Electrical Home Tour Set for Feb. 28
Join local environmental advocates, Prairie Hills RC&D and the nonprofit consumer group Illinois PIRG for a tour of an electrified home from 1-3 p.m., Saturday Feb. 28 in Macomb. 'The Clean and Affordable Homes: The Barreto- Freymiller Tour' will be held to show the benefits of clean energy technologies such as solar panels, heat pumps and electric vehicles and to provide information on how to get started.
'Thanks to new technologies, there’s never been a better time for people to use the air and heat around them to electrify their homes,” said Grace Kurtz, campaign associate at Illinois PIRG Education Fund.
“Generous clean energy incentives are available to Illinoisans. We hope that more homeowners will take advantage of them.”
Macomb residents Gary Freymiller and Ximena Barreto Gonzalez del Riego began transitioning to a fully electric home in 2022, starting with an electric heat pump water heater, followed by HVAC and solar panels.
Freymiller has worked in the Clean Energy industry for more than 15 years, and his main motivation to make the switch was the environmental impacts of gas heating but the financial benefits were an added bonus.
“I had been a ‘turn down the thermostat and put on another sweater’ guy for as long as I can remember,” said Freymiller. “With solar panels and heat pumps, it's easy to live comfortably and affordably. Electrification with solar on the roof was what I'd been looking for a long time.”
The Clean Energy Homes Tour series shows interested individuals what electrification really looks like, how it will benefit them and how they can get started. The Illinois PIRG Education Fund, Environment Illinois Research and Education Center, and Illinois Green Alliance are holding events throughout Illinois to spread the word about the benefits of transitioning to clean energy for homeowners and businesses.
“Illinois families and businesses are feeling the strain of rising energy bills and worsening air quality,” said Ryan Wilmington of Illinois Green Alliance. “Fortunately, by embracing high performance technologies and energy efficiency policies, there's a clear pathway forward to address these challenges. When leaders and residents embrace clean buildings, communities become healthier, more resilient, and more affordable.”
Register for this event at tinyurl.com/MacombElectricHomeTour
