumes and the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Incentives & Programs Available
Electric Water Heaters
Water heaters are another appliance that electric options are available right now and the technology is continually improving. Heat pump water heaters gather heat from the surrounding area to heat your water.
Benefits of electric heat pump water heaters
These units are very efficient and provide low operating costs.
New models come with apps that allow you to adjust the temp, the method of heating, and more.
Remove indoor combustion fumes and the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Incentives & Programs Available
Electric Stoves & OvenS
Electric ovens and stovetops have been available for some time. Traditional electric stoves use heated coils to cook food, but can take some time to cool down. Induction stoves use magnets to quickly heat the pan or pot. Because induction stove tops heat the container rather than heating the surface that container is set on, they can cool down quicker than a traditional electric or gas stove top.
Benefits of Electric Stoves & Ovens
Remove harmful particles from cooking with combustion and improve indoor air quality.
Ability to reach desired temperatures faster with induction stove top.
Incentives & Programs Available
Home Insulation, Air Sealing & Efficiency
Proper home insulation and air sealing is important whether you have an electrified home or not. Having your home adequately insulated and air sealed saves energy as your appliances won’t need to work as hard.
There are DIY projects that you can do yourself to improve insulation and air sealing and other projects that may be better left to a professional. Come talk with home owners and professionals about both types of projects.
One of the best first steps you can take is signing up for a home energy audit to identify opportunities to reduce your heat loss, energy consumption, and more. Local utilities offer energy audits services to help get a baseline of your home’s “leakiness” and the ability to efficiently use energy as well as identify specific areas to focus on first. Recommendations may be for insulation improvements, air sealing around windows, doors, and other openings, replacing old appliances with more efficient ones, improving distribution of heat, and more.
Incentives & Programs Available
Outdoor Tools
Electric Lawnmowers, Snow Blowers & Outdoor Tools
Battery powered electric lawn mowers, snow blowers, and other outdoor tools seem to be gaining popularity at a tremendous speed in the past few years and it’s not hard to see why. Electric lawn mowers and yard tools offer yard care without the smell and maintenance of a traditional gas. Some brands promote having the same power as gas equivalents and companies offer swappable batteries that are interchangeable across their suite of outdoor tools.
Vehicles & Bikes
Electric Vehicles
There’s never been a better time to make the switch to driving electric than now. While electric vehicle sightings were rare in the Rochester area five years ago, more people have made the switch to driving electric than ever.
In 2018 the Rochester area had ~150 EVs, but at the beginning of 2023 the Rochester area reached over 1000 EVs.
Electric vehicle options continue to grow with manufacturers offering more choices with increased range. Fast charger installation is increasing making long-distance driving possible right now and charging options are getting even better every year.
Rochester Electric Vehicles has gathered a variety of EV owners that share their vehicles to see up close as well as their experience and knowledge to help you feel comfortable making the switch to driving electric.
Benefits of Electric Vehicles
You can drive with low or no tailpipe emissions. Charging with solar reduces your impact even further.
The cost of fueling is a fraction of the cost of gas
You can fuel up right from the comfort of your home
EVs require minimal ongoing maintenance
Get access to the latest tech with over the air software updates
Incentives Available
Electric Vehicle Home Chargers
One of the best things about electric vehicles is the ability to charge your vehicle without having to leave home. You can do this even if all you have is a regular 120v outlet, but many EV owners opt to get faster home charging with a Level 2 home charger (240v). Level 2 home chargers allow you to add about 20-50 miles of range per hour.
There are a lot of options available to you for home chargers, but it’s important to consider future plans. In most cases you can use a single charger for 2 vehicles, but you should consider placement of the charger, connector type for the vehicles, charge port placement, etc. Different chargers offer different types of perks such as apps, ability to be unplugged for travel charging, and more.
Incentives & Programs Available
Electric Bikes
Electric bikes offer the ability to ride at faster speeds without breaking a sweat. Electric bikes can reach speeds of 20 mph while still being regulated as a bike. This offers a way to enjoy the outdoors and get where you’re going faster. If you want a little more workout in your ride, most electric bikes have the ability to choose how much power you’re drawing from the battery. Many batteries can power your ride for 20-40 miles on a single charge and after you’ve completed your ride you can charge up with a regular outlet. If you’re going for a longer ride some e-bikes have the ability to remove One battery and swap it for a fully charged one. eBikes might be the most fun way to get around Rochester.