The term “cold climate” heat pump is squishier than it sounds. It generally refers to heat pumps that heat effectively and maintain their efficiency when the temperature drops well below freezing for extended periods of time. The Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership, or NEEP, is a regional nonprofit that 
        <a href="https://ashp.neep.org/#!/" target="_blank"><u>maintains a list</u></a> of models that it considers to be cold climate heat pumps, and defines them as ductless, variable speed systems with an HSPF2 greater than 8.5 or ducted, variable speed systems with an HSPF2 greater than 7.7, among other technical specifications. The EPA’s EnergyStar program has <a href="https://www.energystar.gov/products/heat_pump_water_heaters/key-product-criteria" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>a slightly different definition</u></a> for its “cold climate” designation.
    </div>

Finally, heat pumps also come in many different sizes. Having a properly sized system is one of the most important factors for ensuring your heat pumps run efficiently and last a long time.

A good contractor will be able to walk you through different system designs and equipment options to find the answer that’s best suited to your house, your goals, and your budget.

“There’s a lot of companies out there that offer just what they have in the catalog and their salespeople can’t sell anything outside of that,” Waters told me. “That means the customer is going to get matched with that cookie cutter option if they go with that company. So how to choose a contractor is one of the most important things.”

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. How does having a heat pump differ from a furnace or boiler?

Many people are used to setting their HVAC systems to different temperatures at different times of day — one temp for the morning and evening, another for when they leave for work, and another for bedtime. This makes sense with many furnaces and air conditioners because they’re usually designed to cycle on, blast hot or cold air at full capacity until they achieve the temperature you want, and then turn off, so turning down the system when you’re not home can save a lot of energy. But the most efficient “variable speed” heat pumps work differently — they use a lot of energy to reach a certain temperature, but once they hit it, they sip small amounts of energy to maintain it. Experts say a “set it and forget it” approach will give you the most efficient performance and the most consistent energy bills.

“Don’t worry about the number,” says Marin. “Just find your comfortable temperature, and then leave it alone, forget it’s even there.”

2. Do I need to keep my boiler or furnace as a back-up system?

This topic can be divisive among HVAC experts, but in most of the continental U.S., you should be able to find a heat pump solution that will heat your home efficiently on the coldest winter days. The key is that the system has to be sized correctly. Richardson’s company, Elephant Energy, works in Colorado, where he says they’ve had two years in a row with days that got down to -13 degrees Fahrenheit, “and our fleet of hundreds of heat pumps have cranked out heat to keep homes nice and warm on those coldest days.”

There still may be scenarios where you want to keep your furnace as a back-up, even if it’s not strictly necessary.

• Maybe you don’t want to spend extra on a heat pump that’s rated for the coldest temps, so you keep your other system to kick on when the mercury drops below a certain level.

• Maybe you live in a place where gas is currently much cheaper than electricity. With a dual-fuel system you can reduce your gas use and your emissions without relying solely on electricity. In the future, if gas prices go up or electricity prices come down, you can always change the temperature at which the system switches over to use more of one and less of the other.

• Maybe you haven’t weatherized your house and aren’t ready to do so yet, but you do really want or need a heat pump. In this case, you can talk to your contractor about getting a variable speed heat pump sized to what they anticipate your home’s load will be once it is weatherized in the future. That means it will technically be undersized in the near term, but if you keep your existing furnace or boiler, it can make up the difference in the meantime. This way, after you weatherize, you can get rid of the back-up fuel system and rely fully on the heat pump. It “might buy you the flexibility to do things in a different order,” says Marin.

3. Will a heat pump help me save money?

If you’re switching from fuel oil, propane, or electric resistance heating, you’re pretty much guaranteed to save money on your bills with heat pumps. But if you’re switching from natural gas, it really depends on where you live.

Richardson says that for a lot of his customers in Colorado, making the switch from gas to inverter heat pumps is cost neutral — they end up paying a bit more for heating in the winter but less for cooling in the summer, since the heat pump is often more efficient than whatever air conditioning they were replacing. At the same time, those who don’t have air conditioning to start with could end up paying a bit more year-round.

BEFORE YOU GET STARTED

1. Is it the right time to get heat pumps? Here are a few scenarios to consider.

Do you…

• Have a relatively new (less-than-10-year-old) heating and/or cooling system in your house?

Short answer: Hold off on a heat pump, invest in weatherization.

Long answer: You may have arrived at this guide because you’re interested in decarbonizing your home, but if you have a relatively new heating and/or cooling system, it could actually be worse, emissions-wise, to replace it, due to the embedded carbon that went into manufacturing that equipment. Unless you’re really desperate to replace your existing system for comfort or financial reasons (if you have electric resistance heaters, for example, switching to heat pumps could save you a lot of money, since they use about a third of the electricity), we recommend getting a bit more life out of it first.

In the meantime, put your enthusiasm for decarbonization into making your home more efficient. Insulating and air sealing your home before you get heat pumps will help you save money in the near term and get you the best results from heat pumps later on.

• Have a relatively new heating system, but an older (or non-existent) air conditioner?

Short answer: Consider a dual fuel system

Long answer: If you really need a new air conditioning system but your heater still has a lot of life left in it, consider installing a heat pump to work alongside your existing furnace or boiler. That way, you’ll get efficient cooling capacity that will save you money in the summer, and you’ll also be able to cut down on your fossil fuel consumption in the winter. You can set the heat pump to warm your home until it gets down to a certain temperature outside, at which point your furnace or boiler will kick in. (Many heat pump models can operate in very cold temperatures, so having a backup heating system like this is not necessary, but it may be a good intermediate step in certain cases.)

• Have a furnace or boiler that’s more than 10 years old?

Short answer: It’s the perfect time to think about heat pumps!

Long answer: HVAC equipment typically lasts for 15 to 20 years, so 10 years is probably the earliest you would want to start thinking about a replacement. It’s probably safe to wait a few years longer, but you definitely don’t want to wait until your existing system breaks to start your heat pump journey. A heat pump retrofit can be a months-long process, from finding contractors, to evaluating quotes, to refining your plan, to getting permits and scheduling the work. If you’re in an emergency situation where your boiler broke and you really need heat, you could be forced to settle for a less-than-ideal solution. At the very least, start your research now and consider weatherization upgrades.

• Have one room or area of your house that’s particularly hot or cold?

Short answer: Get a mini-split!

Long answer: Ductless mini-split heat pumps are a no-brainer to provide heating and cooling to a single room or zone. They can be very affordable — and in some cases free — with rebates and tax credits. If you want to retrofit the rest of your home to use heat pumps down the line, this will help you get familiar with the technology and will not preclude you from adding more later — though it is helpful to tell your contractor that now so they can take it into account.

2. Make a budget

Heat pumps can be a major investment. If you just want to add heating or cooling capacity to one or two rooms, it can cost $5,000 to $7,000 per room, on average, before incentives, Richardson told me. A whole-home solution averages $20,000 to $30,000 before incentives, but depending on the home and the system design can go much higher.

3. Think about your goals

Do you have some rooms that are hotter in the summer or colder in the winter than others and you want to make your home more comfortable overall? Or is your goal to get better air filtration and ventilation? Or do you simply want to get off fossil fuels? It will be helpful to think through what you want to achieve and communicate that to your contractor so they can take that into account when they design your system.

4. Learn about incentives

The federal government offers a 30% tax credit for heat pumps, up to $2,000, not including labor, for certain energy efficient models. (Note that you can only get the full tax credit if you have $2,000 or more in tax liability the year you install the heat pumps.) The credit can’t be rolled over to the next tax year, but you can claim it in multiple years. Your state energy office, city, or utility may offer additional tax credits or rebates.

It’s important to learn about what’s available in your area before reaching out to contractors because some rebate programs require you to work only with approved partners. Also, the contractors you reach out to might not always be up to date on the latest incentive programs, so it’s a good idea to do some independent research and make sure you find someone who knows how to help you take advantage. There is, unfortunately, not yet any single directory where you can enter your zip code and find out about every possible rebate opportunity everywhere in the country, so it’s best to check multiple sources of information:

• First, check your state energy office’s website. Many states are in the process of revamping or expanding their heat pump rebate programs thanks to new federal funding.
• If you live in a major city, check with your city’s energy, sustainability, or buildings department.
• The EPA’s Energy Star site has a rebate finder where you can enter your zip code and learn about state or utility-run incentives.
• Also try checking your utility’s website.
• Some equipment manufacturers, like Mitsubishi, have rebate finders.
• Rewiring America has an incentive calculator.

FINDING A CONTRACTOR

As with all home renovation projects, we strongly recommend getting at least three quotes from different contractors.

Heat pumps are common in some parts of the country, but in others it might be difficult to find a contractor who really knows their stuff. Dip your toes in a heat pump Reddit forum and you’ll find scores of homeowners asking what to do after a contractor told them that heat pumps don’t work and they should just stick with gas. Here are a few strategies for finding high quality heat pump contractors, in order of what we recommend:

• Do a search for companies in your area who specialize in “building electrification” or “home decarbonization.” There are some HVAC companies, like Waters’, that have made electrification their focus, and they are more likely to be up to date on the latest technologies and training. There are also startups like Elephant whose entire business model is based on helping homeowners manage these projects, and will match you with pre-vetted local contractors.
  
• Look at the leading heat pump manufacturers’ directories of approved contractors. For example, Mitsubishi’s directory of “independent Diamond contractors” are HVAC pros that have received extensive training on the equipment and working with someone in this network can extend your equipment warranty. (Other leading brands of inverter-based systems include Daikin and Fujitsu.)
  
• Do you know any friends, family, or neighbors that have heat pumps? Ask them if they were happy with their experience. Which companies did they talk to? Who did they decide to work with and why? If you don’t know anyone who has done a heat pump retrofit, look for electrification Facebook groups or heat pump Reddit threads, where participants may have recommendations for your area.
• The Building Performance Institute is an accreditation group that certifies companies, energy auditors, and technicians in the latest building science. You can search for certified professionals in your area using BPI’s online directory.
  
• Check if your state energy office or utility has an online directory of heat pump installers. Many rebate programs also require you to work with approved partner contractors.
• Try using EnergySage, which will have you enter your address and then source quotes for you from installers that serve your area. (Note: This service is not available everywhere.)

How to Vet Contractors

Finding the right contractor is probably the most important decision you’ll make in this entire process, and it’s not uncommon to get quotes with wildly different recommendations. Here are some questions you can ask to help you get a sense of who really knows what they are talking about and is willing to go the whole nine yards to make sure you get a properly designed system:

1. Will you do a “Manual J” load calculation to determine how much air and energy I need in each room?

Manual J is a formula that helps a contractor identify the right size HVAC system for your home. It requires taking detailed measurements throughout the building, inspecting your home’s insulation and other elements that will affect airflow and heat retention, and performing tests such as the “blower door” to assess how leaky your building’s envelope is. If you’re interested in using your ductwork or installing new ductwork, they should also perform a “Manual D” calculation. Waters told me that despite these calculations being industry standards, very few contractors actually go through the trouble of doing them. “What this does, it tells us exactly what size system I need for heating and cooling, and exactly how much air goes into each room,” he said.

Richards agreed, adding that you may want to ask what technology they use to size the system. “You need somebody who has a technology-driven tool that can actually measure the heating and cooling requirements of your home,” he says. “Are you doing a true Manual J, or are you sort of sticking your finger up in the air?”

2. Do you install more than one brand of heat pump? How many heat pump installations have you done?

If your contractor only works with one brand of equipment, you’re more likely to get a solution that’s convenient for them rather than one that’s custom designed for you.

3. Will you take a comprehensive look at my ductwork? Do you recommend new registers?

Waters told me the registers — the vents that release air into a given room — are critical for occupant comfort. If your existing ductwork is designed to distribute air from a furnace, your registers may be designed to push air into the middle of the room. But with heat pumps, you want the air either pushed up toward the ceiling if the vents are down low or across the ceiling if they are up high, so that the house doesn’t feel drafty and you get proper circulation.

4. Will you evaluate my electrical system for my home’s future electrification needs?

If you’re starting with heat pumps but you eventually want to electrify your stove, your clothes dryer, or your car, your home may need an electric panel upgrade or an electric service upgrade from the utility. What you don’t want is to put in heat pumps that eat up the rest of your home’s capacity and then have to deal with pricey upgrades down the line.

5. Are you BPI and/or NATE certified?

The Building Performance Institute and North American Technician Excellence are two organizations that train and certify contractors, auditors, and technicians in the latest building science and best practices. A certification doesn’t guarantee you’ve found the right contractor — it could mean they know a lot about installing heat pumps but still don’t know much about the models that work in the coldest climates, for instance. But it’s a helpful data point that shows they are investing in training.

WHAT’S NEXT?

After you’ve found a contractor or company to work with, settled on a system design, and secured financing, your installer is going to need to secure permits for the work. Then you’ll need to schedule the installation, which, depending on how busy your contractor is, can take several weeks to several months. The actual work should take one to three days, depending on how complicated it is.

Also — talk to your contractor about maintenance. Be sure to clean the filters regularly and do anything else they recommend to get the best performance and longest life out of your equipment.

ENJOY THE MIRACLE OF HEAT EXCHANGE!

https://heatmap.news/decarbonize-your-life/how-to-get-a-heat-pump

Which Induction Stove Is Right for You?

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

Have you given much thought to the inner workings of your stove? Me neither. Your home probably came with one already installed, and so long as you can turn it on, boil some water and simmer up a sauce, perhaps that’s reason enough not to second guess it.

But if you’re cooking with gas, we’re here to let you know that, culinary connoisseur or not, there are undeniable benefits to switching to either electric or induction cooking. First and foremost, neither relies directly on fossil fuels or emits harmful pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide into your home, making the switch integral to any effort to decarbonize your life — not to mention establish a comfortable living environment. Second, both electric and induction are far more energy efficient than gas.

“So on a gas range, about 70% of the heat that is generated from the gas goes into your kitchen,” DR Richardson, co-founder of the home electrification platform Elephant Energy, told me. “So it’s very inefficient. You get hot. The handle gets hot. The kitchen gets hot. Everything gets hot, except your food. And it takes a really long time.” With an electric or induction stove, you can boil water faster and heat your food up quicker, all while reducing your home’s carbon footprint.

Convinced yet? If you’re reading this guide, we sure hope you’re at least intrigued! But even after you’ve decided to make the switch, confusion and analysis paralysis can still loom. Are your needs better suited to electric or induction? Will expensive electrical upgrades be required? How will this impact your cooking? And where are all the stove stores, anyway? So before you start browsing the aisles and showrooms, let’s get up to speed on all things stoves… or is it ranges? You’ll see.

THE EXPERT PANEL

Friday Apaliski is the director of communications at the Building Decarbonization Coalition, a nonprofit composed of members across various sectors including environmental justice groups, energy providers, and equipment manufacturers, seeking alignment on a path towards the elimination of fossil fuels in buildings.

DR Richardson is a co-founder of Elephant Energy, a platform that aims to simplify residential electrification for both homeowners and contractors. The company provides personalized electrification roadmaps and handles the entire installation process, including helping homeowners take advantage of all the available local, state, and federal incentives.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS

• Familiarize yourself with your existing range or cooktop — is it all gas, all electric, or a dual fuel range?
  
• Learn about federal, state, and local incentives for electric and induction stoves and cooktops, and from here, determine whether electric or induction would best fit your needs and budget.
• Explore different brands and models online and in person at showrooms and big box retailers.
• If you’re moving from an all gas range to an electric or induction range, find a plumber to cap your gas line and an electrician to install an electrical circuit for your new stove. If you already have a dual-fuel or electric range, this won’t be necessary.
• Get stove installed, and cook your heart out!

THE BASICS

• It’s common to use the terms stove and range interchangeably to refer to the common boxy appliance we’re all used to — one that combines a stovetop with burners above and an oven below. Some consider range to be the more accurate term for this two-in-one appliance, as a stove could simply refer to the burners up top. In this guide, we’ll use the terms stove and range to mean the complete appliance, and the terms stovetop or cooktop to refer to either just the top of a range/stove or a standalone device in which the burners are integrated into a countertop with no oven.

• One of the main distinctions you’ll hear about is electric stoves vs. induction stoves. The terms can be misleading, as both run on electricity, but heat up in very different ways. Electric stoves send electricity through a resistive coil that radiates heat out to your cookware, and thereby into your food. Induction stoves, on the other hand, use copper coils to create a magnetic field that produces an electric current in the metal of the cookware itself, thus generating the heat needed to boil water, saute veggies, or set an omelet.

• Some homes have what’s known as a dual fuel range, which combines a gas stovetop with an electric oven in one unit. If you have a dual fuel range, you won’t need to make the same type of electrical upgrades as those with ranges that run fully on gas.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. If I get an induction stove, will I have to get all new cookware?

It depends on the cookware you currently own, but you will almost certainly need to replace some items. Induction stoves work with pots and pans that are made of magnetic materials like cast iron and stainless steel, but not those made of glass, aluminum, or copper. You can check to see if your cookware is induction compatible by seeing if a magnet will stick to the bottom, or if the induction logo is present on the bottom.

2. I take my cooking seriously. Will I get the same results on induction?

Everyone has their own affinities, but what we can tell you is that both traditional electric stoves and newer induction stoves are more energy efficient than gas stoves, and when it comes to temperature control, induction stoves are the clear winner. They allow you to make near instantaneous heat adjustments with great precision, while gas stoves take longer to adjust and are less exact to begin with.

Cooking on a new stove will undoubtedly come with a learning curve, what with all the new knobs and buttons and little sounds to get used to. Many cooks are used to relying on the visual cue of the flame to let them know how hot the stove is, but now you’ll be relying on a number on the screen, instead. Especially if you go with induction stove, be assured that you’ll be in good company among some top chefs.

3. Will I have to replace all my wiring to accommodate an induction stove?

This is indeed a key question — more on this one below.

BEFORE YOU GET STARTED

1. Figure out the type of range or cooktop you currently have

If you don’t know already, it’s not too hard to find out. When you turn on the stovetop, is there fire? That, folks, is a gas stovetop. It will have a gas supply line that looks like a threaded pipe that connects to the back of the appliance. Gas stovetops are tricky to clean, not particularly sleek, and most prevalent in California, New Jersey, Illinois, Washington DC, New York, and Nevada.

If you have an electric range, the stovetop will be flat with metal coils either exposed or concealed beneath a ceramic glass surface. The coils will glow bright when they’re on. Electric ranges plug directly into 240-volt outlets (newer versions have four prongs, older ones have three), with a cord that looks like a heavy vacuum plug or a small hose. Electric stovetops are always paired with electric ovens — this is the setup that the majority of Americans already have according to the Energy Information Administration.

“So if you have an electric range and you like it, that’s wonderful. You should keep it. But generally, when we’re talking about transitioning from a gas experience to something else, induction is a much more analogous cooking experience,” Apaliski said.

If you have an induction range, it was probably a very intentional choice! According to a 2022 Consumer Reports survey, only about 3% of Americans have an induction range or cooktop, so big ups if you’re a part of that energy efficient minority. But if you just wandered into a new home and are wondering if it’s got the goods, you might have to turn on the stove to tell. Unlike an electric stovetop, you won’t see the cooking area glow because the surface isn’t actually getting hot, only the cookware is. Induction stoves also plug directly into 240-volt outlets.

But wait! There’s a chance you’re cooking with both gas and electric on a dual-fuel range. The telltale sign will be if your range connects to both a gas supply line as well as a 240-volt outlet (remember that plug?). But if it’s difficult to determine what’s going on back there, here’s what else to look out for: A metal device at the bottom and/or top of the oven’s interior that glows bright when the oven is on indicates that it’s electric! Sometimes these heating elements will be concealed, though. In that case, look for telltale signs of gas: An open flame when the oven is on or a visible pilot light when off. Newer gas stoves might not have either, but rather use an electronic ignition system that you can hear fire up about 30-45 seconds after turning on the oven. If you’re still confused, there’s always your user manual! (You kept that, right?)

2. Figure out the size of your electric panel

Whenever you add a new electric appliance to your home, there’s the possibility that you’ll need to upgrade your electric panel to accommodate the new load. A new panel can cost thousands of dollars, though, so you’ll want to know ahead of time if this might be necessary. First, check the size of your current electric panel. You can find this information on your main breaker or fuse, a label on the panel itself, or your electric meter.

According to Rewiring America, if your panel is less than 100 amps, an upgrade could be necessary. If it’s anywhere from 100 to 150 amps, you can likely electrify everything in your home — including your range — without a panel upgrade, although some creative planning might be needed (more on that here and below, in the section on finding contractors and installers). If your panel is greater than 150 amps, it’s very likely that you can get an electric range (as well as a bevy of other electrical appliances) without upgrading.

3. Learn about incentives

As of now, federal incentives for electric and induction ranges, cooktops, and ovens are not yet available. But Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates programs, established via the Inflation Reduction Act, will roll out on a state-by-state basis over the course of this year and next, with most programs expected to come online in 2025. These rebates could give low- and moderate-income houses up to $840 back on the cost of switching from gas to electric or induction cooking.

While many details have yet to be released, it’s important to note that qualifying customers won’t be required to pay the full price and then apply for reimbursement — rather, the discount will be applied upfront. Once the program becomes available, your state will have a website with more information on how to apply. If you’re cash-strapped today, it could be worth waiting until the federal incentives roll out, as rebates will not be retroactively available.

Many states and municipalities already have their own incentives for electric appliance upgrades though. Unfortunately, there’s currently no centralized database to look these up, so that means doing a little homework. Check with your local utility, as well as your local and state government websites and energy offices for home electrification incentives. If you happen to live in California or Washington state, you can search for local incentives here, via this initiative from the Building Decarbonization Coalition. The NODE Collective is also working to compile data on all residential incentive programs, so keep checking in, more information is coming soon!

4. Compare electric vs. induction

Assuming you currently have a gas stove or a dual fuel range, this is the first big choice you’ll have to make. For customers interested in upgrading from electric to induction, let this also be your guide, as an induction stove is indeed the higher-end choice. Here are the main differences between the two:

Electric

Cost*: $700+ on average
• Efficiency**: 74%, still far superior to a gas stove’s 40% efficiency rate
• Temperature control: Less precise. This likely won’t affect the average cook much, but for those seeking perfection, induction definitely outperforms here.
• Cookware: Will work with all of your existing cookware!

Induction

Cost*: $1,300+ on average
• Efficiency**: 90% — Induction is far and away the fastest way to cook
• Temperature control: Excellent. Because induction stoves provide direct heat, more precise and quick temperature adjustments are possible. Some induction cooktops even allow you to set an exact temperature.
• Cookware: Works only with specific cookware made of magnetic materials, such as stainless steel and cast iron, but not glass, aluminum, or copper.

*According to Rewiring America

** According to this paper

Heatmap Recommends: Spring for the induction stove if you can. Not only will it provide a superior cooking experience, but it’s safer too. Induction stoves only heat up magnetic pots and pans, so if you touch the stove’s surface, you won’t get burned. Most will also turn off automatically if there’s no cookware detected.

“Induction is definitely the upgrade in basically every sense, if you can afford it. Induction is a way better cooking experience. It’s got way more fun heating and cooking control. It’s much more energy efficient. It’s much faster,” said Richardson.

If you’re curious about what it’s like to cook with an electric or induction stove, you can buy a standalone single-pot cooktop for well under $100; it will plug straight into a standard outlet. Additionally, Apalinksi says that many libraries (yes, libraries!) and utilities allow residents to borrow an induction cooktop and try it out for a few weeks, completely free of charge.

5. Explore different brands and models

New electric and induction ranges and cooktops will only be eligible for forthcoming federal incentives if they’re certified by Energy Star, a joint program run by the Environmental Protection Agency and the DOE that provides consumer information on energy efficient products, practices, and standards. You can check out what models of ranges and cooktops qualify here. But to get a handle on the actual look and feel of various options, you should try and find a showroom or head to a large retail store.

“Go to your local big box retailer, whether it’s a Home Depot or Best Buy or Lowe’s, they tend to have a bunch of models on the floor. Their representatives can talk to you about all the different options out there. But you have to research a little bit ahead of time, otherwise they’re going to point you to the latest gas appliance,” said Richardson.

If you learn that making the switch is going to entail particularly cumbersome electrical upgrades, Apaliski said there are some innovative companies such as Channing Street Copper and Impulse Labs that make induction ranges and cooktops that plug into standard outlets. They’re much pricier than your standard range, but if you can afford it, one could be right if you’re looking for plug-and-play simplicity and sleek design.

“So this is great, for example, if you are a renter, or if you are someone who has limited capacity on your electrical panel, or if you are someone who has one of these kitchen islands that is just impossible to get a new electric cord to,” Apaliski said.

FINDING CONTRACTORS AND INSTALLERS

If you buy your new range or cooktop from a big box retailer, they’ll typically haul away your old appliance and deliver and install the new one for you at either low or no cost. Don’t assume this is a part of the package, though, and be sure to ask what is and isn’t included before you make your purchase.

But if you’re moving from an all gas range or cooktop to an electric or induction range or cooktop, the complicated part isn’t the installation process, it’s everything that must come before. That includes capping and sealing the gas line for your old stove (this is a job for a plumber) and installing the requisite electric wiring to power your new stove (this is a job for an electrician).

As noted, making the switch could also mean a costly electric panel upgrade. You should ask potential electricians about this right away, as well as about creative solutions that would let you work with your existing panel. If you’re running out of space, you could buy a circuit sharing device like a smart splitter or a circuit pauser, which would allow multiple loads, such as an EV charger and your stove, to share a circuit, or ensure that specific appliances are shut off when you’re approaching your panel’s limit. Richardson recommends getting opinions from a couple different electricians, seconding the idea that if your panel is 100 amps or more, an upgrade is likely not necessary.

Above all, you should make sure that the gas line and electric work is taken care of before the stove installer comes to your home. Richardson said that occasionally, retailers will provide plumbing and electrical services as an add-on option, so it never hurts to ask. But most likely you’ll be sourcing contractors and compiling quotes on your own. If you don’t already have a go to person for the job, ask friends, family, and neighbors for references. Google and Yelp reviews are always there too.

Things to ask potential plumbers and electricians:

• Are you licensed and insured for this type of work? Asking for proof is always a good idea!
  
• How long will this work take, and when would you be able to start? You’ll likely want to align the scheduling of the gas work, the electrical work, and the installation of your new appliance, so that you don’t go too long without a working stove! While these things can’t happen simultaneously, scheduling them close together makes sense.
  
• What is your expected work schedule, and can I (or should I) stay in my home during the process? You’ll want to know when the contractors plan to arrive, and if the work is going to cause any disruptions, such as a power shut off. You should also ask if they recommend you stick around, in case any questions arise.
  
• What type of warranty do you offer for your work? This ensures that if any of the work is performed incorrectly, it will be fixed free of charge. Your range or cooktop will have its own separate warranty, which you should also be aware of.
  
• Will you work with subcontractors? Clarify who is your point of contact for the project, and make sure the contractor’s insurance covers subcontractors as well.
  
• Will this work require a permit? If so, who will be in charge of securing that? This will depend on where you live and the scope of the work. Ensuring that your contractor understands the nuances of local regulations and permitting processes is key.
  
• What is your payment schedule? You may be expected to pay a plumber or electrician an upfront deposit, depending on the complexity of the project.
  
• Will you conduct a site visit in order to get a more accurate cost and scope of work estimate? This can help everyone get on the same page about how much work the job will entail, to ensure that you get an accurate quote. Ask whether the site visit will be free or if there’s a consultation fee.
  
• What technologies would allow me to keep my existing electric panel? As mentioned, there are numerous ways to avoid panel upgrades. If your current panel can’t easily handle the new load, discuss alternate options with your electrician.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Once you get time on the calendar with a trustworthy, knowledgeable and fair-priced plumber and electrician, it’s time to schedule the installation of your new range or cooktop. And after that it’s time to metaphorically fire up those resistive coils or electromagnetic fields and make yourself an electrified meal for the ages.

HAPPY COOKING!

https://heatmap.news/best-induction-stoves

Which Induction Stove Is Right for You?

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

Have you given much thought to the inner workings of your stove? Me neither. Your home probably came with one already installed, and so long as you can turn it on, boil some water and simmer up a sauce, perhaps that’s reason enough not to second guess it.

But if you’re cooking with gas, we’re here to let you know that, culinary connoisseur or not, there are undeniable benefits to switching to either electric or induction cooking. First and foremost, neither relies directly on fossil fuels or emits harmful pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide into your home, making the switch integral to any effort to decarbonize your life — not to mention establish a comfortable living environment. Second, both electric and induction are far more energy efficient than gas.

“So on a gas range, about 70% of the heat that is generated from the gas goes into your kitchen,” DR Richardson, co-founder of the home electrification platform Elephant Energy, told me. “So it’s very inefficient. You get hot. The handle gets hot. The kitchen gets hot. Everything gets hot, except your food. And it takes a really long time.” With an electric or induction stove, you can boil water faster and heat your food up quicker, all while reducing your home’s carbon footprint.

Convinced yet? If you’re reading this guide, we sure hope you’re at least intrigued! But even after you’ve decided to make the switch, confusion and analysis paralysis can still loom. Are your needs better suited to electric or induction? Will expensive electrical upgrades be required? How will this impact your cooking? And where are all the stove stores, anyway? So before you start browsing the aisles and showrooms, let’s get up to speed on all things stoves… or is it ranges? You’ll see.

THE EXPERT PANEL

Friday Apaliski is the director of communications at the Building Decarbonization Coalition, a nonprofit composed of members across various sectors including environmental justice groups, energy providers, and equipment manufacturers, seeking alignment on a path towards the elimination of fossil fuels in buildings.

DR Richardson is a co-founder of Elephant Energy, a platform that aims to simplify residential electrification for both homeowners and contractors. The company provides personalized electrification roadmaps and handles the entire installation process, including helping homeowners take advantage of all the available local, state, and federal incentives.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS

• Familiarize yourself with your existing range or cooktop — is it all gas, all electric, or a dual fuel range?
  
• Learn about federal, state, and local incentives for electric and induction stoves and cooktops, and from here, determine whether electric or induction would best fit your needs and budget.
• Explore different brands and models online and in person at showrooms and big box retailers.
• If you’re moving from an all gas range to an electric or induction range, find a plumber to cap your gas line and an electrician to install an electrical circuit for your new stove. If you already have a dual-fuel or electric range, this won’t be necessary.
• Get stove installed, and cook your heart out!

THE BASICS

• It’s common to use the terms stove and range interchangeably to refer to the common boxy appliance we’re all used to — one that combines a stovetop with burners above and an oven below. Some consider range to be the more accurate term for this two-in-one appliance, as a stove could simply refer to the burners up top. In this guide, we’ll use the terms stove and range to mean the complete appliance, and the terms stovetop or cooktop to refer to either just the top of a range/stove or a standalone device in which the burners are integrated into a countertop with no oven.

• One of the main distinctions you’ll hear about is electric stoves vs. induction stoves. The terms can be misleading, as both run on electricity, but heat up in very different ways. Electric stoves send electricity through a resistive coil that radiates heat out to your cookware, and thereby into your food. Induction stoves, on the other hand, use copper coils to create a magnetic field that produces an electric current in the metal of the cookware itself, thus generating the heat needed to boil water, saute veggies, or set an omelet.

• Some homes have what’s known as a dual fuel range, which combines a gas stovetop with an electric oven in one unit. If you have a dual fuel range, you won’t need to make the same type of electrical upgrades as those with ranges that run fully on gas.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. If I get an induction stove, will I have to get all new cookware?

It depends on the cookware you currently own, but you will almost certainly need to replace some items. Induction stoves work with pots and pans that are made of magnetic materials like cast iron and stainless steel, but not those made of glass, aluminum, or copper. You can check to see if your cookware is induction compatible by seeing if a magnet will stick to the bottom, or if the induction logo is present on the bottom.

2. I take my cooking seriously. Will I get the same results on induction?

Everyone has their own affinities, but what we can tell you is that both traditional electric stoves and newer induction stoves are more energy efficient than gas stoves, and when it comes to temperature control, induction stoves are the clear winner. They allow you to make near instantaneous heat adjustments with great precision, while gas stoves take longer to adjust and are less exact to begin with.

Cooking on a new stove will undoubtedly come with a learning curve, what with all the new knobs and buttons and little sounds to get used to. Many cooks are used to relying on the visual cue of the flame to let them know how hot the stove is, but now you’ll be relying on a number on the screen, instead. Especially if you go with induction stove, be assured that you’ll be in good company among some top chefs.

3. Will I have to replace all my wiring to accommodate an induction stove?

This is indeed a key question — more on this one below.

BEFORE YOU GET STARTED

1. Figure out the type of range or cooktop you currently have

If you don’t know already, it’s not too hard to find out. When you turn on the stovetop, is there fire? That, folks, is a gas stovetop. It will have a gas supply line that looks like a threaded pipe that connects to the back of the appliance. Gas stovetops are tricky to clean, not particularly sleek, and most prevalent in California, New Jersey, Illinois, Washington DC, New York, and Nevada.

If you have an electric range, the stovetop will be flat with metal coils either exposed or concealed beneath a ceramic glass surface. The coils will glow bright when they’re on. Electric ranges plug directly into 240-volt outlets (newer versions have four prongs, older ones have three), with a cord that looks like a heavy vacuum plug or a small hose. Electric stovetops are always paired with electric ovens — this is the setup that the majority of Americans already have according to the Energy Information Administration.

“So if you have an electric range and you like it, that’s wonderful. You should keep it. But generally, when we’re talking about transitioning from a gas experience to something else, induction is a much more analogous cooking experience,” Apaliski said.

If you have an induction range, it was probably a very intentional choice! According to a 2022 Consumer Reports survey, only about 3% of Americans have an induction range or cooktop, so big ups if you’re a part of that energy efficient minority. But if you just wandered into a new home and are wondering if it’s got the goods, you might have to turn on the stove to tell. Unlike an electric stovetop, you won’t see the cooking area glow because the surface isn’t actually getting hot, only the cookware is. Induction stoves also plug directly into 240-volt outlets.

But wait! There’s a chance you’re cooking with both gas and electric on a dual-fuel range. The telltale sign will be if your range connects to both a gas supply line as well as a 240-volt outlet (remember that plug?). But if it’s difficult to determine what’s going on back there, here’s what else to look out for: A metal device at the bottom and/or top of the oven’s interior that glows bright when the oven is on indicates that it’s electric! Sometimes these heating elements will be concealed, though. In that case, look for telltale signs of gas: An open flame when the oven is on or a visible pilot light when off. Newer gas stoves might not have either, but rather use an electronic ignition system that you can hear fire up about 30-45 seconds after turning on the oven. If you’re still confused, there’s always your user manual! (You kept that, right?)

2. Figure out the size of your electric panel

Whenever you add a new electric appliance to your home, there’s the possibility that you’ll need to upgrade your electric panel to accommodate the new load. A new panel can cost thousands of dollars, though, so you’ll want to know ahead of time if this might be necessary. First, check the size of your current electric panel. You can find this information on your main breaker or fuse, a label on the panel itself, or your electric meter.

According to Rewiring America, if your panel is less than 100 amps, an upgrade could be necessary. If it’s anywhere from 100 to 150 amps, you can likely electrify everything in your home — including your range — without a panel upgrade, although some creative planning might be needed (more on that here and below, in the section on finding contractors and installers). If your panel is greater than 150 amps, it’s very likely that you can get an electric range (as well as a bevy of other electrical appliances) without upgrading.

3. Learn about incentives

As of now, federal incentives for electric and induction ranges, cooktops, and ovens are not yet available. But Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates programs, established via the Inflation Reduction Act, will roll out on a state-by-state basis over the course of this year and next, with most programs expected to come online in 2025. These rebates could give low- and moderate-income houses up to $840 back on the cost of switching from gas to electric or induction cooking.

While many details have yet to be released, it’s important to note that qualifying customers won’t be required to pay the full price and then apply for reimbursement — rather, the discount will be applied upfront. Once the program becomes available, your state will have a website with more information on how to apply. If you’re cash-strapped today, it could be worth waiting until the federal incentives roll out, as rebates will not be retroactively available.

Many states and municipalities already have their own incentives for electric appliance upgrades though. Unfortunately, there’s currently no centralized database to look these up, so that means doing a little homework. Check with your local utility, as well as your local and state government websites and energy offices for home electrification incentives. If you happen to live in California or Washington state, you can search for local incentives here, via this initiative from the Building Decarbonization Coalition. The NODE Collective is also working to compile data on all residential incentive programs, so keep checking in, more information is coming soon!

4. Compare electric vs. induction

Assuming you currently have a gas stove or a dual fuel range, this is the first big choice you’ll have to make. For customers interested in upgrading from electric to induction, let this also be your guide, as an induction stove is indeed the higher-end choice. Here are the main differences between the two:

Electric

Cost*: $700+ on average
• Efficiency**: 74%, still far superior to a gas stove’s 40% efficiency rate
• Temperature control: Less precise. This likely won’t affect the average cook much, but for those seeking perfection, induction definitely outperforms here.
• Cookware: Will work with all of your existing cookware!

Induction

Cost*: $1,300+ on average
• Efficiency**: 90% — Induction is far and away the fastest way to cook
• Temperature control: Excellent. Because induction stoves provide direct heat, more precise and quick temperature adjustments are possible. Some induction cooktops even allow you to set an exact temperature.
• Cookware: Works only with specific cookware made of magnetic materials, such as stainless steel and cast iron, but not glass, aluminum, or copper.

*According to Rewiring America

** According to this paper

Heatmap Recommends: Spring for the induction stove if you can. Not only will it provide a superior cooking experience, but it’s safer too. Induction stoves only heat up magnetic pots and pans, so if you touch the stove’s surface, you won’t get burned. Most will also turn off automatically if there’s no cookware detected.

“Induction is definitely the upgrade in basically every sense, if you can afford it. Induction is a way better cooking experience. It’s got way more fun heating and cooking control. It’s much more energy efficient. It’s much faster,” said Richardson.

If you’re curious about what it’s like to cook with an electric or induction stove, you can buy a standalone single-pot cooktop for well under $100; it will plug straight into a standard outlet. Additionally, Apalinksi says that many libraries (yes, libraries!) and utilities allow residents to borrow an induction cooktop and try it out for a few weeks, completely free of charge.

5. Explore different brands and models

New electric and induction ranges and cooktops will only be eligible for forthcoming federal incentives if they’re certified by Energy Star, a joint program run by the Environmental Protection Agency and the DOE that provides consumer information on energy efficient products, practices, and standards. You can check out what models of ranges and cooktops qualify here. But to get a handle on the actual look and feel of various options, you should try and find a showroom or head to a large retail store.

“Go to your local big box retailer, whether it’s a Home Depot or Best Buy or Lowe’s, they tend to have a bunch of models on the floor. Their representatives can talk to you about all the different options out there. But you have to research a little bit ahead of time, otherwise they’re going to point you to the latest gas appliance,” said Richardson.

If you learn that making the switch is going to entail particularly cumbersome electrical upgrades, Apaliski said there are some innovative companies such as Channing Street Copper and Impulse Labs that make induction ranges and cooktops that plug into standard outlets. They’re much pricier than your standard range, but if you can afford it, one could be right if you’re looking for plug-and-play simplicity and sleek design.

“So this is great, for example, if you are a renter, or if you are someone who has limited capacity on your electrical panel, or if you are someone who has one of these kitchen islands that is just impossible to get a new electric cord to,” Apaliski said.

FINDING CONTRACTORS AND INSTALLERS

If you buy your new range or cooktop from a big box retailer, they’ll typically haul away your old appliance and deliver and install the new one for you at either low or no cost. Don’t assume this is a part of the package, though, and be sure to ask what is and isn’t included before you make your purchase.

But if you’re moving from an all gas range or cooktop to an electric or induction range or cooktop, the complicated part isn’t the installation process, it’s everything that must come before. That includes capping and sealing the gas line for your old stove (this is a job for a plumber) and installing the requisite electric wiring to power your new stove (this is a job for an electrician).

As noted, making the switch could also mean a costly electric panel upgrade. You should ask potential electricians about this right away, as well as about creative solutions that would let you work with your existing panel. If you’re running out of space, you could buy a circuit sharing device like a smart splitter or a circuit pauser, which would allow multiple loads, such as an EV charger and your stove, to share a circuit, or ensure that specific appliances are shut off when you’re approaching your panel’s limit. Richardson recommends getting opinions from a couple different electricians, seconding the idea that if your panel is 100 amps or more, an upgrade is likely not necessary.

Above all, you should make sure that the gas line and electric work is taken care of before the stove installer comes to your home. Richardson said that occasionally, retailers will provide plumbing and electrical services as an add-on option, so it never hurts to ask. But most likely you’ll be sourcing contractors and compiling quotes on your own. If you don’t already have a go to person for the job, ask friends, family, and neighbors for references. Google and Yelp reviews are always there too.

Things to ask potential plumbers and electricians:

• Are you licensed and insured for this type of work? Asking for proof is always a good idea!
• How long will this work take, and when would you be able to start? You’ll likely want to align the scheduling of the gas work, the electrical work, and the installation of your new appliance, so that you don’t go too long without a working stove! While these things can’t happen simultaneously, scheduling them close together makes sense.
• What is your expected work schedule, and can I (or should I) stay in my home during the process? You’ll want to know when the contractors plan to arrive, and if the work is going to cause any disruptions, such as a power shut off. You should also ask if they recommend you stick around, in case any questions arise.
• What type of warranty do you offer for your work? This ensures that if any of the work is performed incorrectly, it will be fixed free of charge. Your range or cooktop will have its own separate warranty, which you should also be aware of.
• Will you work with subcontractors? Clarify who is your point of contact for the project, and make sure the contractor’s insurance covers subcontractors as well.
• Will this work require a permit? If so, who will be in charge of securing that? This will depend on where you live and the scope of the work. Ensuring that your contractor understands the nuances of local regulations and permitting processes is key.
• What is your payment schedule? You may be expected to pay a plumber or electrician an upfront deposit, depending on the complexity of the project.
• Will you conduct a site visit in order to get a more accurate cost and scope of work estimate? This can help everyone get on the same page about how much work the job will entail, to ensure that you get an accurate quote. Ask whether the site visit will be free or if there’s a consultation fee.
• What technologies would allow me to keep my existing electric panel? As mentioned, there are numerous ways to avoid panel upgrades. If your current panel can’t easily handle the new load, discuss alternate options with your electrician.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Once you get time on the calendar with a trustworthy, knowledgeable and fair-priced plumber and electrician, it’s time to schedule the installation of your new range or cooktop. And after that it’s time to metaphorically fire up those resistive coils or electromagnetic fields and make yourself an electrified meal for the ages.

HAPPY COOKING!

https://heatmap.news/decarbonize-your-life/best-induction-stoves

It Might Be Time to Replace Your Water Heater

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

The humble water heater, like your fridge or septic tank, is the type of home technology that you only notice if and when it breaks. For most homeowners, that’s every 13 years. But if you’re on a mission to decarbonize your life, you might want to rethink your current set-up, and perhaps consider a makeover. Per the Department of Energy, water heating accounts for roughly 18% of the average household’s energy use, making it the second largest energy expense in any home.

Back in April, the DOE released new residential water heater standards that it says will save American households approximately $7.6 billion per year on their energy bills “while significantly cutting energy waste and harmful carbon pollution.” The standards will also, in effect, phase out electric resistance water heaters, which currently account for half the U.S. market, in favor of more energy-efficient heat pump water heaters by 2029. If any of that confuses you, read on. We’re breaking down everything you need to know about this oft-forgotten, basement-dwelling home technology, from the taxonomy of water heater types to tax credit and rebate tips to product recommendations.

THE EXPERT PANEL

Andy Meyer is a senior program manager at Efficiency Maine, an independent agency that implements energy efficiency programs in the state. His team is responsible for providing resources on heat pump water heaters to Maine residents, who buy one out of every 10 purchased in the U.S.

Ben Foster is vice president of operations at Barnett Plumbing & Water Heaters, a leading heat pump water heater contractor in California. He’s also developed loaner water heater programs supported by TECH Clean California, and notes that most contractors don’t have access to loaner programs:

Joseph Wachunas is a senior project manager at the New Buildings Institute, a nonprofit working to reduce emissions and deliver climate solutions through the built environment. At NBI, he heads up the Advanced Water Heating Initiative, which aims to decarbonize water heating through heat pump water heaters.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS

• Understand the differences between water heater types.
  
• Take stock of your home’s specific considerations and water needs.
  
• Check your electrical system and research your options, including their associated risks.
  
• Determine what size water heater you’ll need.
  
• Find a trustworthy contractor or prepare to DIY.

THE BASICS

• The first step to switching your water heater is understanding the Uniform Energy Factor. This is the rating that determines a water heater’s efficiency, i.e. how much energy it uses to heat water versus how much it loses in the process. While there is no “ideal” UEF, a good rule of thumb is the higher the UEF, the more efficient the water heater.

• Most conventional water heaters are spectacularly inefficient. They work by heating a storage tank of water either by electric resistance (i.e. the same technology that powers a toaster) or natural gas. The UEF on conventional water heaters is generally around 0.6.

• Tankless water heaters heat water directly, without a storage tank. The power source — either an electric element or gas burner — warms cold water as it travels through a heat exchanger in the unit. Like conventional water heaters, tankless water heaters can be powered by either electric resistance or gas, and only heat water when the user needs it. The UEF on tankless water heaters is typically around 0.8.

• Heat pump water heaters and hybrid water heaters, meanwhile, work by gathering heat from the surrounding air — the classic comparison is to an air conditioner, but in reverse. Most heat pump water heaters also have a back-up electric-resistance mechanism that kicks in during periods of high demand (thus, hybrid). The UEF on heat pump water heaters is between 3 and 4, a gobsmacking five times more efficient than conventional and tankless water heaters, which is instead of quickly creating heat, they slowly move it around. Heat pump water heaters are by far the most energy efficient water heaters on the market.

“Heat pump water heaters are simple to install — any plumber or handy person can do it — but plumbers may not be familiar with them. So if you talk with a plumber who has concerns, consider calling another plumber,” Meyer told me. “Again, Mainers have installed over 70,000 in the last 12 years. They are no longer new.”

• Solar water heaters use the sun’s energy to heat up water in a storage tank, and are either active or passive — active solar water heaters use circulating pumps, while passive heaters allow natural convection to move water from the collectors to the storage tank as it heats up. Solar water heaters have a different efficiency standard, the solar energy factor, which is the energy delivered by the system divided by the electrical or gas energy put into the system. The SEF of most solar water heaters is somewhere from 2 to 3, and these water heaters generally only work in areas where temperatures rarely fall below freezing.

• The last type of water heater to keep in mind is indirect water heaters or tankless coil water heaters, which use a home’s space heating system to heat water; indirect water heaters then store that in a tank, whereas tankless coil water heaters work on demand. These water heaters are generally only efficient during cold months or in cold climates, when houses’ heating systems are on regularly — and even then, tankless coil water heaters are notoriously inefficient.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. How does a heat pump water heater work?

A heat pump water heater is made up of a compressor, storage tank, condenser, evaporator coil, fan, backup heating elements, and refrigerant. The compressor, located in the upper compartment of the water heater, uses refrigerant to heat the water in the storage tank (via the condenser, which acts as a heat exchanger). The evaporator coil and fan work to change refrigerant from liquid back to gas after the water has been heated. The backup electric heating elements kick in only in periods of high demand to ensure consistent hot water supply.

2. It gets cold where I live. Can I still get a heat pump water heater?

A common misconception about heat pumps in general is that they don’t work in colder climates. This is not at all the case — half of electric water heaters in Maine, for instance, are now heat pumps. As long as they are installed indoors and in an area where pipes won’t freeze (typically, a basement), heat pump water heaters work throughout the year in all climates, according to Meyer and Wachunas. The rule of thumb, per the DOE, is to install your heat pump water heater in locations that remain in the 40 degree to 90 degree Fahrenheit range year-round.

3. How much can I save with a heat pump water heater?

Per the DOE, replacing your standard electric water heater with a heat pump water heater can save you up to 10% on your electricity bill, reducing your water heating energy consumption and costs by up to 70%.

BEFORE YOU GET STARTED

The number one mistake homeowners make when it comes to their water heaters is waiting until they’re broken to replace them. This severely limits your options for new water heaters — as Foster notes, no one “wants to go days without hot water, let alone weeks,” and it can take weeks or even months to fit your home for a heat pump water heater. (We’ll get into why a bit later.)

“A lot of contractors, if you want a heat pump and you have a leaking water heater that needs to be replaced today, they’re just going to convince you to go with gas,” Foster said.

Some contractors have loaner water heater programs, so you can temporarily use a gas heater in an emergency situation, but these programs are few and far between. If you’ve had your water heater for 10 years or more — even if it’s working just fine — it might be time to think about replacing it. If you do, you’ll need to consider a few things about your home and lifestyle, especially if you’re considering a heat pump water heater:

1. The size and layout of your house

Heat pump water heaters require a significant amount of space. Per Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, heat pump water heaters can require more than 6 feet of height clearance to account for their air filters, as well as a 3-foot diameter space to provide clearance for the drain pan and other connections. Additionally, the heat pump water heater should be positioned so the exhaust outlet is at least 8 inches away from a wall, door, or ceiling.

Also, since heat pump water heaters work by drawing heat from the surrounding air, they require 700 cubic feet of unenclosed space surrounding the water heater location. While it is possible to install a heat pump water heater in a location with insufficient air volume (for instance, by installing the water heater with a door equipped with top and bottom grills), this would require extra work from your contractor. Taking all these measurements into account, this basically means that a heat pump water heater requires a 10-foot by 9-foot room with an 8-foot-tall ceiling.

2. Maintenance requirements of a heat pump water heater

Heat pump water heaters also require monthly and yearly service, Meyer told me. You should change the water filter every two to six months, and clear the condensate lines to ensure your unit doesn’t get clogged with mold or bacteria. Additionally, if your unit is a hybrid, you’ll have to keep an eye on its anode rod, which can become corroded over time and lead to heating issues. You’ll have to flush your heat pump water heater annually to avoid corrosion.

3. Your household’s size and water needs

If you’re going to DIY it, understanding your household’s water needs is key to sizing and installing a new heat pump water heater. First, determine your house’s peak hour demand (the maximum amount of water your house uses in one hour per day) using this worksheet from the DOE. You can then use that number (measured in gallons) to determine what size heat water heater to buy — look at the heater’s first hour rating, a.k.a. the amount of hot water the heater can supply per hour, starting with a tank full of hot water. You’ll want your heater’s first hour rating to be equal to (or ideally, higher than) your peak hour demand.

Though you should use the worksheet to determine your unique peak hour demand, a general rule is that households of one to two people should use a 50-gallon water heater, while households of three or more people should use a 65- to 80-gallon tank. The average family uses 50 gallons of hot water per day, Wachunas explained. “So even if you have lots of showers in the morning, your heat pump in two to four hours will heat that water back up and you have plenty of extra supply.”

If you’re between two sizes of heat pump water heaters, always upsize, Foster said. This ensures that the heat pump is the primary source of heat, as opposed to the much less efficient backup electric mechanisms. In other words, it’s far more efficient (and less expensive!) for a larger heat pump water heater to heat a few extra gallons of water using the heat pump than it is for a smaller heat pump water heater to have to use its electric elements to keep up with excess demand.

4. Your existing wiring

Since many heat pump water heaters have certain voltage requirements, you may have to upgrade your electrical panel for 240-volt hardwired service. The cost and time involved in having your service upgraded can vary and depends on whether the power lines coming into your house are above ground. If they’re underground, Foster explained, a contractor will have to excavate and run new cables, which can take over a year. The best way to determine if you’ll need to upgrade your service is to have a trusted contractor do an assessment on your home. (This is also why it’s essential to plan in advance.)

5. Location, location, location

Basements are always the best places for heat pump water heaters, regardless of climate. Other common locations for installation include garages, interior rooms, and rooms outside the thermal envelope, like attached sheds and utility rooms. The garage does not have to be insulated if outdoor temperatures are usually above 50°F, but if temperatures dip below freezing and the garage is uninsulated, it’d be best to consider another location. Interior rooms, like laundry or IT rooms, are a great choice because a heat pump water heater can utilize any waste heat generated by the equipment in the room. Finally, rooms outside the thermal envelope, like attached sheds, can be even more efficient than interior spaces in hot or warm climates because of the excess hot air.

UNDERSTAND YOUR OPTIONS

Feeling ready to go shopping? Here’s everything you need to know about the buying and installation process.

• There are plenty of tax credits and rebates to take advantage of. The big one to note is the 30% tax credit from the federal government (thank you, Inflation Reduction Act!) for heat pump water heaters, which covers both the unit and installation, up to $2,000. You can read up on that program here. You can also use the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency to research utility rebates specific to your region. Also be sure to check out Energy Star’s rebate finder and Rewiring America’s tax credit guide. (Rewiring America, as it happens, is also a sponsor of Decarbonize Your Life.) A heat pump water heater typically costs about $1,000 more than other types of electric water heaters before rebates and tax credits, but once you factor those in, you may find you have more budget to work with than you thought. It’ll also save you about $500 per year on your utility bills, according to Meyer, so “payback is quick.”
  
• Decide whether you want to hire a contractor or install the new heater yourself. Though a DIY water heater install sounds intimidating, it’s “surprisingly accessible for folks if you’re semi-handy,” Wachunas told me. Efficiency Maine estimates that a third of its customers install heat pump water heaters themselves. Unlike HVAC heat pumps, heat pump water heaters are closed systems, so they come sealed in one packed unit that the customer simply has to install as they would any other electric water heater. (This also means that if and when the thing breaks — most heat pump water heaters have 10-year warranties — the whole unit has to be replaced, not just a part.)
• If you’re DIY-ing it, you can buy a heat pump water heater either online or at a local hardware or home improvement store. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that these units are quite heavy and cannot be taken apart. Depending on capacity, they can be over 300 pounds — so prepare accordingly to transport the unit to your house. As for installing, first, you’ll have to remove your existing water heater (this will involve draining the tank, removing supply lines, and disconnecting the power). Next, you’ll clean up your workspace and prepare your new plumbing material. Then you’ll position your new water heater, connect your supply lines to the new heater, fill the tank with cold water, and connect the heater to the electrical supply according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Voilà! Your heat pump water heater is ready for use. Check out this guide from Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance. PNNL also has a great heat pump water heater installation tool that can walk you through the selection and installation process.
• If DIY isn’t your bag, it’s essential to find the right contractor, as not all water heater contractors are familiar with heat pump water heater models. This often results in plumbers undersizing their recommendations, “not taking into account the fact that they take longer to regenerate hot water,” Foster warned. The best way to find a quality contractor is to use a third party service that has already done the work of vetting plumbers, according to Foster, such as The Switch Is On, or state-specific organizations like Efficiency Maine or TECH Clean California. A properly-informed contractor will also be able to access special rebates that aren’t available to consumers, according to Foster.
  
• You might want to consider doing a whole-home assessment while you’re at it. If you’re already planning on making the switch from a gas stove to an induction stove in addition to replacing your water heater, for instance, you can consolidate your home renovation plans with help from organizations like Quit Carbon.

HEATMAP RECOMMENDS

For small family homes, DIYers, or victims of a gas water heater emergency, get the 120-Volt Rheem ProTerra Plug-in Heat Pump Water Heater.

This plug-in model caused quite a stir when it came out two years ago, and for good reason. Its low voltage allows it to be plugged into a standard outlet, making it a great fit for smaller homes with fewer residents, or anyone in need of a quick fix. (This is also a relatively foolproof choice for DIYers because of the quick and easy installation process.) For those wanting a model with a bit more flexibility but still an easy install, there’s the A.O. Smith Signature 900 Plug-in Hybrid, which is more expensive but has the added benefit of back-up electric resistance elements that help with higher hot water demand. Alternatively, you can go for the 120-Volt Rheem ProTerra Plug-in Water Heater with HydroBoost, which utilizes a mixing valve for maximum hot water output.

If app functionality is especially important to you, Rheem’s ProTerra line might be particularly appealing. The EcoNet app allows users to monitor the hot water heater from their phone, with status updates on potential leaks as well as compressor health, hot water availability and the unit’s set water temperature.

For larger families with tons of hot water demand get the Rheem ProTerra 80 Gal. 10-Year Hybrid High Efficiency Heat Pump Tank Electric Water Heater.

Another solid choice for larger families, for roughly the same price, is A.O. Smith’s Signature 900 80-Gal. For further durability, consider Bradford White’s Aerotherm Series water heaters, which can only be purchased through a qualified contractor, but are frequently praised for their resilience and anti-microbial technology.

For your casual country estates or mini-mansions over 5,000 square feet, get the Sanden SANCO2 Heat Pump Water Heater.

Split-system heat pump water heaters are the answer for truly huge houses, where the heat pump itself is outside while the storage tank remains inside. “You can chain together as many heat pump units as you want with as many storage tanks as you want,” Foster said. “So you can create as big a system as you want.” While split-system heat pump water heaters are much less widely-available in the U.S. than they are in Asia and Europe, you can purchase this one online. SANCO is also shipping a new fifth generation unit soon, Quit Carbon advises, which may prove more cost-effective and will qualify for more rebates in California.

For those sensitive to sound or in tight living spaces get the Voltex AL Hybrid Electric Heat Pump Water Heater.

The quietest HPWH on the market, at 45 decibels, is made by A.O. Smith, according to Foster. It’s available in 50, 65, and 80 gallon sizes, so it can accommodate a variety of household types. Another quiet option is LG’s Inverter Heat Pump Water Heater, though LG is much newer to the heat pump water heater game than Rheem and A.O. Smith, so it may be more difficult to find qualified contractors.

WHAT’S NEXT?

A GIANT ASTERISK

Three more expert contractors I spoke with — Nate Adams, a longtime HVAC insulation and sealing contractor in West Virginia who specializes in electrification retrofits for homeowners; John Semmelhack, an HVAC consultant and the owner of Think Little, a building science consulting firm specializing in mechanical system design for passive house and net-zero energy homes; and Tim Portman, the owner of Portman Mechanical, specializing in electrification, heating and cooling, and home performance — had concerns about heat pump water heater installations.

Adams said heaters he’s installed have had a 50% failure rate, while Portman and Semmelhack cite a 60% failure rate. These issues have seemingly cropped up after 2018 and are almost entirely occurring with A.O. Smith and Rheem’s fifth generation of water heater models; older generations performed and continue to perform much better. “All my installs from 2014-2018 are still running to my knowledge,” says Adams. “Which is a big part of my frustration— we had this figured out already.”

The specific causes of these failures vary, spanning from tanks bursting to heat pumps losing charge, according to Adams. Semmelhack and Portman, meanwhile, pointed mainly to refrigerant leaks and compressor issues. (A.O. Smith and Rheem did not respond to requests for comment.) “All of the failures are happening inside the first year of operation,” noted Semmelhack. “So it’s happening pretty quick, which makes us think that it’s a factory problem and not an environmental problem inside the household.”

For those who don’t mind waiting, keep an eye on Cala, a promising water heater startup.

Semmelhack and Portman are hopeful about Cala’s new heat pump water heaters, which use an AI-powered control system to forecast hot water demand and heat the water in the tank accordingly with a heat pump. They’re aiming to start shipping those units in 2025, and you can preorder and learn more here.

NOW TAKE A BATH!

https://heatmap.news/best-water-heaters

It Might Be Time to Replace Your Water Heater

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

The humble water heater, like your fridge or septic tank, is the type of home technology that you only notice if and when it breaks. For most homeowners, that’s every 13 years. But if you’re on a mission to decarbonize your life, you might want to rethink your current set-up, and perhaps consider a makeover. Per the Department of Energy, water heating accounts for roughly 18% of the average household’s energy use, making it the second largest energy expense in any home.

Back in April, the DOE released new residential water heater standards that it says will save American households approximately $7.6 billion per year on their energy bills “while significantly cutting energy waste and harmful carbon pollution.” The standards will also, in effect, phase out electric resistance water heaters, which currently account for half the U.S. market, in favor of more energy-efficient heat pump water heaters by 2029. If any of that confuses you, read on. We’re breaking down everything you need to know about this oft-forgotten, basement-dwelling home technology, from the taxonomy of water heater types to tax credit and rebate tips to product recommendations.

THE EXPERT PANEL

Andy Meyer is a senior program manager at Efficiency Maine, an independent agency that implements energy efficiency programs in the state. His team is responsible for providing resources on heat pump water heaters to Maine residents, who buy one out of every 10 purchased in the U.S.

Ben Foster is vice president of operations at Barnett Plumbing & Water Heaters, a leading heat pump water heater contractor in California. He’s also developed loaner water heater programs supported by TECH Clean California, and notes that most contractors don’t have access to loaner programs:

Joseph Wachunas is a senior project manager at the New Buildings Institute, a nonprofit working to reduce emissions and deliver climate solutions through the built environment. At NBI, he heads up the Advanced Water Heating Initiative, which aims to decarbonize water heating through heat pump water heaters.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS

• Understand the differences between water heater types.
  
• Take stock of your home’s specific considerations and water needs.
  
• Check your electrical system and research your options, including their associated risks.
  
• Determine what size water heater you’ll need.
  
• Find a trustworthy contractor or prepare to DIY.

THE BASICS

• The first step to switching your water heater is understanding the Uniform Energy Factor. This is the rating that determines a water heater’s efficiency, i.e. how much energy it uses to heat water versus how much it loses in the process. While there is no “ideal” UEF, a good rule of thumb is the higher the UEF, the more efficient the water heater.

• Most conventional water heaters are spectacularly inefficient. They work by heating a storage tank of water either by electric resistance (i.e. the same technology that powers a toaster) or natural gas. The UEF on conventional water heaters is generally around 0.6.

• Tankless water heaters heat water directly, without a storage tank. The power source — either an electric element or gas burner — warms cold water as it travels through a heat exchanger in the unit. Like conventional water heaters, tankless water heaters can be powered by either electric resistance or gas, and only heat water when the user needs it. The UEF on tankless water heaters is typically around 0.8.

• Heat pump water heaters and hybrid water heaters, meanwhile, work by gathering heat from the surrounding air — the classic comparison is to an air conditioner, but in reverse. Most heat pump water heaters also have a back-up electric-resistance mechanism that kicks in during periods of high demand (thus, hybrid). The UEF on heat pump water heaters is between 3 and 4, a gobsmacking five times more efficient than conventional and tankless water heaters, which is instead of quickly creating heat, they slowly move it around. Heat pump water heaters are by far the most energy efficient water heaters on the market.

“Heat pump water heaters are simple to install — any plumber or handy person can do it — but plumbers may not be familiar with them. So if you talk with a plumber who has concerns, consider calling another plumber,” Meyer told me. “Again, Mainers have installed over 70,000 in the last 12 years. They are no longer new.”

• Solar water heaters use the sun’s energy to heat up water in a storage tank, and are either active or passive — active solar water heaters use circulating pumps, while passive heaters allow natural convection to move water from the collectors to the storage tank as it heats up. Solar water heaters have a different efficiency standard, the solar energy factor, which is the energy delivered by the system divided by the electrical or gas energy put into the system. The SEF of most solar water heaters is somewhere from 2 to 3, and these water heaters generally only work in areas where temperatures rarely fall below freezing.

• The last type of water heater to keep in mind is indirect water heaters or tankless coil water heaters, which use a home’s space heating system to heat water; indirect water heaters then store that in a tank, whereas tankless coil water heaters work on demand. These water heaters are generally only efficient during cold months or in cold climates, when houses’ heating systems are on regularly — and even then, tankless coil water heaters are notoriously inefficient.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. How does a heat pump water heater work?

A heat pump water heater is made up of a compressor, storage tank, condenser, evaporator coil, fan, backup heating elements, and refrigerant. The compressor, located in the upper compartment of the water heater, uses refrigerant to heat the water in the storage tank (via the condenser, which acts as a heat exchanger). The evaporator coil and fan work to change refrigerant from liquid back to gas after the water has been heated. The backup electric heating elements kick in only in periods of high demand to ensure consistent hot water supply.

2. It gets cold where I live. Can I still get a heat pump water heater?

A common misconception about heat pumps in general is that they don’t work in colder climates. This is not at all the case — half of electric water heaters in Maine, for instance, are now heat pumps. As long as they are installed indoors and in an area where pipes won’t freeze (typically, a basement), heat pump water heaters work throughout the year in all climates, according to Meyer and Wachunas. The rule of thumb, per the DOE, is to install your heat pump water heater in locations that remain in the 40 degree to 90 degree Fahrenheit range year-round.

3. How much can I save with a heat pump water heater?

Per the DOE, replacing your standard electric water heater with a heat pump water heater can save you up to 10% on your electricity bill, reducing your water heating energy consumption and costs by up to 70%.

BEFORE YOU GET STARTED

The number one mistake homeowners make when it comes to their water heaters is waiting until they’re broken to replace them. This severely limits your options for new water heaters — as Foster notes, no one “wants to go days without hot water, let alone weeks,” and it can take weeks or even months to fit your home for a heat pump water heater. (We’ll get into why a bit later.)

“A lot of contractors, if you want a heat pump and you have a leaking water heater that needs to be replaced today, they’re just going to convince you to go with gas,” Foster said.

Some contractors have loaner water heater programs, so you can temporarily use a gas heater in an emergency situation, but these programs are few and far between. If you’ve had your water heater for 10 years or more — even if it’s working just fine — it might be time to think about replacing it. If you do, you’ll need to consider a few things about your home and lifestyle, especially if you’re considering a heat pump water heater:

1. The size and layout of your house

Heat pump water heaters require a significant amount of space. Per Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, heat pump water heaters can require more than 6 feet of height clearance to account for their air filters, as well as a 3-foot diameter space to provide clearance for the drain pan and other connections. Additionally, the heat pump water heater should be positioned so the exhaust outlet is at least 8 inches away from a wall, door, or ceiling.

Also, since heat pump water heaters work by drawing heat from the surrounding air, they require 700 cubic feet of unenclosed space surrounding the water heater location. While it is possible to install a heat pump water heater in a location with insufficient air volume (for instance, by installing the water heater with a door equipped with top and bottom grills), this would require extra work from your contractor. Taking all these measurements into account, this basically means that a heat pump water heater requires a 10-foot by 9-foot room with an 8-foot-tall ceiling.

2. Maintenance requirements of a heat pump water heater

Heat pump water heaters also require monthly and yearly service, Meyer told me. You should change the water filter every two to six months, and clear the condensate lines to ensure your unit doesn’t get clogged with mold or bacteria. Additionally, if your unit is a hybrid, you’ll have to keep an eye on its anode rod, which can become corroded over time and lead to heating issues. You’ll have to flush your heat pump water heater annually to avoid corrosion.

3. Your household’s size and water needs

If you’re going to DIY it, understanding your household’s water needs is key to sizing and installing a new heat pump water heater. First, determine your house’s peak hour demand (the maximum amount of water your house uses in one hour per day) using this worksheet from the DOE. You can then use that number (measured in gallons) to determine what size heat water heater to buy — look at the heater’s first hour rating, a.k.a. the amount of hot water the heater can supply per hour, starting with a tank full of hot water. You’ll want your heater’s first hour rating to be equal to (or ideally, higher than) your peak hour demand.

Though you should use the worksheet to determine your unique peak hour demand, a general rule is that households of one to two people should use a 50-gallon water heater, while households of three or more people should use a 65- to 80-gallon tank. The average family uses 50 gallons of hot water per day, Wachunas explained. “So even if you have lots of showers in the morning, your heat pump in two to four hours will heat that water back up and you have plenty of extra supply.”

If you’re between two sizes of heat pump water heaters, always upsize, Foster said. This ensures that the heat pump is the primary source of heat, as opposed to the much less efficient backup electric mechanisms. In other words, it’s far more efficient (and less expensive!) for a larger heat pump water heater to heat a few extra gallons of water using the heat pump than it is for a smaller heat pump water heater to have to use its electric elements to keep up with excess demand.

4. Your existing wiring

Since many heat pump water heaters have certain voltage requirements, you may have to upgrade your electrical panel for 240-volt hardwired service. The cost and time involved in having your service upgraded can vary and depends on whether the power lines coming into your house are above ground. If they’re underground, Foster explained, a contractor will have to excavate and run new cables, which can take over a year. The best way to determine if you’ll need to upgrade your service is to have a trusted contractor do an assessment on your home. (This is also why it’s essential to plan in advance.)

5. Location, location, location

Basements are always the best places for heat pump water heaters, regardless of climate. Other common locations for installation include garages, interior rooms, and rooms outside the thermal envelope, like attached sheds and utility rooms. The garage does not have to be insulated if outdoor temperatures are usually above 50°F, but if temperatures dip below freezing and the garage is uninsulated, it’d be best to consider another location. Interior rooms, like laundry or IT rooms, are a great choice because a heat pump water heater can utilize any waste heat generated by the equipment in the room. Finally, rooms outside the thermal envelope, like attached sheds, can be even more efficient than interior spaces in hot or warm climates because of the excess hot air.

UNDERSTAND YOUR OPTIONS

Feeling ready to go shopping? Here’s everything you need to know about the buying and installation process.

• There are plenty of tax credits and rebates to take advantage of. The big one to note is the 30% tax credit from the federal government (thank you, Inflation Reduction Act!) for heat pump water heaters, which covers both the unit and installation, up to $2,000. You can read up on that program here. You can also use the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency to research utility rebates specific to your region. Also be sure to check out Energy Star’s rebate finder and Rewiring America’s tax credit guide. (Rewiring America, as it happens, is also a sponsor of Decarbonize Your Life.) A heat pump water heater typically costs about $1,000 more than other types of electric water heaters before rebates and tax credits, but once you factor those in, you may find you have more budget to work with than you thought. It’ll also save you about $500 per year on your utility bills, according to Meyer, so “payback is quick.”
  
• Decide whether you want to hire a contractor or install the new heater yourself. Though a DIY water heater install sounds intimidating, it’s “surprisingly accessible for folks if you’re semi-handy,” Wachunas told me. Efficiency Maine estimates that a third of its customers install heat pump water heaters themselves. Unlike HVAC heat pumps, heat pump water heaters are closed systems, so they come sealed in one packed unit that the customer simply has to install as they would any other electric water heater. (This also means that if and when the thing breaks — most heat pump water heaters have 10-year warranties — the whole unit has to be replaced, not just a part.)
• If you’re DIY-ing it, you can buy a heat pump water heater either online or at a local hardware or home improvement store. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that these units are quite heavy and cannot be taken apart. Depending on capacity, they can be over 300 pounds — so prepare accordingly to transport the unit to your house. As for installing, first, you’ll have to remove your existing water heater (this will involve draining the tank, removing supply lines, and disconnecting the power). Next, you’ll clean up your workspace and prepare your new plumbing material. Then you’ll position your new water heater, connect your supply lines to the new heater, fill the tank with cold water, and connect the heater to the electrical supply according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Voilà! Your heat pump water heater is ready for use. Check out this guide from Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance. PNNL also has a great heat pump water heater installation tool that can walk you through the selection and installation process.
• If DIY isn’t your bag, it’s essential to find the right contractor, as not all water heater contractors are familiar with heat pump water heater models. This often results in plumbers undersizing their recommendations, “not taking into account the fact that they take longer to regenerate hot water,” Foster warned. The best way to find a quality contractor is to use a third party service that has already done the work of vetting plumbers, according to Foster, such as The Switch Is On, or state-specific organizations like Efficiency Maine or TECH Clean California. A properly-informed contractor will also be able to access special rebates that aren’t available to consumers, according to Foster.
  
• You might want to consider doing a whole-home assessment while you’re at it. If you’re already planning on making the switch from a gas stove to an induction stove in addition to replacing your water heater, for instance, you can consolidate your home renovation plans with help from organizations like Quit Carbon.

HEATMAP RECOMMENDS

For small family homes, DIYers, or victims of a gas water heater emergency, get the 120-Volt Rheem ProTerra Plug-in Heat Pump Water Heater.

This plug-in model caused quite a stir when it came out two years ago, and for good reason. Its low voltage allows it to be plugged into a standard outlet, making it a great fit for smaller homes with fewer residents, or anyone in need of a quick fix. (This is also a relatively foolproof choice for DIYers because of the quick and easy installation process.) For those wanting a model with a bit more flexibility but still an easy install, there’s the A.O. Smith Signature 900 Plug-in Hybrid, which is more expensive but has the added benefit of back-up electric resistance elements that help with higher hot water demand. Alternatively, you can go for the 120-Volt Rheem ProTerra Plug-in Water Heater with HydroBoost, which utilizes a mixing valve for maximum hot water output.

If app functionality is especially important to you, Rheem’s ProTerra line might be particularly appealing. The EcoNet app allows users to monitor the hot water heater from their phone, with status updates on potential leaks as well as compressor health, hot water availability and the unit’s set water temperature.

For larger families with tons of hot water demand get the Rheem ProTerra 80 Gal. 10-Year Hybrid High Efficiency Heat Pump Tank Electric Water Heater.

Another solid choice for larger families, for roughly the same price, is A.O. Smith’s Signature 900 80-Gal. For further durability, consider Bradford White’s Aerotherm Series water heaters, which can only be purchased through a qualified contractor, but are frequently praised for their resilience and anti-microbial technology.

For your casual country estates or mini-mansions over 5,000 square feet, get the Sanden SANCO2 Heat Pump Water Heater.

Split-system heat pump water heaters are the answer for truly huge houses, where the heat pump itself is outside while the storage tank remains inside. “You can chain together as many heat pump units as you want with as many storage tanks as you want,” Foster said. “So you can create as big a system as you want.” While split-system heat pump water heaters are much less widely-available in the U.S. than they are in Asia and Europe, you can purchase this one online. SANCO is also shipping a new fifth generation unit soon, Quit Carbon advises, which may prove more cost-effective and will qualify for more rebates in California.

For those sensitive to sound or in tight living spaces get the Voltex AL Hybrid Electric Heat Pump Water Heater.

The quietest HPWH on the market, at 45 decibels, is made by A.O. Smith, according to Foster. It’s available in 50, 65, and 80 gallon sizes, so it can accommodate a variety of household types. Another quiet option is LG’s Inverter Heat Pump Water Heater, though LG is much newer to the heat pump water heater game than Rheem and A.O. Smith, so it may be more difficult to find qualified contractors.

WHAT’S NEXT?

A GIANT ASTERISK

Three more expert contractors I spoke with — Nate Adams, a longtime HVAC insulation and sealing contractor in West Virginia who specializes in electrification retrofits for homeowners; John Semmelhack, an HVAC consultant and the owner of Think Little, a building science consulting firm specializing in mechanical system design for passive house and net-zero energy homes; and Tim Portman, the owner of Portman Mechanical, specializing in electrification, heating and cooling, and home performance — had concerns about heat pump water heater installations.

Adams said heaters he’s installed have had a 50% failure rate, while Portman and Semmelhack cite a 60% failure rate. These issues have seemingly cropped up after 2018 and are almost entirely occurring with A.O. Smith and Rheem’s fifth generation of water heater models; older generations performed and continue to perform much better. “All my installs from 2014-2018 are still running to my knowledge,” says Adams. “Which is a big part of my frustration— we had this figured out already.”

The specific causes of these failures vary, spanning from tanks bursting to heat pumps losing charge, according to Adams. Semmelhack and Portman, meanwhile, pointed mainly to refrigerant leaks and compressor issues. (A.O. Smith and Rheem did not respond to requests for comment.) “All of the failures are happening inside the first year of operation,” noted Semmelhack. “So it’s happening pretty quick, which makes us think that it’s a factory problem and not an environmental problem inside the household.”

For those who don’t mind waiting, keep an eye on Cala, a promising water heater startup.

Semmelhack and Portman are hopeful about Cala’s new heat pump water heaters, which use an AI-powered control system to forecast hot water demand and heat the water in the tank accordingly with a heat pump. They’re aiming to start shipping those units in 2025, and you can preorder and learn more here.

NOW TAKE A BATH!

https://heatmap.news/decarbonize-your-life/best-water-heaters

A Climate-Conscious Buyer’s Guide for Washers and Dryers

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

Americans love laundry. Of the common household chores, it is by far the most popular — and the most energy-intensive. Washing and drying a load of laundry every two days for a year generates roughly the same emissions as driving from Chicago to New York and back again in a gasoline-powered passenger vehicle. Nearly three-quarters of those emissions come from drying alone; meanwhile, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average washing machine generates up to 8% of a home’s total energy use. The whole process can cost up to $150 per year in electricity alone, depending on where you live and the frequency of your washes.

With some regulatory prodding, manufacturers have tried to improve water and energy efficiency in new appliances and have rolled out fancy new features like “smart” water-level sensors, vibration reduction technologies, and microfiber-catching filters. But not every house — or budget — has room for the latest and greatest technologies, and systems that would work well in an airy Los Angeles laundry room might make less sense in a drafty apartment in Minnesota.

Heatmap is here to remove some of the guesswork from upgrading one of your home’s most-used appliances. Here is our expert panel’s insight into when and how to purchase a new washer and dryer for your home.

THE EXPERT PANEL

Joanna Mauer is the deputy director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, a non-profit advocacy group pushing for stricter energy efficiency legislation. In her role at ASAP, Mauer works with the Department of Energy on its efficiency rules for residential appliances. She has previously worked for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Center for Integrative Environmental Research.

Amber McDaniel is the head of content at Sustainable Jungle, a website and podcast that publishes tips, tricks, and product reviews, including for major household appliances, with a focus on environmentally friendly solutions.

Scott Flint is a licensed California appliance tech with 30 years of experience. He is known as the Fix-It Guy on his YouTube channel, where he promotes the upkeep and repair of home appliances to extend their use. He has also written extensively about washers and dryers for publications such as The Family Handyman, Taste Of Home, and Earth911.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS

• Determine whether you need to purchase a new washer or dryer.
• Consider your laundry space.
• Get shopping!
• Maintain your washer and dryer.
• Consider other ways to lower the impact of your laundry.

THE BASICS

• Familiarize yourself with the EnergyGuide and Energy Star labels. EnergyGuide labels are yellow, managed by the Federal Trade Commission, and must be displayed on all washers and dryers (you can learn how to read an EnergyGuide label here). Energy Star labels are light blue squares managed by the Environmental Protection Agency and are only given to products that are deemed highly energy efficient. In a given year, the top-tier Energy Star products are awarded an even higher classification: Energy Star Most Efficient. You can think of an Energy Star certification as a shortcut for interpreting the information on an EnergyGuide; if an appliance you’re looking at has an Energy Star label, you can count on it being an efficient product.

• Energy Star looks at a washing machine’s Integrated Modified Energy Factor, or IMEF, an efficiency measurement that considers the energy used during a cycle and while on standby, the energy used to heat the water, and the energy used to run the dryer. The higher the IMEF, the more energy-efficient the machine. Energy Star requires an IMEF of at least 2.76 for front-loading washing machines; the upper end of the IMEF scale is usually around 3.1.

• Annual energy use is measured in kilowatt-hours per year. The number is an estimate based on using a washer under “typical conditions,” assuming 295 loads per year, or six loads per week. Annual energy use differs from IMEF in that it does not take into account how effective the washer is at removing moisture from the clothes in its spin cycle (washing machines that remove more water reduce subsequent energy use in the dryer). For context, an average washing machine used three times a week with cool or warm water goes through roughly 140 kilowatt-hours per year.
  
• The other number you’ll want to look at is the Integrated Water Factor, or IWF, which describes efficiency in gallons of water consumed per cubic foot of capacity. The lower the IWF, the more water-efficient the machine. Energy Star requires an IWF of at least 3.2 or less for a front-loading washing machine, with the lower end typically around 2.7.
  
• The volume of washers and dryers is measured in cubic feet. Washers are usually measured as “compact,” “small,” “medium,” or “large” capacity. A compact washer has a 2.30 to 2.45 cubic foot capacity, which is big enough for about 10 pounds of laundry. That’s approximately two small armfuls of clothing, or roughly six bath towels.
  
• Washers come in two configurations: top-loading and front-loading. The names are self-explanatory, but the benefits aren’t necessarily. “Front loaders are generally more efficient than top-loading clothes washers,” Mauer told me, “although there is a big range of efficiency within top-loading machines, so some are a lot more efficient than others.” Front-loading washers are also pretty air-tight, however, and their doors should be left slightly ajar when they’re not in use to prevent mold.
  
• Traditional dryers are vented, meaning that they heat air with gas or electricity and then disperse that hot, humid air through an exterior vent to the outside as the clothes tumble dry. Ventless dryers come in two forms — condenser and heat pump dryers, which we’ll get into more below — and recycle the hot air inside without needing a vent connecting them to the outdoors.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. If I’m getting a new washer or dryer anyway, shouldn’t I spring for all the latest features?

Peruse the latest washers and dryers and you’ll see features like sensors that adjust the water level to match the load of laundry, voice-activated start buttons, WiFi-enabled push notifications for when it’s time to move a load to the dryer, and more. And while there are environmentally friendly upsides to some of these features, “the more simple the machine, the less likely that things will fail,” Flint told me. In his experience repairing hundreds of washers and dryers over the years, “People save money on their initial purchase and the machine is going to last longer if you can minimize the features.”

2. If it’s Energy Star certified, is that good enough?

The Energy Star certification is a great starting point in your shopping journey. But it shouldn’t be the be-all, end-all of your research. Energy Star represents a range of efficiency standards from different brands, with only the top models earning a “ Most Efficient” distinction.

You’ll still want to read reviews to get a better understanding of the reliability of the products you’re looking at, too. Though many new features on the market promise water and energy savings, they’re harder to repair yourself, meaning any potential fixes can get expensive. They can also have shorter lifespans than simpler models.

3. Will I pay for all those energy savings with my time? That is, will my clothes take forever to dry?

Eco-friendly washers and dryers are great for a whole laundry list (get it?) of reasons: They lower your household energy bill, they reduce emissions, they reduce wasted water, they’re often easier to install, and they can be gentler on your clothes. But they don’t necessarily save you time. Energy-efficient electric dryers can take up to twice as long to dry your clothes than traditional gas dryers. Still, all of our expert panelists agreed the upsides outweigh the drawbacks.

BEFORE YOU GET STARTED

1. Do you really need a new washer or dryer?

Yes, this is a buying guide for purchasing a new washer and dryer. But before you spend money on new appliances, you should consider working with what you already have.

If you’re dealing with an old or sub-optimally functional machine and wondering whether now is the time to upgrade, repairing your existing washer or dryer can actually be a smarter and thriftier solution; in fact, Consumer Reports only recommends replacing a dryer if it’s over 10 years old, electric, and cost less than $700 when you initially purchased it. Often, whatever’s going on doesn’t even require a professional to fix. “I think only rarely — let’s say about 20% of the time — would most people need to call in a technician,” Flint told me. Most washer and dryer problems are something you can fix using “normal household tools.” (More on that later.)

Keep in mind, even if you have an old washer or dryer that isn’t very energy efficient, “that’s still not even going to come close to touching the amount of energy that was used to produce and ship a new machine,” McDaniel told me. When your washer or dryer “actually fully stops working and it’s not doing what you need it to do — that’s when it’s time to upgrade.”

2. Evaluate your laundry room

• Measure your room. The three most common configurations of washers and dryers are side-by-side, stacked, and all-in-one. The former takes up the most space, while an all-in-one takes up the least and is better for tight spaces like apartments.
• Do you have downstairs neighbors you need to consider? Front-loading washing machines are typically quieter than top-loaders because they use gravity, rather than an agitator, to dry clothes and could be a better choice if noise is a consideration.
• Check what hookups you already have. An electric dryer requires a four-prong, 240-volt outlet (that’s twice the electricity of a regular wall outlet). A gas dryer requires a gas hookup as well as a standard 110/115-volt outlet. You can learn more about the required hookups and what they look like here.
• Can you cut a hole in your wall? Vented dryers expel hot air, so they must be installed against an exterior wall with a vent hole cut into it (note that gas dryers must always be installed this way since they expel carbon monoxide). Ventless dryers are lower maintenance and can be installed anywhere, including in nontraditional laundry spaces like kitchens, since they don’t require a hookup to the outside.
• What is the temperature control and ventilation like in your space? Traditional vented dryers expel heated air outside, so shouldn’t affect the indoor environment, but ventless options can impact ambient air temperatures in your laundry room. A condenser dryer, for example, brings in ambient air, heats it, and passes it over the clothes in the drum to dry them; the hot air then enters a heat exchanger, where it is cooled, condensing the moisture, which is expelled through a drain. To work best, condenser dryers usually need to be in a well-ventilated room between the temperatures of 64 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and it may warm the room slightly when it’s running, which is less ideal for homes in hot climates. On the other hand, heat pump dryers work like refrigerators in reverse, warming ambient air and recirculating it inside the drum; they, in turn, can cause the laundry room they’re in to cool down slightly. They’re also less well suited for garages or outbuildings since, like condenser dryers, they need a minimum ambient temperature between about 65 and 75 degrees to operate most effectively.

3. How much laundry do you do, and what capacity do you need?

Typically, 1.5 to 3.4 cubic feet of capacity is suitable for a one- to two-person household, 3.5 to 4.4 cubic feet will do for two to three people, and 4.5 or more cubic feet will serve a household with more than three people. But having a new baby or pets might mean you do more loads of laundry than an average household, in which case sizing up is better.

Flint told me a common mistake he sees people make is overloading their washing machines, which can destroy an appliance’s rear bearing — the part of the machine that helps the drum rotate smoothly — a repair that is often so costly, it can make more sense to junk the whole machine. On the other hand, running small loads in a large-capacity washing machine can mean wasting water cleaning not-as-many clothes. Consider what washing machine would make the most sense for your needs to maximize efficiency.

4. What else is important to you?

Energy and water efficiency are two of the most common considerations when buying a washer and dryer, and are the primary focus of this guide. Some consumers may have additional concerns — McDaniel, for example, recommended looking for a Restriction of Hazardous Substances certification, which signals that an appliance complies with limits on heavy metals like lead and cadmium. Ethical considerations — including a manufacturer’s contributions to armed conflicts, labor practices, and sourcing of conflict minerals — are also worth close inspection. Ethical Consumer offers an excellent guide for finding a brand that best aligns with your values.

UNDERSTAND YOUR OPTIONS

Is a refurbished product right for you?

“The first thing that we always recommend is: If you need something new, try to go refurbished,” McDaniel told me. Still, there’s a right way and a wrong way to make a major second-hand purchase. McDaniel suggested going through a reputable source that offers a warranty, such as Best Buy (when searching online, make sure to filters for “Energy Star” and “open box” and check the product’s condition).

Get cozy with the Energy Star website

If you prefer the security of a new product, then it’s time to familiarize yourself with the Energy Star website. You can sort by Energy Star Most Efficient, which are the best of the best, as well as by price, brand, volume, front-load vs. top-load, vented, ventless, heat pump, gas, electric, and more. Energy Star also makes it easy to compare the specs of different products (just tick the “compare” box next to the machines you’re looking at, then scroll to the top to hit the orange “compare” button when you’re ready).

To dryer or not to dryer — that is the question

Dryers are the biggest energy suck in most homes, using two to four times as much energy as new washers and nearly twice as much as new refrigerators. McDaniel told me they are also responsible for the greatest wear and tear on clothes. Dryers are an especially American phenomenon; while more than 80% of households in the U.S. own a dryer, just 30% of European households do. That is to say, you probably don’t actually need one, and if you need to save money or space in your laundry routine, this would be the best place to look to make a cut.

“Not relying on a dryer is huge. I only use mine in the wintertime, and in the summer, I line dry my clothes — and the only reason I don’t do that in the winter is I literally don’t have the space inside,” McDaniel said.

Traditional vented dryers — the energy guzzlers of the American home — aren’t the only option anymore, though. The next best thing to a clothesline is a heat pump dryer, which Mauer told me is the “most efficient clothes dryer on the market today,” often far exceeding the Energy Star requirements. Heat pump dryers have a lower maximum temperature, though, so you don’t get that hot-out-of-the-dryer feel when the load is finished. It can also take an hour or more to dry a load of laundry fully. The bright side: Because the heat is lower, heat pump dryers are much gentler on your clothes.

A word about warranties

“A big red flag for us is brands that don’t warranty their products in any capacity,” McDaniel told me. Buying a washer or dryer that is durable is important — Flint told me you should expect to get at least a decade of use out of a washer and dryer with proper maintenance and minor repairs — and a warranty is evidence that a company is building a product that they trust to last.

HEATMAP RECOMMENDS

If you want a really great energy-efficient washing machine, get a top Energy Star front-loader like the Electrolux ELFW7637AT.

The Electrolux ELFW7637AT has one of the highest energy- and water-efficiency ratings of any washing machine on the market in 2024, with an IMEF of 3.2 and an integrated water factor of 2.6 — both of which are exceptional even by Energy Star’s standards. It also works. Reviewers have lauded its SmartBoost stain removal technology, its internal water heater, and its straightforward controls, although its 85-minute cycle time is a little longer than many other washers on the market.

If you want an energy-efficient washer for a small space, get a stackable front-loader like the Miele WXI860.

Both Flint and McDaniel spoke highly of the German brand Miele, which makes this compact washing machine. Though its capacity is about half that of the Electrolux and it didn’t earn Energy Star’s highest level of certification (it has an IMEF of 2.9 and a IWF of 3.2), it is one of the more reliable and best-reviewed washers on the market.

Admittedly, you have to pay for that kind of dependability — Miele is a high-end brand with a sticker price that reflects it. The WXI860 gets high marks for its cleaning ability, including fill-and-forget auto-dispensing features, and boasts 72% lower energy consumption than conventional washers. Additionally, Miele has “a honeycomb-drum technology, so that when it puts the clothes in the spin cycle, it creates a thin film of water between the drum wall and the laundry,” McDaniel told me, which helps prevent clothing fibers from getting caught. “Little features like that that help keep our clothes in circulation for longer are also more sustainable.”

If you want the cheapest option and are too impatient for a clothesline, get a heat pump dryer like the Beko HPD24414W.

Mauer swears by heat pump dryers, and there are a number of good choices on the market right now. Beko is a favorite of the Sustainable Jungle team, in part because it has a filtration system to stop microplastics from synthetic fabrics from entering the waterways, as well as the company’s ambitious commitments to low-waste and recycled materials. This ventless Beko heat pump dryer is tiny but mighty, making it a great fit for small spaces (it can even fit under the kitchen counter), and it boasts a 2023 “Most Efficient” rating from Energy Star.

Being a heat pump dryer, though, it can take a while to dry clothes — one tester found it took 227 minutes to dry a large, bulky load to 100% — but plan ahead and Beko can give you major savings in the long run. Or, if the Beko isn’t quite what you’re looking for, check out Miele, which makes its own well-reviewed heat pump dryer (although it is small and pricy).

If you need a dryer but you’re also too impatient to wait 227 minutes, get an electric dryer like the Electrolux ELFE7637AT Clothes Dryer.

If a heat-pump dryer isn’t right for your lifestyle, the Electrolux ELFE7637AT is one of the more impressive electric dryers on the market right now, earning the Energy Star seal of approval. While it still isn’t super fast (fast takes a lot of heat, which takes a lot of energy, which makes a machine less efficient), reviewers say it can get a large load to 100% dry in 60 minutes if need be. It’s also the best-rated electric dryer on Consumer Reports’ list that isn’t one of the Samsung, LG, or GE models that Flint frequently gets called out to fix.

If you want a combo washer/dryer but don’t want to sacrifice efficiency, get something with a built-in heat pump like the GE Profile PFQ97HSPVDS.

This combo washer-dryer uses heat pump technology in its dryer, making it one of the more energy-efficient single-unit models on the market. Unlike some of the other options on this list, however, its larger 4.8 cubic foot drum size is big enough for a two- or three-person household. While combo washer/dryers still have some downsides over their two-piece counterparts, including decreased efficiency in cleaning and especially drying, this is one of the better-reviewed units on the market.

If you want a refurbished washing machine, you should look for a Kenmore Whirlpool series 80.

Flint told me that you can often find older Kenmore Whirlpool series 80 machines on Craigslist that are “ really good, and tend to sell for about $250 when refurbished, and often come with a one-year warranty.” The only detriment, he said, is that they’re top-loaders — which waste a lot of water — but “if somebody just really needs a tough machine that is going to last, that was a really good design.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

Congratulations! You’re now the proud owner of a new washer and dryer. What happens now?

1. Learn to be handy

New washers and dryers are unfortunately not designed with longevity in mind — but that doesn’t mean you need to replace them if something goes wrong after four or five years.

“I can go up to a washing machine that is sitting in the dump, and I can open up the door, and I can spin the spin basket, and I can tell that it’s a perfectly good machine,” Flint told me.

Flint estimates that only about 20% of the time do people actually need to call in a technician to repair their appliances, pointing to fixes like replacing a blown fuse, unsticking a front-load washer that won’t spin, and swapping out a moldy washer door gasket as deceptively simple tasks. Get acquainted with DIY YouTube channels like Flint’s or repair blogs that explain solutions to common problems.

2. If you do need to hire a technician, do your homework

Still, sometimes you need to call in the big guns. In that case, Flint recommends doing your due diligence on a review service like Yelp beforehand.

Once you find someone you like, reach out with the model number of your machine and the symptom you’re experiencing and the technician “should be able to provide you a quote without coming out if they know what they’re doing,” Flint said. If someone does have to come out to figure out what’s going on, then that visit should be free. “Don’t go with someone who’s going to charge you to come out and diagnose the problem and then charge you to fix it.” Repairs to a front-loading washer will probably run around $170, according to Consumer Reports.

3. Become an expert launderer

You can extend the life of your washer or dryer by following a few more rules of thumb.

• Don’t overstuff your front-loader with heavy fabrics. Front-loaders have a big open tub, and while it’s tempting to cram it full with a big mat or dog bed, “those are so heavy that during the wash cycle, it actually takes the lifespan down to about four years,” Flint said. Keep loads, especially in front loaders, fairly light.
• Clean the lint trap on your dryer. For one thing, it helps it to run more efficiently. For another, your house really can catch fire if you allow it to build up too much.
• Clean the evaporator filter every few cycles if you have a heat-pump dryer. Here’s a “boring yet important” video on how to do just that.
• Don’t use too much detergent. It’s bad for your clothes and it can require extra rinse cycles, which means more wear and tear on your machine. You almost certainly don’t need to be using as much as you are.
• If you have a vented dryer, keep its duct clean. Here’s a how-to.

NOW GET CLEANING!

https://heatmap.news/best-washer-dryers

A Climate-Conscious Buyer’s Guide for Washers and Dryers

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

Americans love laundry. Of the common household chores, it is by far the most popular — and the most energy-intensive. Washing and drying a load of laundry every two days for a year generates roughly the same emissions as driving from Chicago to New York and back again in a gasoline-powered passenger vehicle. Nearly three-quarters of those emissions come from drying alone; meanwhile, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average washing machine generates up to 8% of a home’s total energy use. The whole process can cost up to $150 per year in electricity alone, depending on where you live and the frequency of your washes.

With some regulatory prodding, manufacturers have tried to improve water and energy efficiency in new appliances and have rolled out fancy new features like “smart” water-level sensors, vibration reduction technologies, and microfiber-catching filters. But not every house — or budget — has room for the latest and greatest technologies, and systems that would work well in an airy Los Angeles laundry room might make less sense in a drafty apartment in Minnesota.

Heatmap is here to remove some of the guesswork from upgrading one of your home’s most-used appliances. Here is our expert panel’s insight into when and how to purchase a new washer and dryer for your home.

THE EXPERT PANEL

Joanna Mauer is the deputy director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, a non-profit advocacy group pushing for stricter energy efficiency legislation. In her role at ASAP, Mauer works with the Department of Energy on its efficiency rules for residential appliances. She has previously worked for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Center for Integrative Environmental Research.

Amber McDaniel is the head of content at Sustainable Jungle, a website and podcast that publishes tips, tricks, and product reviews, including for major household appliances, with a focus on environmentally friendly solutions.

Scott Flint is a licensed California appliance tech with 30 years of experience. He is known as the Fix-It Guy on his YouTube channel, where he promotes the upkeep and repair of home appliances to extend their use. He has also written extensively about washers and dryers for publications such as The Family Handyman, Taste Of Home, and Earth911.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS

• Determine whether you need to purchase a new washer or dryer.
• Consider your laundry space.
• Get shopping!
• Maintain your washer and dryer.
• Consider other ways to lower the impact of your laundry.

THE BASICS

• Familiarize yourself with the EnergyGuide and Energy Star labels. EnergyGuide labels are yellow, managed by the Federal Trade Commission, and must be displayed on all washers and dryers (you can learn how to read an EnergyGuide label here). Energy Star labels are light blue squares managed by the Environmental Protection Agency and are only given to products that are deemed highly energy efficient. In a given year, the top-tier Energy Star products are awarded an even higher classification: Energy Star Most Efficient. You can think of an Energy Star certification as a shortcut for interpreting the information on an EnergyGuide; if an appliance you’re looking at has an Energy Star label, you can count on it being an efficient product.

• Energy Star looks at a washing machine’s Integrated Modified Energy Factor, or IMEF, an efficiency measurement that considers the energy used during a cycle and while on standby, the energy used to heat the water, and the energy used to run the dryer. The higher the IMEF, the more energy-efficient the machine. Energy Star requires an IMEF of at least 2.76 for front-loading washing machines; the upper end of the IMEF scale is usually around 3.1.

• Annual energy use is measured in kilowatt-hours per year. The number is an estimate based on using a washer under “typical conditions,” assuming 295 loads per year, or six loads per week. Annual energy use differs from IMEF in that it does not take into account how effective the washer is at removing moisture from the clothes in its spin cycle (washing machines that remove more water reduce subsequent energy use in the dryer). For context, an average washing machine used three times a week with cool or warm water goes through roughly 140 kilowatt-hours per year.
  
• The other number you’ll want to look at is the Integrated Water Factor, or IWF, which describes efficiency in gallons of water consumed per cubic foot of capacity. The lower the IWF, the more water-efficient the machine. Energy Star requires an IWF of at least 3.2 or less for a front-loading washing machine, with the lower end typically around 2.7.
  
• The volume of washers and dryers is measured in cubic feet. Washers are usually measured as “compact,” “small,” “medium,” or “large” capacity. A compact washer has a 2.30 to 2.45 cubic foot capacity, which is big enough for about 10 pounds of laundry. That’s approximately two small armfuls of clothing, or roughly six bath towels.
  
• Washers come in two configurations: top-loading and front-loading. The names are self-explanatory, but the benefits aren’t necessarily. “Front loaders are generally more efficient than top-loading clothes washers,” Mauer told me, “although there is a big range of efficiency within top-loading machines, so some are a lot more efficient than others.” Front-loading washers are also pretty air-tight, however, and their doors should be left slightly ajar when they’re not in use to prevent mold.
  
• Traditional dryers are vented, meaning that they heat air with gas or electricity and then disperse that hot, humid air through an exterior vent to the outside as the clothes tumble dry. Ventless dryers come in two forms — condenser and heat pump dryers, which we’ll get into more below — and recycle the hot air inside without needing a vent connecting them to the outdoors.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. If I’m getting a new washer or dryer anyway, shouldn’t I spring for all the latest features?

Peruse the latest washers and dryers and you’ll see features like sensors that adjust the water level to match the load of laundry, voice-activated start buttons, WiFi-enabled push notifications for when it’s time to move a load to the dryer, and more. And while there are environmentally friendly upsides to some of these features, “the more simple the machine, the less likely that things will fail,” Flint told me. In his experience repairing hundreds of washers and dryers over the years, “People save money on their initial purchase and the machine is going to last longer if you can minimize the features.”

2. If it’s Energy Star certified, is that good enough?

The Energy Star certification is a great starting point in your shopping journey. But it shouldn’t be the be-all, end-all of your research. Energy Star represents a range of efficiency standards from different brands, with only the top models earning a “ Most Efficient” distinction.

You’ll still want to read reviews to get a better understanding of the reliability of the products you’re looking at, too. Though many new features on the market promise water and energy savings, they’re harder to repair yourself, meaning any potential fixes can get expensive. They can also have shorter lifespans than simpler models.

3. Will I pay for all those energy savings with my time? That is, will my clothes take forever to dry?

Eco-friendly washers and dryers are great for a whole laundry list (get it?) of reasons: They lower your household energy bill, they reduce emissions, they reduce wasted water, they’re often easier to install, and they can be gentler on your clothes. But they don’t necessarily save you time. Energy-efficient electric dryers can take up to twice as long to dry your clothes than traditional gas dryers. Still, all of our expert panelists agreed the upsides outweigh the drawbacks.

BEFORE YOU GET STARTED

1. Do you really need a new washer or dryer?

Yes, this is a buying guide for purchasing a new washer and dryer. But before you spend money on new appliances, you should consider working with what you already have.

If you’re dealing with an old or sub-optimally functional machine and wondering whether now is the time to upgrade, repairing your existing washer or dryer can actually be a smarter and thriftier solution; in fact, Consumer Reports only recommends replacing a dryer if it’s over 10 years old, electric, and cost less than $700 when you initially purchased it. Often, whatever’s going on doesn’t even require a professional to fix. “I think only rarely — let’s say about 20% of the time — would most people need to call in a technician,” Flint told me. Most washer and dryer problems are something you can fix using “normal household tools.” (More on that later.)

Keep in mind, even if you have an old washer or dryer that isn’t very energy efficient, “that’s still not even going to come close to touching the amount of energy that was used to produce and ship a new machine,” McDaniel told me. When your washer or dryer “actually fully stops working and it’s not doing what you need it to do — that’s when it’s time to upgrade.”

2. Evaluate your laundry room

• Measure your room. The three most common configurations of washers and dryers are side-by-side, stacked, and all-in-one. The former takes up the most space, while an all-in-one takes up the least and is better for tight spaces like apartments.
• Do you have downstairs neighbors you need to consider? Front-loading washing machines are typically quieter than top-loaders because they use gravity, rather than an agitator, to dry clothes and could be a better choice if noise is a consideration.
• Check what hookups you already have. An electric dryer requires a four-prong, 240-volt outlet (that’s twice the electricity of a regular wall outlet). A gas dryer requires a gas hookup as well as a standard 110/115-volt outlet. You can learn more about the required hookups and what they look like here.
• Can you cut a hole in your wall? Vented dryers expel hot air, so they must be installed against an exterior wall with a vent hole cut into it (note that gas dryers must always be installed this way since they expel carbon monoxide). Ventless dryers are lower maintenance and can be installed anywhere, including in nontraditional laundry spaces like kitchens, since they don’t require a hookup to the outside.
• What is the temperature control and ventilation like in your space? Traditional vented dryers expel heated air outside, so shouldn’t affect the indoor environment, but ventless options can impact ambient air temperatures in your laundry room. A condenser dryer, for example, brings in ambient air, heats it, and passes it over the clothes in the drum to dry them; the hot air then enters a heat exchanger, where it is cooled, condensing the moisture, which is expelled through a drain. To work best, condenser dryers usually need to be in a well-ventilated room between the temperatures of 64 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and it may warm the room slightly when it’s running, which is less ideal for homes in hot climates. On the other hand, heat pump dryers work like refrigerators in reverse, warming ambient air and recirculating it inside the drum; they, in turn, can cause the laundry room they’re in to cool down slightly. They’re also less well suited for garages or outbuildings since, like condenser dryers, they need a minimum ambient temperature between about 65 and 75 degrees to operate most effectively.

3. How much laundry do you do, and what capacity do you need?

Typically, 1.5 to 3.4 cubic feet of capacity is suitable for a one- to two-person household, 3.5 to 4.4 cubic feet will do for two to three people, and 4.5 or more cubic feet will serve a household with more than three people. But having a new baby or pets might mean you do more loads of laundry than an average household, in which case sizing up is better.

Flint told me a common mistake he sees people make is overloading their washing machines, which can destroy an appliance’s rear bearing — the part of the machine that helps the drum rotate smoothly — a repair that is often so costly, it can make more sense to junk the whole machine. On the other hand, running small loads in a large-capacity washing machine can mean wasting water cleaning not-as-many clothes. Consider what washing machine would make the most sense for your needs to maximize efficiency.

4. What else is important to you?

Energy and water efficiency are two of the most common considerations when buying a washer and dryer, and are the primary focus of this guide. Some consumers may have additional concerns — McDaniel, for example, recommended looking for a Restriction of Hazardous Substances certification, which signals that an appliance complies with limits on heavy metals like lead and cadmium. Ethical considerations — including a manufacturer’s contributions to armed conflicts, labor practices, and sourcing of conflict minerals — are also worth close inspection. Ethical Consumer offers an excellent guide for finding a brand that best aligns with your values.

UNDERSTAND YOUR OPTIONS

Is a refurbished product right for you?

“The first thing that we always recommend is: If you need something new, try to go refurbished,” McDaniel told me. Still, there’s a right way and a wrong way to make a major second-hand purchase. McDaniel suggested going through a reputable source that offers a warranty, such as Best Buy (when searching online, make sure to filters for “Energy Star” and “open box” and check the product’s condition).

Get cozy with the Energy Star website

If you prefer the security of a new product, then it’s time to familiarize yourself with the Energy Star website. You can sort by Energy Star Most Efficient, which are the best of the best, as well as by price, brand, volume, front-load vs. top-load, vented, ventless, heat pump, gas, electric, and more. Energy Star also makes it easy to compare the specs of different products (just tick the “compare” box next to the machines you’re looking at, then scroll to the top to hit the orange “compare” button when you’re ready).

To dryer or not to dryer — that is the question

Dryers are the biggest energy suck in most homes, using two to four times as much energy as new washers and nearly twice as much as new refrigerators. McDaniel told me they are also responsible for the greatest wear and tear on clothes. Dryers are an especially American phenomenon; while more than 80% of households in the U.S. own a dryer, just 30% of European households do. That is to say, you probably don’t actually need one, and if you need to save money or space in your laundry routine, this would be the best place to look to make a cut.

“Not relying on a dryer is huge. I only use mine in the wintertime, and in the summer, I line dry my clothes — and the only reason I don’t do that in the winter is I literally don’t have the space inside,” McDaniel said.

Traditional vented dryers — the energy guzzlers of the American home — aren’t the only option anymore, though. The next best thing to a clothesline is a heat pump dryer, which Mauer told me is the “most efficient clothes dryer on the market today,” often far exceeding the Energy Star requirements. Heat pump dryers have a lower maximum temperature, though, so you don’t get that hot-out-of-the-dryer feel when the load is finished. It can also take an hour or more to dry a load of laundry fully. The bright side: Because the heat is lower, heat pump dryers are much gentler on your clothes.

A word about warranties

“A big red flag for us is brands that don’t warranty their products in any capacity,” McDaniel told me. Buying a washer or dryer that is durable is important — Flint told me you should expect to get at least a decade of use out of a washer and dryer with proper maintenance and minor repairs — and a warranty is evidence that a company is building a product that they trust to last.

HEATMAP RECOMMENDS

If you want a really great energy-efficient washing machine, get a top Energy Star front-loader like the Electrolux ELFW7637AT.

The Electrolux ELFW7637AT has one of the highest energy- and water-efficiency ratings of any washing machine on the market in 2024, with an IMEF of 3.2 and an integrated water factor of 2.6 — both of which are exceptional even by Energy Star’s standards. It also works. Reviewers have lauded its SmartBoost stain removal technology, its internal water heater, and its straightforward controls, although its 85-minute cycle time is a little longer than many other washers on the market.

If you want an energy-efficient washer for a small space, get a stackable front-loader like the Miele WXI860.

Both Flint and McDaniel spoke highly of the German brand Miele, which makes this compact washing machine. Though its capacity is about half that of the Electrolux and it didn’t earn Energy Star’s highest level of certification (it has an IMEF of 2.9 and a IWF of 3.2), it is one of the more reliable and best-reviewed washers on the market.

Admittedly, you have to pay for that kind of dependability — Miele is a high-end brand with a sticker price that reflects it. The WXI860 gets high marks for its cleaning ability, including fill-and-forget auto-dispensing features, and boasts 72% lower energy consumption than conventional washers. Additionally, Miele has “a honeycomb-drum technology, so that when it puts the clothes in the spin cycle, it creates a thin film of water between the drum wall and the laundry,” McDaniel told me, which helps prevent clothing fibers from getting caught. “Little features like that that help keep our clothes in circulation for longer are also more sustainable.”

If you want the cheapest option and are too impatient for a clothesline, get a heat pump dryer like the Beko HPD24414W.

Mauer swears by heat pump dryers, and there are a number of good choices on the market right now. Beko is a favorite of the Sustainable Jungle team, in part because it has a filtration system to stop microplastics from synthetic fabrics from entering the waterways, as well as the company’s ambitious commitments to low-waste and recycled materials. This ventless Beko heat pump dryer is tiny but mighty, making it a great fit for small spaces (it can even fit under the kitchen counter), and it boasts a 2023 “Most Efficient” rating from Energy Star.

Being a heat pump dryer, though, it can take a while to dry clothes — one tester found it took 227 minutes to dry a large, bulky load to 100% — but plan ahead and Beko can give you major savings in the long run. Or, if the Beko isn’t quite what you’re looking for, check out Miele, which makes its own well-reviewed heat pump dryer (although it is small and pricy).

If you need a dryer but you’re also too impatient to wait 227 minutes, get an electric dryer like the Electrolux ELFE7637AT Clothes Dryer.

If a heat-pump dryer isn’t right for your lifestyle, the Electrolux ELFE7637AT is one of the more impressive electric dryers on the market right now, earning the Energy Star seal of approval. While it still isn’t super fast (fast takes a lot of heat, which takes a lot of energy, which makes a machine less efficient), reviewers say it can get a large load to 100% dry in 60 minutes if need be. It’s also the best-rated electric dryer on Consumer Reports’ list that isn’t one of the Samsung, LG, or GE models that Flint frequently gets called out to fix.

If you want a combo washer/dryer but don’t want to sacrifice efficiency, get something with a built-in heat pump like the GE Profile PFQ97HSPVDS.

This combo washer-dryer uses heat pump technology in its dryer, making it one of the more energy-efficient single-unit models on the market. Unlike some of the other options on this list, however, its larger 4.8 cubic foot drum size is big enough for a two- or three-person household. While combo washer/dryers still have some downsides over their two-piece counterparts, including decreased efficiency in cleaning and especially drying, this is one of the better-reviewed units on the market.

If you want a refurbished washing machine, you should look for a Kenmore Whirlpool series 80.

Flint told me that you can often find older Kenmore Whirlpool series 80 machines on Craigslist that are “ really good, and tend to sell for about $250 when refurbished, and often come with a one-year warranty.” The only detriment, he said, is that they’re top-loaders — which waste a lot of water — but “if somebody just really needs a tough machine that is going to last, that was a really good design.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

Congratulations! You’re now the proud owner of a new washer and dryer. What happens now?

1. Learn to be handy

New washers and dryers are unfortunately not designed with longevity in mind — but that doesn’t mean you need to replace them if something goes wrong after four or five years.

“I can go up to a washing machine that is sitting in the dump, and I can open up the door, and I can spin the spin basket, and I can tell that it’s a perfectly good machine,” Flint told me.

Flint estimates that only about 20% of the time do people actually need to call in a technician to repair their appliances, pointing to fixes like replacing a blown fuse, unsticking a front-load washer that won’t spin, and swapping out a moldy washer door gasket as deceptively simple tasks. Get acquainted with DIY YouTube channels like Flint’s or repair blogs that explain solutions to common problems.

2. If you do need to hire a technician, do your homework

Still, sometimes you need to call in the big guns. In that case, Flint recommends doing your due diligence on a review service like Yelp beforehand.

Once you find someone you like, reach out with the model number of your machine and the symptom you’re experiencing and the technician “should be able to provide you a quote without coming out if they know what they’re doing,” Flint said. If someone does have to come out to figure out what’s going on, then that visit should be free. “Don’t go with someone who’s going to charge you to come out and diagnose the problem and then charge you to fix it.” Repairs to a front-loading washer will probably run around $170, according to Consumer Reports.

3. Become an expert launderer

You can extend the life of your washer or dryer by following a few more rules of thumb.

• Don’t overstuff your front-loader with heavy fabrics. Front-loaders have a big open tub, and while it’s tempting to cram it full with a big mat or dog bed, “those are so heavy that during the wash cycle, it actually takes the lifespan down to about four years,” Flint said. Keep loads, especially in front loaders, fairly light.
• Clean the lint trap on your dryer. For one thing, it helps it to run more efficiently. For another, your house really can catch fire if you allow it to build up too much.
• Clean the evaporator filter every few cycles if you have a heat-pump dryer. Here’s a “boring yet important” video on how to do just that.
• Don’t use too much detergent. It’s bad for your clothes and it can require extra rinse cycles, which means more wear and tear on your machine. You almost certainly don’t need to be using as much as you are.
• If you have a vented dryer, keep its duct clean. Here’s a how-to.

NOW GET CLEANING!

https://heatmap.news/decarbonize-your-life/best-washer-dryers

How (and Why!) to Think About Driving a Little Less

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

I love driving. Love it. And I am not alone.

“Automobility is our national way of life,” the historian and journalist Dan Albert has written. Getting your driver’s license is as close to a coming-of-age ritual as we have; cars inspire everything from our music to our movies to the design of where we live. At the same time, the automobile has boxed out other options for getting around, poisoned the air we breathe, and is the country’s most significant single cause of climate change.

Driving is so integral to American life that only 8% of U.S. households currently get by without owning a car (and 20% of those carless households, including mine, are located in the relative mass transit paragon New York City). For most people, “giving up driving” is more of a radical thought experiment than a realistic possibility.

Here’s the thing, though: You can almost certainly drive less than you do right now. Yes, that takes thinking and planning and doing some things differently than the way you’ve always done. (You can also check out our e-bike guide for more advice on that.) But the majority of car trips made by U.S. drivers are for distances of less than three miles. “If I just need to pick up a carton of milk, does it make sense to do that in a 6,000-pound metal box on wheels that is powered by dinosaur juice? Not so much,” Doug Gordon, the cohost of “The War on Cars,” a podcast about the fight against car culture, told me recently for our guide about how to drive less.

As urban theorists have argued for decades, America’s overreliance on cars has reduced our overall freedom. In addition to diminishing our options for getting around — it’s car or bust in places without safe bike lanes, public transportation options, or dense residential and commercial development — there is also the “inescapable dependence on a vast support structure comprising oil refineries, tanker fleets, service stations, repair shops, road crews, traffic police, emergency services, investment in road projects, manufacturing, licensing, registration, insurance, and all who work in these areas,” notes the Public Transport Users Association. “Seen this way, even a bicycle permits greater freedom.”

More ways to decarbonize

Which E-Bike Should You Get?

                Jeva Lange
            </div>

Why Switching to an EV Matters So Much for the Climate

                Robinson Meyer
            </div>

Cycling is, on balance, usually more convenient than driving (no need to look for parking!), not to mention far cheaper and healthier. Driving costs about $5,522 per year, according to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics; cycling only 10 miles a week can knock off about $299. Other studies have found that the health benefits of cycling add an additional three to 14 months to your life, even when the possibilities of collisions and air pollution are factored in.

We can’t just Tesla our way out of the global emissions problem, either. To reduce transportation emissions by 45% by 2030, we would need 70 million electric vehicles on the road — in addition to reducing miles driven 20% per capita, RMI has found. Public transportation or cycling are the next best options for most people in most places.

E-bikes, especially, are incredible car replacement tools, helping to make otherwise daunting commutes manageable for a bigger pool of people (you don’t even have to be athletic!). While there can be sticker shock shopping around, there are also also all kinds of e-bike incentive programs and lending libraries available, and even higher-end models cost cost a fraction of a car at the end of the day. (“Well, but what if it rains?” As the old Scandi saying goes, there’s no such thing as bad weather; just bad clothing..)

Americans admittedly have one very good reason to resist letting go of their cars: Our infrastructure is so overwhelmingly car-centric that it is actively hostile to people who are thinking about alternative ways of getting around. “So often in the United States, we think about things like, ‘What is the most convenient way for every single person in a car to get from Point A to Point B with as few obstacles as possible?’” Alexa Sledge, the director of communications at Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit organization that promotes non-polluting and safe travel in New York City, told me. “But that leaves so many people behind.”

This might actually be one of the biggest social benefits of using your car less: It will, in turn, open your eyes to how little room has been left for anything else. “Reimagining how we’re going to truly allocate our public resources — our public dollars, our public services — to serve everyone is so important,” Sledge stressed. Looking around, you’ll realize there is almost never a justifiable reason for your suburb or city to lack protected bike lanes or sidewalks or crosswalks — other than because they weren’t expected or demanded in the first place. What a failure of imagination that is.

And the best part? Even as you think about driving a little less, you can still love cars. A car can be an incredible freedom machine. But it isn’t the only one.

https://heatmap.news/how-to-drive-less

---

How (and Why!) to Think About Driving a Little Less

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

I love driving. Love it. And I am not alone.

“Automobility is our national way of life,” the historian and journalist Dan Albert has written. Getting your driver’s license is as close to a coming-of-age ritual as we have; cars inspire everything from our music to our movies to the design of where we live. At the same time, the automobile has boxed out other options for getting around, poisoned the air we breathe, and is the country’s most significant single cause of climate change.

Driving is so integral to American life that only 8% of U.S. households currently get by without owning a car (and 20% of those carless households, including mine, are located in the relative mass transit paragon New York City). For most people, “giving up driving” is more of a radical thought experiment than a realistic possibility.

Here’s the thing, though: You can almost certainly drive less than you do right now. Yes, that takes thinking and planning and doing some things differently than the way you’ve always done. (You can also check out our e-bike guide for more advice on that.) But the majority of car trips made by U.S. drivers are for distances of less than three miles. “If I just need to pick up a carton of milk, does it make sense to do that in a 6,000-pound metal box on wheels that is powered by dinosaur juice? Not so much,” Doug Gordon, the cohost of “The War on Cars,” a podcast about the fight against car culture, told me recently for our guide about how to drive less.

As urban theorists have argued for decades, America’s overreliance on cars has reduced our overall freedom. In addition to diminishing our options for getting around — it’s car or bust in places without safe bike lanes, public transportation options, or dense residential and commercial development — there is also the “inescapable dependence on a vast support structure comprising oil refineries, tanker fleets, service stations, repair shops, road crews, traffic police, emergency services, investment in road projects, manufacturing, licensing, registration, insurance, and all who work in these areas,” notes the Public Transport Users Association. “Seen this way, even a bicycle permits greater freedom.”

More ways to decarbonize

Which E-Bike Should You Get?

                Jeva Lange
            </div>

Why Switching to an EV Matters So Much for the Climate

                Robinson Meyer
            </div>

Cycling is, on balance, usually more convenient than driving (no need to look for parking!), not to mention far cheaper and healthier. Driving costs about $5,522 per year, according to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics; cycling only 10 miles a week can knock off about $299. Other studies have found that the health benefits of cycling add an additional three to 14 months to your life, even when the possibilities of collisions and air pollution are factored in.

We can’t just Tesla our way out of the global emissions problem, either. To reduce transportation emissions by 45% by 2030, we would need 70 million electric vehicles on the road — in addition to reducing miles driven 20% per capita, RMI has found. Public transportation or cycling are the next best options for most people in most places.

E-bikes, especially, are incredible car replacement tools, helping to make otherwise daunting commutes manageable for a bigger pool of people (you don’t even have to be athletic!). While there can be sticker shock shopping around, there are also also all kinds of e-bike incentive programs and lending libraries available, and even higher-end models cost cost a fraction of a car at the end of the day. (“Well, but what if it rains?” As the old Scandi saying goes, there’s no such thing as bad weather; just bad clothing..)

Americans admittedly have one very good reason to resist letting go of their cars: Our infrastructure is so overwhelmingly car-centric that it is actively hostile to people who are thinking about alternative ways of getting around. “So often in the United States, we think about things like, ‘What is the most convenient way for every single person in a car to get from Point A to Point B with as few obstacles as possible?’” Alexa Sledge, the director of communications at Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit organization that promotes non-polluting and safe travel in New York City, told me. “But that leaves so many people behind.”

This might actually be one of the biggest social benefits of using your car less: It will, in turn, open your eyes to how little room has been left for anything else. “Reimagining how we’re going to truly allocate our public resources — our public dollars, our public services — to serve everyone is so important,” Sledge stressed. Looking around, you’ll realize there is almost never a justifiable reason for your suburb or city to lack protected bike lanes or sidewalks or crosswalks — other than because they weren’t expected or demanded in the first place. What a failure of imagination that is.

And the best part? Even as you think about driving a little less, you can still love cars. A car can be an incredible freedom machine. But it isn’t the only one.

https://heatmap.news/decarbonize-your-life/how-to-drive-less

---

Which E-Bike Should You Get?

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

“The only thing better for the climate than buying an EV over a gasoline-powered car is buying no car at all,” the climate scientist Rob Jackson has written. But for many Americans, not having a car at all is the stuff of logistical and cultural nightmares. The average person living in the U.S. covers more than 1,000 miles per month in their vehicle, and nearly 45% of people don’t even have the option of opting for public transportation. Ditching your car? You might as well ask people to give up their cell phones.

But across the country, transportation advocates and e-bike warriors are looking for solutions to go, if not entirely car-less, then at least car-light. Heatmap has put together a comprehensive guide to help you make a decision that best fits your lifestyle, whether that’s becoming a superpedestrian, a committed e-bike user, or just trying to replace a couple of short-haul drives a week.

THE EXPERT PANEL

Doug Gordon is the cohost of “The War on Cars,” a podcast about the fight against car culture. He is also a writer, TV producer, and safe streets advocate, and he advises nonprofits and mobility companies on communications strategies to promote better streets and public infrastructure through his Brooklyn Spoke Media consulting business.

Alexa Sledge is the director of communications at Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit organization that has worked to promote non-polluting, safe, and quiet travel in New York City since 1973.

Bryan Dean is the sales manager at The eBike Store in Portland, Oregon, which opened in 2008 as the city’s first e-bike-only retailer. He’s spent over six years helping customers pick out their perfect bikes and is also the creator of the #eBikeAnywhere hashtag.

Kevin Lau is a product specialist at REI with more than 20 years of experience. He is based out of Marlton, New Jersey.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS

• Free yourself from a car-centric mindset.
• Look for trips where you can replace a drive with public transportation, walking, or cycling.
• Consider the local geography and the weather.
• Learn what rebates and programs are available to you.
• Take an e-bike for a test spin.
• Make your community safer for people who don’t drive.

THE BASICS

• Active transportation or active mobility refers to human-powered getting-around — such as walking, using a bicycle, e-bike, skateboard, kick scooter, or electric kick scooter — that reduces the reliance on cars. Forms of active mobility are often used for first-mile or last-mile connectivity in conjunction with public transportation systems (that is, for the first and last leg of a trip that connects a person with their transit stop and their starting point or destination).
• E-bikes are bicycles with small electric motors that can assist in pedaling, making them easier to ride. They come in three classes, each of which has its own optimal use case and standard features:

Which class is right for you?

Class 1: Pedal assist only

• Feels like: A little bit of tailwind
• Max speed: Pedal assist tops out at 19.5 mph
• Restrictions: Allowed on any trail or path where traditional “analog” bikes are allowed*
• Best for: Beginners, people on a budget, or people who want the flexibility to ride their e-bike anywhere

Class 2: Pedal assist and throttle

• Feels like: A medium amount of tailwind
• Max speed: Pedal assist and throttle top out at 19.5 mph
• Restrictions: Allowed on most paths and trails where traditional bikes are allowed (some restrictions may apply)
• Best for: People who want to ride long distances without having to pedal, or who live in a hilly area

Class 3: Pedal assist or pedal assist and throttle

• Feels like: “A hurricane vibe,” according to Dean
• Max speed: Pedal assist tops out at 27.5 mph**, or at 19.5 mph with the throttle
• Restrictions: Often restricted on bike paths and multi-use pedestrian trails; riders are required to wear helmets; the bike must have a speedometer; and age restrictions may apply
• Best for: People who plan to use their bike to replace car commutes or to run bigger errands

*Alaska and Rhode Island classify e-bikes as motor vehicles and may have additional restrictions.

**If 28 miles per hour sounds utterly terrifying to you, don’t worry. “The majority of the class 3 bikes that I sell will probably never go faster than 15 miles an hour because that’s how the customer wants to ride it,” Dean explained. “Class 3 bikes will not instantly go 28 miles per hour.”

• Another thing to look for when shopping for an e-bike is if it has a hub-drive or a mid-drive motor. As you can probably guess, a hub-drive motor “is built into the hub of one of the wheels,” while a mid-drive motor “is built into the frame near the cranks,” Lau told me. “Usually, a hub drive system will be less expensive than a mid-drive system, but a mid-drive system is considered to ride a bit smoother and has a more balanced center of gravity,” he said.
• E-bike battery capacity is measured in watt hours — quite literally, how many watts can be delivered in an hour. The usual range for e-bike batteries is between 300 watt hours and 1,000 watt hours. Many factors contribute to how fast you drain the battery, from the surface you’re riding on to its grade to the speed of pedal assist. But generally speaking, you can expect to use about 10 to 20 watt hours per mile. (Want to have some fun? Mess around with Bosch’s e-bike range calculator to get a sense of how far you can go and with what effort.)
• In addition to e-bikes, you might also see references to electric motorcycles, Vespas, or mopeds. Most of these fall under the class of motor scooters, which are differentiated from e-bikes in that they don’t have pedals (they are also different from e-scooters like Lime, which are modeled on human-powered kick scooters). Also unlike e-bikes, motor scooters require a driver’s license and must be registered as a motor vehicle. An electric motorcycle will require a motorcycle license if it goes over 30 mph. Scooters are also much heavier than e-bikes, don’t have removable batteries, and may run on gasoline, canceling out some of the environmental and health advantages.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. I live in the suburbs — is it even possible to go car-less?

Only 8% of U.S. households currently get by without owning a car, and less than 1% of Americans commute to work by bike. The U.S. is so driving-centric that we’re home to one-fifth of all the cars on the planet despite having less than 5% of the global population. Eleven states have more registered vehicles than people.

But just because driving has always been your default doesn’t mean it makes the most sense for the kind of travel you do — even if you live somewhere without great public transportation. Over half of all trips Americans make in a car are for a distance of less than three miles — perfect to convert into a bike ride.

“I think of mobility like a Swiss army knife: You have to use the right tool for the job,” Gordon told me. “If I just need to pick up a carton of milk, does it make sense to do that in a 6,000-pound metal box on wheels that is powered by dinosaur juice? Not so much.”

On average, commuting by bike in the U.S. saves an estimated $2,500 per year, and it has been found to have massive benefits for one’s mental health, cardiovascular health, and even productivity at work. Yes, even e-bikes!

“If you go to places like Copenhagen or Amsterdam — places where there are huge numbers of cyclists — and you poll those people, concern for the environment barely cracks the top five reasons why they cycle,” Gordon said. “The reasons why people cycle in Denmark and the Netherlands are because it’s safe and convenient, and it’s often the fastest and cheapest way to get where they’re going.”

2. If we’re just talking about short trips, will it really make a difference?

Transportation is the most significant contributor to climate change in the United States, with nearly 60% of the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions coming from cars alone (another 23% comes from trucks). Replacing a quarter of your total driving with walking, biking, or e-biking could save 1.3 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, according to our friends at WattTime — about the same as forgoing burning 1,433 pounds of coal or three barrels of oil. If every American drove even a mere 10% less per year, it’d be like taking 28 coal-fired power plants offline.

You can still make a significant impact without ditching your car, in other words: You simply have to drive less. And the upsides are enormous. More Americans die of car pollution than in car accidents every year. Additionally, commuting by bike or by foot makes us healthier and happier.

It also helps us realize what our community priorities should be. “Individual action is not always what we need to focus on,” Gordon said. “We need to focus on institutional change. But my philosophy is that lots of individual action actually adds up to the political will to get the institutional change you need.”

3. Is it really worth the risk of crashing — or sweating?

A survey of studies from five countries (including the U.S.) found that the main barriers to cycling were low perceived safety, bad weather, lack of cycling infrastructure (including “shower facilities” at one’s destination), and distance and perceived effort.

Safety is a valid concern. Riding a bike is about 500 times more likely to be fatal than riding a bus, according to a 2007 study; even with the success of programs like New York’s Vision Zero, collisions with cars remain a real danger for people on bikes. The car-related pollution inhaled while cycling can also shorten a cyclist’s life by an estimated one to 40 days. But the benefits of cycling on average far outweigh the risks: Riding a bike adds an estimated three to 14 months to your life, even when the possibilities of collisions and air pollution are considered. The health benefits are so significant that a separate study by Swedish researchers found that cyclists had a 47% lower risk of early death and a 10% lower risk of hospitalization compared to car and train commuters.

What about concerns about shower availability and the “distance and perceived effort” of riding a bike? That’s where the advantages of an e-bike’s pedal assist come into play. “E-bikes are great at blasting through any concerns you have about sweat,” Gordon told me. Even in hot weather or on difficult terrain, pedal assist can keep you looking fresh when you arrive at the office.

BEFORE YOU GET STARTED

1. How much driving can you realistically replace with other modes of transportation?

The first step to driving less is thinking about when and where you can replace specific trips with walking, cycling, or public transportation instead. Lau told me his general rule of thumb is that if a trip is less than a mile and he can safely walk (i.e. if there are sidewalks or safe paths), then he’ll walk. “If it’s more than that, I’ll take the bike if I have a place to lock it or can bring it into my workplace or store,” he said. For trips where he might need some extra assistance — that are farther, longer, hillier, or will require carrying “more cargo without working as hard,” he’ll opt for an e-bike instead.

You can do a lot of this reconnaissance from your couch. Apple Maps and Google Maps can take a lot of the guesswork out of finding the best bike paths to and from your house and the other places you frequent, including informing you ahead of time if the route will require riding on major or minor roads or ones with protected bike lanes. Google and Apple Maps can also give you real-time information about public transportation options in your area (as well as allow you to plan for trips when service might be reduced, like late nights or weekends), and many transit systems now have their own apps to make tracking delays or alternative service simpler.

It’s okay to take it slow

There’s no need to go overboard here, at least not to start! “The thing to think about is not ‘Can I go completely car-free?’ but ‘What trips could I replace?’” Gordon told me. It’s like Meatless Mondays: “You don’t have to become a complete vegan overnight, but you could replace one day’s worth of meals a week. It’s the same with cycling: Maybe you could ride to your kid’s soccer game or do one little grocery trip a week to the nearest market and do it by bike instead of by car. See how that feels.”

2. What’s the elevation like in your area?

It’s funny how you don’t realize where the long, slow inclines are in your neighborhood until you’re huffing up them on a bike. Google Maps and Apple Maps can show you what elevation to expect on a walking or cycling route. If you live in a hillier area, an e-bike might be better than a traditional bike since it can take some of the ouch out of the ups.

3. What’s the weather like in your area?

“Something really, really important that people don’t always think about is gear,” Sledge told me. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive, but if you can only ride your bike when it’s 80 degrees and sunny, that’s not the best scenario.”

If you live somewhere where it gets hot, rainy, snowy, windy, or the weather can change unexpectedly, think ahead of time about the sort of gear you’d need to make cycling or walking more comfortable. (We have a checklist of ideas below.)

4. What programs exist in your area that you can use to your advantage?

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma, and Vermont all have statewide tax credits or rebates to encourage e-bike adoption.

Live somewhere that isn’t on that list? Here is a super handy tracker from the Transportation Research and Education Center at Portland State University of more than 100 counties, cities, and municipalities that offer e-bike incentive programs. Also, look for e-bike lending libraries that might be in your area.

If you’re having trouble learning about the programs available to you, head into a brick-and-mortar e-bike shop in your area or connect with your local transportation advocacy group — they’ll know what programs you can take advantage of and be happy to point you in the right direction.

5. Grab a coffee with the bike geek in your life

Do you know what bike enthusiasts love more than anything? Creating new bike enthusiasts. If you’re still feeling intimidated by the idea of getting on a bike — or even if you’re not — “find a friend who’s already doing it,” Gordon suggested. Bike people are “an evangelical bunch, and if you tell a friend who you know is into biking or bike commutes regularly that ‘Hey, I’m thinking of doing it,’ I can guarantee that person will be more than happy to hold your hand and help you through your first ride.”

Taking off the training wheels

Many people are understandably scared of riding a bike alongside cars. If you want to build up a little more confidence before hitting the road, the Global Cycling Network has a good intro to urban cycling video that covers some of the basics about holding your place in the lane, signaling, and avoiding dangerous blindspots.

You can also build up confidence on bike paths and pedestrian trails where you don’t have to contend with cars or look to join group rides in your area. Meet-ups in particular are a great place to make bike friends and will help you get comfortable navigating the streets in your area. (In Portland, for example, there are hundreds of such events to choose from.)

There are dozens of emissions-free or emissions-light transportation options, from using your own two feet to digging the old beater bicycle out of your garage to going full Steve Wozniak with a Segway. The most important thing is to something you’ll actually use.

That said — “What’s really going to be the best option for most Americans is an e-bike,” Sledge told me. “That’s a true car replacement when so often a [traditional] bike can’t be a true, true, true car replacement.” E-bikes are simply more practical and comfortable for longer rides or daily commutes, and if you need to haul things like groceries or children, they can’t be beaten.

More ways to decarbonize

How (and Why!) to Think About Driving a Little Less

Jeva Lange

Want to Decarbonize Your Community? Here’s How.

Jeva Lange

I’ve looked at all my options and don’t think I can drive any less than I already do. What can I do instead?

• Get an electric vehicle. For some people, car trips will be unavoidable — and in that case, replacing gas-powered vehicle miles with battery-electric powered vehicle miles is the next best thing. Here’s Heatmap’s guide to buying an EV for more on that.
• Carpool. It’s absurd how many car trips in the U.S. are made with only one person in the vehicle. Many schools and businesses will help organize carpools, and there are an increasing number of websites dedicated to helping connect commuters. Every carpool saves an unnecessary parallel trip.
• Drive more efficiently. You can save fuel (and reduce your emissions) just by keeping your speed steady. Here’s a good guide if you want to learn more.

The case for saving up for an e-bike

There’s no way around it: E-bikes are pricy. “An e-bike is going to be a big purchase — nowhere near as much as a car, but still, it’s a major purchase,” Sledge said. Even with incentive programs (more on that below), you’re likely to spend more than $1,000 out of pocket.

It is tempting to look for a bargain. But Dean stressed that manufacturers and bulk retailers are “sacrificing a lot” in terms of quality and service to make a profit at lower price points. As a rule, “If you’re spending less than $1,000 on any bike, it’s landfill,” he said. “And that waste is toxic — odds are, it isn’t going to be recycled properly.”

Gordon suggested that if you’re concerned about how often you’ll use an e-bike, it makes sense to get “a cheap regular bike” initially. “Then you can figure out if this is something you want to do in the long term, and after a few weeks, or a month, or a year, you can go, ‘Okay, I’m ready for the $1,000, $2,000, $5,000 bicycle.’”

Perspective is important, too. Yes, e-bikes are expensive — if you compare them to regular bikes. “If you compare them to cars, they’re a bargain,” Gordon said. “E-bikes are a replacement tool; they’re not an upgrade from other bikes. So if you’re a family with two cars and are going down to one, getting a $2,500 or even $5,000 e-bike is a relative bargain.” Additionally, many retailers — including The eBike Store in Portland, Oregon, where Dean works — offer installment plans to help make the purchase more manageable.

What about conversion kits?

Conversion kits are a popular way to convert an analog bike you already own into an e-bike by attaching a motor to the front hub, rear hub, or mid-drive. Many of these kits can be found cheaply on websites like Amazon, though The Washington Post warns that it is still a “very Wild West market” and to only buy batteries from reputable e-bike battery brands (low-quality batteries are more likely to start fires). While converting to an e-bike might be a good option for you if you want to dip a toe in the e-bike water, you’ll still need to spend several hundred dollars to get a kit that gives you the same oomph as an actual e-bike. That said, whatever option gets you on a bike is the best one, and if you’re converter-kit curious, here’s a good guide for learning where to start.

A reminder

We do not live in Northern Europe. Plan accordingly.

Northern Europe is the global epicenter of bike commuting, and as such, much of the cycling and e-biking world caters to, or is based out of, flat countries like the Netherlands, Denmark, and Belgium. But “the kinds of [analog] bikes that make sense in Northern Europe are a little bit different than the kind of bike that makes sense if you live in New York City, for example,” Sledge said.

Europeans tend to ride “commuter bicycles that are pretty heavy and really comfortable,” but that will be “really hard for you to go over a major bridge in a major city” or ride on the hills characteristic of places like Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Boston, or New York without pedal assist, Sledge said. If you’re an American, “a road bike is probably going to make a lot more sense for you, and you might not get pointed in that direction at first.”

Where to buy an e-bike

“Buying a bike at a brick-and-mortar store from competent, kind people who love their job — customers are going to have a fantastic experience,” Dean told me. “They’re going to get a great taste for the bike, which means they’ll be riding it a lot. We’re not in the business of selling bikes that sit and rot in someone’s garage.”

It is especially important to go to a store with e-bike specialists on staff (rather than a bulk retailer like Costco — or worse, anything online) because the mechanics will have checked the bike over and adjusted the safety points so it’s ready to go. “You’re going to get educated and get a strong appreciation of the beautiful tool that you are buying, and learn how to operate it and make it last,” Dean added.

Most importantly, though, ensure you take the bike for a test ride before handing over your credit card. Any retailer worth its salt will offer this as an option; the best retailers will take you on a guided test ride, where they’ll teach you how to use the e-bike you’re trying out. But the bottom line is, “Don’t buy a bike that you haven’t ridden,” Dean said. “Ride the bike before you buy it; that’s in all-caps with smiley faces and exclamation points. Don’t buy the bike if you can’t ride it first.”

How to buy an e-bike

I asked Dean how a customer can come in prepared to buy an e-bike. Here were his top green flags.

• Be ready to answer, “What kind of experience do you want?” The e-bike specialist will want to know the geography you anticipate riding through, how far you expect to be riding per day, if you will be hauling cargo, or if you just want an e-bike for fun weekend outings.
• Don’t come in with your heart set on one specific bike. Dean said it’s common for customers to come in with preconceived notions about the sort of e-bike they want to buy. A good e-bike specialist, though, will be your advocate — and let you know if the bike you’re fixated on will actually meet your needs.
• Ask a lot of questions. This is a big purchase! You want to ensure you’re getting the bike you want – and understand how it works before you walk out the door.
• Find out if the store offers free adjustments. Both REI and The eBike Store have continued support for their customers within the first year of the purchase. Buy from a retailer that is invested in your success.
• Buy the bike that makes you happy. At the end of the day, “You should buy whatever puts a dumb, happy smile on your face,” Dean said. “New Bike Day is like Christmas without the emotional baggage.”

HEATMAP RECOMMENDS

“Buy the bike that’s going to put the biggest, dumbest smile on your face.”

If you want a bike for a long commute, look at the Specialized Como or one of the REI Co-op Cycles-brand models.

Dean said he points riders looking to log miles to the Specialized Como. “When you’re commuting long miles, you want something comfortable, something that’s reliable, something that has a strong enough motor that will get you where you’re going and a big-enough battery that you’re not going to sweat it,” he said. The Specialized Como is also an excellent choice for people who want to “show up to work not sweaty” but maybe get a little bit more of a workout on the way home.

If you prefer commuting on a traditional bike, Lau suggested REI’s ADV 1.1, a road touring bike, or the CTY 1.1 bike, a less-expensive hybrid built for logging longer distances and enduring the daily wear-and-tear of a commute. His e-bike pick for commuters is the CTY e2.2, a popular, well-reviewed, and accessible commuter bike specifically marketed to “replace car trips.”

If you want an e-bike to haul the kids, look at a bike from Tern.

Dean loves to recommend Tern bikes to people who want to make trips with their kids. “They’ve been doing this for a long time, they have tons of great accessories, and they use Bosch power systems,” he said — all points in the bike’s favor. That customizability and reliability make it a good fit for families who want to be able to tailor the bike to their needs and price point while also not having to worry about it breaking down in the middle of a toddler’s meltdown.

But there is one other primary reason why Dean points parents to Tern. “All of their bikes are rider first, cargo behind” — versus bucket bikes that put the cargo in front of the rider. While the latter design is also popular, it also means that if you’re trying to squeak out into traffic, you’re nosing your most precious cargo ahead of you, into potential harm’s way.

If you want an e-bike that can handle your big Trader Joe’s runs, look at the Cannondale Cargowagen or the folding bikes from Tern.

Lau offered three options for e-bikes that won’t make you miss the trunk of your car, starting with the Cannondale Cargowagen, which can lug up to 440 pounds — that is a lot of Chili & Lime Flavored Rolled Corn Tortilla Chips. Its range isn’t quite as good as some other bikes on the market — the battery is 545 watt-hours — so it’s probably a better fit for people who live in higher-density areas or near their preferred market. (You can always buy a second battery if you want a little more range.) The Cargowagen is also a class 3 bike, meaning you won’t have to worry about the ice cream melting before you can get home.

Like Dean, Lau loves to recommend Tern bikes for handling heavy loads, especially the Tern GSD S00, which conveniently folds up so it can even be stored in an apartment or transported in an elevator while still being compatible with Tern’s line of cargo-carrying products — but at almost $6,000 before add-ons, it’ll likely be out of many first-time e-bikers’ budgets. Tern’s Vektron S10 is a less expensive option and still has the power to handle hilly roads with six Trader Joe’s bags in tow. (Note that both Terns are class 1 bikes, meaning the pedal assist tops out at 20 miles per hour.)

If you want an e-bike but live in a walk-up, check out bikes from Specialized.

“Lightweight e-bikes are out there,” Dean said, and can be had — for the right amount of money. “They’re usually going to start around $3,500 to $4,000 and then go up from there,” he told me, pointing to Specialized as one of his favorite lightweight brands.

Keep in mind that you may not need a lightweight e-bike. “No one has ever come in and said, ‘I want a heavy bike,’” Dean pointed out. Electric motors are, by necessity, heavy, so getting a lighter bike can mean sacrificing half the motor and battery. There are workarounds: “If you have stairs to go up, almost all of these bikes have a walk assist mode,” which gently turns the tires so you’re not fighting gravity on your own, Dean told me. Likewise, if you’re trying to load your bike onto a car rack, “you don’t have to Hulk it up there; you can be a little smarter about your efforts by picking up the front wheel and putting it in the rack behind your car. Then pick up the back wheel.” If you’re really struggling with your bike, you can always pop off the battery — one of the heavier components — and carry it separately.

If you want a bike or an e-bike but need to keep the price down, look at the REI Co-op CTY e2.1, or bikes from Gazelle, Medeo, or Electra Country.

The best new commuter bike you can get away with is the CTY 1.1, the analog bike Lau recommended above, but for an e-bike option, he points customers to the Co-op CTY e2.1, an easy, accessible, no-frills class 1 bike that won’t run you more than $2,000. It might be a little light on features for a serious urban commuter, though.

Dean told me that the Gazelle Medeo and some of the bikes from Electra Country will have price points that could be more acceptable to customers on a budget. Gazelle uses the reliable Bosch power system, and the Medeo is “really good” and comes in “multiple versions.” (I found one for less than $2,000). Electra Country is a subsidiary of Trek and is a “one-size-fits-all, beach cruiser-looking bike” that comes in super fun colors.

Other essentials you’ll want to consider

• Full-finger gloves. “I wear them year-round,” Dean told me. He recommends the full-finger option because, in the unfortunate incident that your chain comes loose, you can pop it back on without getting your hands dirty. Dean especially likes Specialized’s gel gloves for extra hand protection.
• Redshift’s Arclight Pedals. Dean told me these are the #1 safety items he sells at The eBike Store. “While most e-bikes have a light in the front and a light in the back, they don’t have any on the side,” he told me. “And more often than not, you’re hit from the side or someone turning into you. Since the lights are on these pedals, and the pedals are moving, people see it and subconsciously go, ‘Oh, that’s a human,’ versus just a tail light, which people go, ‘Oh, that’s a vehicle.’”
• A rain jacket. “My favorite piece of cycling gear is my Cleverhood rain cape because there’s a saying that goes, There’s no such thing as bad weather for cycling, only bad gear,” Gordon told me.
• A good lock. Think of buying a lock for your bike like it’s the zombie apocalypse, or a bear is chasing you, Dean said: “You don’t have to be the fastest, but don’t be the slowest.” Get a lock that will make a potential thief look for an easier mark. (Also, don’t lock your bike to something easy to saw through, like a tree or a stop sign.)
• A bike fitting. It might sound expensive — a bike fitting will run you about $150 to $200 — but Dean swears it’s worth every penny. You spend a lot of time on your bike, so why not put in the money to get it perfectly adjusted to fit your specific body, from the saddle being moved to just the right place to making sure the controls are all where they need to be? Dean likened the experience to the difference between going to Nordstrom Rack and buying a good enough suit and having a suit custom-made for you.
• A commuter backpack. You don’t necessarily need a special backpack for bike commuting, but you might find that carrying a load in a traditional backpack will throw off your balance and get your back sweaty. While it’s better to let the bike do the work whenever possible (look for baskets mounted to the front frame of the bike, not the handlebars), Lau also suggested the CamelBak M.U.L.E. Commute 22 pack, the Ortlieb Velocity PS pack, and the Osprey Radial bike pack as great options for commuters.
• A helmet. Helmet philosophies differ. Gordon told me a $25 helmet will protect you as well as a $200 helmet will. Dean, however, said you shouldn’t go too cheap: “No matter what you pay for a bicycle helmet, it’s going to be less expensive than an ambulance ride.” Lau specifically suggested the Bontrager Charge WaveCel ($150), the Lazer CityZen KinetiCore ($60), and the Smith Express MIPS ($110), or “multi-directional impact protection system,” a helmet style that includes an internal layer intended to rotate slightly in the case of impact, which is thought to prevent brain injuries. Whatever style you choose, remember that helmets can age out. “Dig your fingernail into the foam of your helmet to see if it’s safe,” said Dean. “If it’s not squishy — if it’s crunchy — throw it away.”

Be safe

Congratulations! You’re the proud owner of a bike or an e-bike (or skateboard or e-scooter or a really good pair of walking shoes). What happens now?

While the benefits of riding a bike (or any other form of active transportation) still outweigh the risks, cars are getting bigger, their blindspots are getting larger, and pedestrian and cyclist deaths nationwide are at a 40-year high. Even electric vehicles might be a small part of the problem since they’re so much heavier than regular cars — and that much more dangerous if you get hit.

I asked Sledge how newly carless commuters could become better pedestrians, and she quickly corrected me. “There is no such thing as being a good pedestrian,” she said. “So often, in the United States, when we have groups of people that are consistently harmed by other groups of people, we’re like, ‘How can the victims be better?’ And the real answer is, ‘How can we create systems and designs that protect those people?’”

We’ll get into that. But the bottom line is: be safe when you’re out on the road. Learn how to navigate intersections safely, and don’t take unnecessary risks. Especially if you’re on an e-bike, “You’re traveling faster than most cars are expecting you to,” Dean said. “To remember that, imagine you are not only invisible, but they’re all trying to kill you.”

Become a transit advocate

“Riding a bike is a really good entry for a lot of people into larger political conversations about climate, the design of their cities or towns, and a host of other issues,” Gordon told me. It might only be a short amount of time before you start to wonder why there aren’t more protected bike lanes in your town or city, or why mass transit isn’t reaching your neighborhood or destination, or why lousy road design is making your commute more dangerous than it should be.

There’s some good news, though: There has never been a better time to become a transit advocate. “It could be as small as your block, or your neighborhood, or your city, but there are tons of groups all over the country that focus on working to make them safer and better for the people in them,” Sledge said.

One of the best places to start is by making your voice and your values heard. As Sledge reminded me, car companies already have — and continue to spend money and time lobbying policies that are better for drivers (and their bottom lines) than others on the road. But where to begin? “First, I would look for any kind of organization in your community, your neighborhood, or your city that focuses on safe streets or fighting climate change, and see if you can get involved with them,” Sledge said. “And if you don’t have that kind of organization, start to go to your city council meetings, making your voice heard with your local representatives — those kinds of things really make a difference.”

Another great resource is Transportation for America’s Transit Advocate Guide, which takes you step-by-step through building a movement in your community. Transportation Alternatives also hosts occasional activist trainings to help you learn how to organize successful campaigns in your neighborhood.

Don’t beat yourself up if you still do a lot of driving!

Maybe you bought an e-bike or a monthly metro pass … but you’ve been unable to quit your car the way you thought you would. That’s okay! This is not an all-or-nothing activity. “Don’t feel guilty if you’re still driving,” Gordon stressed. Remember that “you’re operating within a system that is built for you to drive, so starting small is really good.” Every fit and start of progress helps.

Remember also that better, low- and zero-emissions-friendly infrastructure and a pedestrian-first culture aren’t going to be built overnight. Even the most hard-core among us still need to use cars occasionally. Just “reimagining how we’re going to truly allocate our public resources — our public dollars, our public services — to serve everyone, and radically rethinking how to do that, is so important,” Sledge said.

Become someone else’s bike geek

I will leave you with one last instruction for ditching your car. When you discover the bike that lets you “follow your joy, follow your bliss,” and puts a “smile on your face” — as Dean likes to say — don’t keep it to yourself.

Someone else in your community is beginning to think about ditching their car, too. It’s your turn now. Go forth. Become someone else’s enthusiastic bike geek.

ENJOY THE E-RIDE!

https://heatmap.news/best-ebikes

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Which E-Bike Should You Get?

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

“The only thing better for the climate than buying an EV over a gasoline-powered car is buying no car at all,” the climate scientist Rob Jackson has written. But for many Americans, not having a car at all is the stuff of logistical and cultural nightmares. The average person living in the U.S. covers more than 1,000 miles per month in their vehicle, and nearly 45% of people don’t even have the option of opting for public transportation. Ditching your car? You might as well ask people to give up their cell phones.

But across the country, transportation advocates and e-bike warriors are looking for solutions to go, if not entirely car-less, then at least car-light. Heatmap has put together a comprehensive guide to help you make a decision that best fits your lifestyle, whether that’s becoming a superpedestrian, a committed e-bike user, or just trying to replace a couple of short-haul drives a week.

THE EXPERT PANEL

Doug Gordon is the cohost of “The War on Cars,” a podcast about the fight against car culture. He is also a writer, TV producer, and safe streets advocate, and he advises nonprofits and mobility companies on communications strategies to promote better streets and public infrastructure through his Brooklyn Spoke Media consulting business.

Alexa Sledge is the director of communications at Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit organization that has worked to promote non-polluting, safe, and quiet travel in New York City since 1973.

Bryan Dean is the sales manager at The eBike Store in Portland, Oregon, which opened in 2008 as the city’s first e-bike-only retailer. He’s spent over six years helping customers pick out their perfect bikes and is also the creator of the #eBikeAnywhere hashtag.

Kevin Lau is a product specialist at REI with more than 20 years of experience. He is based out of Marlton, New Jersey.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS

• Free yourself from a car-centric mindset.
• Look for trips where you can replace a drive with public transportation, walking, or cycling.
• Consider the local geography and the weather.
• Learn what rebates and programs are available to you.
• Take an e-bike for a test spin.
• Make your community safer for people who don’t drive.

THE BASICS

• Active transportation or active mobility refers to human-powered getting-around — such as walking, using a bicycle, e-bike, skateboard, kick scooter, or electric kick scooter — that reduces the reliance on cars. Forms of active mobility are often used for first-mile or last-mile connectivity in conjunction with public transportation systems (that is, for the first and last leg of a trip that connects a person with their transit stop and their starting point or destination).
• E-bikes are bicycles with small electric motors that can assist in pedaling, making them easier to ride. They come in three classes, each of which has its own optimal use case and standard features:

Which class is right for you?

Class 1: Pedal assist only

• Feels like: A little bit of tailwind
• Max speed: Pedal assist tops out at 19.5 mph
• Restrictions: Allowed on any trail or path where traditional “analog” bikes are allowed*
• Best for: Beginners, people on a budget, or people who want the flexibility to ride their e-bike anywhere

Class 2: Pedal assist and throttle

• Feels like: A medium amount of tailwind
• Max speed: Pedal assist and throttle top out at 19.5 mph
• Restrictions: Allowed on most paths and trails where traditional bikes are allowed (some restrictions may apply)
• Best for: People who want to ride long distances without having to pedal, or who live in a hilly area

Class 3: Pedal assist or pedal assist and throttle

• Feels like: “A hurricane vibe,” according to Dean
• Max speed: Pedal assist tops out at 27.5 mph**, or at 19.5 mph with the throttle
• Restrictions: Often restricted on bike paths and multi-use pedestrian trails; riders are required to wear helmets; the bike must have a speedometer; and age restrictions may apply
• Best for: People who plan to use their bike to replace car commutes or to run bigger errands

*Alaska and Rhode Island classify e-bikes as motor vehicles and may have additional restrictions.

**If 28 miles per hour sounds utterly terrifying to you, don’t worry. “The majority of the class 3 bikes that I sell will probably never go faster than 15 miles an hour because that’s how the customer wants to ride it,” Dean explained. “Class 3 bikes will not instantly go 28 miles per hour.”

• Another thing to look for when shopping for an e-bike is if it has a hub-drive or a mid-drive motor. As you can probably guess, a hub-drive motor “is built into the hub of one of the wheels,” while a mid-drive motor “is built into the frame near the cranks,” Lau told me. “Usually, a hub drive system will be less expensive than a mid-drive system, but a mid-drive system is considered to ride a bit smoother and has a more balanced center of gravity,” he said.
• E-bike battery capacity is measured in watt hours — quite literally, how many watts can be delivered in an hour. The usual range for e-bike batteries is between 300 watt hours and 1,000 watt hours. Many factors contribute to how fast you drain the battery, from the surface you’re riding on to its grade to the speed of pedal assist. But generally speaking, you can expect to use about 10 to 20 watt hours per mile. (Want to have some fun? Mess around with Bosch’s e-bike range calculator to get a sense of how far you can go and with what effort.)
• In addition to e-bikes, you might also see references to electric motorcycles, Vespas, or mopeds. Most of these fall under the class of motor scooters, which are differentiated from e-bikes in that they don’t have pedals (they are also different from e-scooters like Lime, which are modeled on human-powered kick scooters). Also unlike e-bikes, motor scooters require a driver’s license and must be registered as a motor vehicle. An electric motorcycle will require a motorcycle license if it goes over 30 mph. Scooters are also much heavier than e-bikes, don’t have removable batteries, and may run on gasoline, canceling out some of the environmental and health advantages.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. I live in the suburbs — is it even possible to go car-less?

Only 8% of U.S. households currently get by without owning a car, and less than 1% of Americans commute to work by bike. The U.S. is so driving-centric that we’re home to one-fifth of all the cars on the planet despite having less than 5% of the global population. Eleven states have more registered vehicles than people.

But just because driving has always been your default doesn’t mean it makes the most sense for the kind of travel you do — even if you live somewhere without great public transportation. Over half of all trips Americans make in a car are for a distance of less than three miles — perfect to convert into a bike ride.

“I think of mobility like a Swiss army knife: You have to use the right tool for the job,” Gordon told me. “If I just need to pick up a carton of milk, does it make sense to do that in a 6,000-pound metal box on wheels that is powered by dinosaur juice? Not so much.”

On average, commuting by bike in the U.S. saves an estimated $2,500 per year, and it has been found to have massive benefits for one’s mental health, cardiovascular health, and even productivity at work. Yes, even e-bikes!

“If you go to places like Copenhagen or Amsterdam — places where there are huge numbers of cyclists — and you poll those people, concern for the environment barely cracks the top five reasons why they cycle,” Gordon said. “The reasons why people cycle in Denmark and the Netherlands are because it’s safe and convenient, and it’s often the fastest and cheapest way to get where they’re going.”

2. If we’re just talking about short trips, will it really make a difference?

Transportation is the most significant contributor to climate change in the United States, with nearly 60% of the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions coming from cars alone (another 23% comes from trucks). Replacing a quarter of your total driving with walking, biking, or e-biking could save 1.3 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, according to our friends at WattTime — about the same as forgoing burning 1,433 pounds of coal or three barrels of oil. If every American drove even a mere 10% less per year, it’d be like taking 28 coal-fired power plants offline.

You can still make a significant impact without ditching your car, in other words: You simply have to drive less. And the upsides are enormous. More Americans die of car pollution than in car accidents every year. Additionally, commuting by bike or by foot makes us healthier and happier.

It also helps us realize what our community priorities should be. “Individual action is not always what we need to focus on,” Gordon said. “We need to focus on institutional change. But my philosophy is that lots of individual action actually adds up to the political will to get the institutional change you need.”

3. Is it really worth the risk of crashing — or sweating?

A survey of studies from five countries (including the U.S.) found that the main barriers to cycling were low perceived safety, bad weather, lack of cycling infrastructure (including “shower facilities” at one’s destination), and distance and perceived effort.

Safety is a valid concern. Riding a bike is about 500 times more likely to be fatal than riding a bus, according to a 2007 study; even with the success of programs like New York’s Vision Zero, collisions with cars remain a real danger for people on bikes. The car-related pollution inhaled while cycling can also shorten a cyclist’s life by an estimated one to 40 days. But the benefits of cycling on average far outweigh the risks: Riding a bike adds an estimated three to 14 months to your life, even when the possibilities of collisions and air pollution are considered. The health benefits are so significant that a separate study by Swedish researchers found that cyclists had a 47% lower risk of early death and a 10% lower risk of hospitalization compared to car and train commuters.

What about concerns about shower availability and the “distance and perceived effort” of riding a bike? That’s where the advantages of an e-bike’s pedal assist come into play. “E-bikes are great at blasting through any concerns you have about sweat,” Gordon told me. Even in hot weather or on difficult terrain, pedal assist can keep you looking fresh when you arrive at the office.

BEFORE YOU GET STARTED

1. How much driving can you realistically replace with other modes of transportation?

The first step to driving less is thinking about when and where you can replace specific trips with walking, cycling, or public transportation instead. Lau told me his general rule of thumb is that if a trip is less than a mile and he can safely walk (i.e. if there are sidewalks or safe paths), then he’ll walk. “If it’s more than that, I’ll take the bike if I have a place to lock it or can bring it into my workplace or store,” he said. For trips where he might need some extra assistance — that are farther, longer, hillier, or will require carrying “more cargo without working as hard,” he’ll opt for an e-bike instead.

You can do a lot of this reconnaissance from your couch. Apple Maps and Google Maps can take a lot of the guesswork out of finding the best bike paths to and from your house and the other places you frequent, including informing you ahead of time if the route will require riding on major or minor roads or ones with protected bike lanes. Google and Apple Maps can also give you real-time information about public transportation options in your area (as well as allow you to plan for trips when service might be reduced, like late nights or weekends), and many transit systems now have their own apps to make tracking delays or alternative service simpler.

It’s okay to take it slow

There’s no need to go overboard here, at least not to start! “The thing to think about is not ‘Can I go completely car-free?’ but ‘What trips could I replace?’” Gordon told me. It’s like Meatless Mondays: “You don’t have to become a complete vegan overnight, but you could replace one day’s worth of meals a week. It’s the same with cycling: Maybe you could ride to your kid’s soccer game or do one little grocery trip a week to the nearest market and do it by bike instead of by car. See how that feels.”

2. What’s the elevation like in your area?

It’s funny how you don’t realize where the long, slow inclines are in your neighborhood until you’re huffing up them on a bike. Google Maps and Apple Maps can show you what elevation to expect on a walking or cycling route. If you live in a hillier area, an e-bike might be better than a traditional bike since it can take some of the ouch out of the ups.

3. What’s the weather like in your area?

“Something really, really important that people don’t always think about is gear,” Sledge told me. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive, but if you can only ride your bike when it’s 80 degrees and sunny, that’s not the best scenario.”

If you live somewhere where it gets hot, rainy, snowy, windy, or the weather can change unexpectedly, think ahead of time about the sort of gear you’d need to make cycling or walking more comfortable. (We have a checklist of ideas below.)

4. What programs exist in your area that you can use to your advantage?

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma, and Vermont all have statewide tax credits or rebates to encourage e-bike adoption.

Live somewhere that isn’t on that list? Here is a super handy tracker from the Transportation Research and Education Center at Portland State University of more than 100 counties, cities, and municipalities that offer e-bike incentive programs. Also, look for e-bike lending libraries that might be in your area.

If you’re having trouble learning about the programs available to you, head into a brick-and-mortar e-bike shop in your area or connect with your local transportation advocacy group — they’ll know what programs you can take advantage of and be happy to point you in the right direction.

5. Grab a coffee with the bike geek in your life

Do you know what bike enthusiasts love more than anything? Creating new bike enthusiasts. If you’re still feeling intimidated by the idea of getting on a bike — or even if you’re not — “find a friend who’s already doing it,” Gordon suggested. Bike people are “an evangelical bunch, and if you tell a friend who you know is into biking or bike commutes regularly that ‘Hey, I’m thinking of doing it,’ I can guarantee that person will be more than happy to hold your hand and help you through your first ride.”

Taking off the training wheels

Many people are understandably scared of riding a bike alongside cars. If you want to build up a little more confidence before hitting the road, the Global Cycling Network has a good intro to urban cycling video that covers some of the basics about holding your place in the lane, signaling, and avoiding dangerous blindspots.

You can also build up confidence on bike paths and pedestrian trails where you don’t have to contend with cars or look to join group rides in your area. Meet-ups in particular are a great place to make bike friends and will help you get comfortable navigating the streets in your area. (In Portland, for example, there are hundreds of such events to choose from.)

There are dozens of emissions-free or emissions-light transportation options, from using your own two feet to digging the old beater bicycle out of your garage to going full Steve Wozniak with a Segway. The most important thing is to something you’ll actually use.

That said — “What’s really going to be the best option for most Americans is an e-bike,” Sledge told me. “That’s a true car replacement when so often a [traditional] bike can’t be a true, true, true car replacement.” E-bikes are simply more practical and comfortable for longer rides or daily commutes, and if you need to haul things like groceries or children, they can’t be beaten.

More ways to decarbonize

How (and Why!) to Think About Driving a Little Less

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Want to Decarbonize Your Community? Here’s How.

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I’ve looked at all my options and don’t think I can drive any less than I already do. What can I do instead?

• Get an electric vehicle. For some people, car trips will be unavoidable — and in that case, replacing gas-powered vehicle miles with battery-electric powered vehicle miles is the next best thing. Here’s Heatmap’s guide to buying an EV for more on that.
• Carpool. It’s absurd how many car trips in the U.S. are made with only one person in the vehicle. Many schools and businesses will help organize carpools, and there are an increasing number of websites dedicated to helping connect commuters. Every carpool saves an unnecessary parallel trip.
• Drive more efficiently. You can save fuel (and reduce your emissions) just by keeping your speed steady. Here’s a good guide if you want to learn more.

The case for saving up for an e-bike

There’s no way around it: E-bikes are pricy. “An e-bike is going to be a big purchase — nowhere near as much as a car, but still, it’s a major purchase,” Sledge said. Even with incentive programs (more on that below), you’re likely to spend more than $1,000 out of pocket.

It is tempting to look for a bargain. But Dean stressed that manufacturers and bulk retailers are “sacrificing a lot” in terms of quality and service to make a profit at lower price points. As a rule, “If you’re spending less than $1,000 on any bike, it’s landfill,” he said. “And that waste is toxic — odds are, it isn’t going to be recycled properly.”

Gordon suggested that if you’re concerned about how often you’ll use an e-bike, it makes sense to get “a cheap regular bike” initially. “Then you can figure out if this is something you want to do in the long term, and after a few weeks, or a month, or a year, you can go, ‘Okay, I’m ready for the $1,000, $2,000, $5,000 bicycle.’”

Perspective is important, too. Yes, e-bikes are expensive — if you compare them to regular bikes. “If you compare them to cars, they’re a bargain,” Gordon said. “E-bikes are a replacement tool; they’re not an upgrade from other bikes. So if you’re a family with two cars and are going down to one, getting a $2,500 or even $5,000 e-bike is a relative bargain.” Additionally, many retailers — including The eBike Store in Portland, Oregon, where Dean works — offer installment plans to help make the purchase more manageable.

What about conversion kits?

Conversion kits are a popular way to convert an analog bike you already own into an e-bike by attaching a motor to the front hub, rear hub, or mid-drive. Many of these kits can be found cheaply on websites like Amazon, though The Washington Post warns that it is still a “very Wild West market” and to only buy batteries from reputable e-bike battery brands (low-quality batteries are more likely to start fires). While converting to an e-bike might be a good option for you if you want to dip a toe in the e-bike water, you’ll still need to spend several hundred dollars to get a kit that gives you the same oomph as an actual e-bike. That said, whatever option gets you on a bike is the best one, and if you’re converter-kit curious, here’s a good guide for learning where to start.

A reminder

We do not live in Northern Europe. Plan accordingly.

Northern Europe is the global epicenter of bike commuting, and as such, much of the cycling and e-biking world caters to, or is based out of, flat countries like the Netherlands, Denmark, and Belgium. But “the kinds of [analog] bikes that make sense in Northern Europe are a little bit different than the kind of bike that makes sense if you live in New York City, for example,” Sledge said.

Europeans tend to ride “commuter bicycles that are pretty heavy and really comfortable,” but that will be “really hard for you to go over a major bridge in a major city” or ride on the hills characteristic of places like Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Boston, or New York without pedal assist, Sledge said. If you’re an American, “a road bike is probably going to make a lot more sense for you, and you might not get pointed in that direction at first.”

Where to buy an e-bike

“Buying a bike at a brick-and-mortar store from competent, kind people who love their job — customers are going to have a fantastic experience,” Dean told me. “They’re going to get a great taste for the bike, which means they’ll be riding it a lot. We’re not in the business of selling bikes that sit and rot in someone’s garage.”

It is especially important to go to a store with e-bike specialists on staff (rather than a bulk retailer like Costco — or worse, anything online) because the mechanics will have checked the bike over and adjusted the safety points so it’s ready to go. “You’re going to get educated and get a strong appreciation of the beautiful tool that you are buying, and learn how to operate it and make it last,” Dean added.

Most importantly, though, ensure you take the bike for a test ride before handing over your credit card. Any retailer worth its salt will offer this as an option; the best retailers will take you on a guided test ride, where they’ll teach you how to use the e-bike you’re trying out. But the bottom line is, “Don’t buy a bike that you haven’t ridden,” Dean said. “Ride the bike before you buy it; that’s in all-caps with smiley faces and exclamation points. Don’t buy the bike if you can’t ride it first.”

How to buy an e-bike

I asked Dean how a customer can come in prepared to buy an e-bike. Here were his top green flags.

• Be ready to answer, “What kind of experience do you want?” The e-bike specialist will want to know the geography you anticipate riding through, how far you expect to be riding per day, if you will be hauling cargo, or if you just want an e-bike for fun weekend outings.
• Don’t come in with your heart set on one specific bike. Dean said it’s common for customers to come in with preconceived notions about the sort of e-bike they want to buy. A good e-bike specialist, though, will be your advocate — and let you know if the bike you’re fixated on will actually meet your needs.
• Ask a lot of questions. This is a big purchase! You want to ensure you’re getting the bike you want – and understand how it works before you walk out the door.
• Find out if the store offers free adjustments. Both REI and The eBike Store have continued support for their customers within the first year of the purchase. Buy from a retailer that is invested in your success.
• Buy the bike that makes you happy. At the end of the day, “You should buy whatever puts a dumb, happy smile on your face,” Dean said. “New Bike Day is like Christmas without the emotional baggage.”

HEATMAP RECOMMENDS

“Buy the bike that’s going to put the biggest, dumbest smile on your face.”

If you want a bike for a long commute, look at the Specialized Como or one of the REI Co-op Cycles-brand models.

Dean said he points riders looking to log miles to the Specialized Como. “When you’re commuting long miles, you want something comfortable, something that’s reliable, something that has a strong enough motor that will get you where you’re going and a big-enough battery that you’re not going to sweat it,” he said. The Specialized Como is also an excellent choice for people who want to “show up to work not sweaty” but maybe get a little bit more of a workout on the way home.

If you prefer commuting on a traditional bike, Lau suggested REI’s ADV 1.1, a road touring bike, or the CTY 1.1 bike, a less-expensive hybrid built for logging longer distances and enduring the daily wear-and-tear of a commute. His e-bike pick for commuters is the CTY e2.2, a popular, well-reviewed, and accessible commuter bike specifically marketed to “replace car trips.”

If you want an e-bike to haul the kids, look at a bike from Tern.

Dean loves to recommend Tern bikes to people who want to make trips with their kids. “They’ve been doing this for a long time, they have tons of great accessories, and they use Bosch power systems,” he said — all points in the bike’s favor. That customizability and reliability make it a good fit for families who want to be able to tailor the bike to their needs and price point while also not having to worry about it breaking down in the middle of a toddler’s meltdown.

But there is one other primary reason why Dean points parents to Tern. “All of their bikes are rider first, cargo behind” — versus bucket bikes that put the cargo in front of the rider. While the latter design is also popular, it also means that if you’re trying to squeak out into traffic, you’re nosing your most precious cargo ahead of you, into potential harm’s way.

If you want an e-bike that can handle your big Trader Joe’s runs, look at the Cannondale Cargowagen or the folding bikes from Tern.

Lau offered three options for e-bikes that won’t make you miss the trunk of your car, starting with the Cannondale Cargowagen, which can lug up to 440 pounds — that is a lot of Chili & Lime Flavored Rolled Corn Tortilla Chips. Its range isn’t quite as good as some other bikes on the market — the battery is 545 watt-hours — so it’s probably a better fit for people who live in higher-density areas or near their preferred market. (You can always buy a second battery if you want a little more range.) The Cargowagen is also a class 3 bike, meaning you won’t have to worry about the ice cream melting before you can get home.

Like Dean, Lau loves to recommend Tern bikes for handling heavy loads, especially the Tern GSD S00, which conveniently folds up so it can even be stored in an apartment or transported in an elevator while still being compatible with Tern’s line of cargo-carrying products — but at almost $6,000 before add-ons, it’ll likely be out of many first-time e-bikers’ budgets. Tern’s Vektron S10 is a less expensive option and still has the power to handle hilly roads with six Trader Joe’s bags in tow. (Note that both Terns are class 1 bikes, meaning the pedal assist tops out at 20 miles per hour.)

If you want an e-bike but live in a walk-up, check out bikes from Specialized.

“Lightweight e-bikes are out there,” Dean said, and can be had — for the right amount of money. “They’re usually going to start around $3,500 to $4,000 and then go up from there,” he told me, pointing to Specialized as one of his favorite lightweight brands.

Keep in mind that you may not need a lightweight e-bike. “No one has ever come in and said, ‘I want a heavy bike,’” Dean pointed out. Electric motors are, by necessity, heavy, so getting a lighter bike can mean sacrificing half the motor and battery. There are workarounds: “If you have stairs to go up, almost all of these bikes have a walk assist mode,” which gently turns the tires so you’re not fighting gravity on your own, Dean told me. Likewise, if you’re trying to load your bike onto a car rack, “you don’t have to Hulk it up there; you can be a little smarter about your efforts by picking up the front wheel and putting it in the rack behind your car. Then pick up the back wheel.” If you’re really struggling with your bike, you can always pop off the battery — one of the heavier components — and carry it separately.

If you want a bike or an e-bike but need to keep the price down, look at the REI Co-op CTY e2.1, or bikes from Gazelle, Medeo, or Electra Country.

The best new commuter bike you can get away with is the CTY 1.1, the analog bike Lau recommended above, but for an e-bike option, he points customers to the Co-op CTY e2.1, an easy, accessible, no-frills class 1 bike that won’t run you more than $2,000. It might be a little light on features for a serious urban commuter, though.

Dean told me that the Gazelle Medeo and some of the bikes from Electra Country will have price points that could be more acceptable to customers on a budget. Gazelle uses the reliable Bosch power system, and the Medeo is “really good” and comes in “multiple versions.” (I found one for less than $2,000). Electra Country is a subsidiary of Trek and is a “one-size-fits-all, beach cruiser-looking bike” that comes in super fun colors.

Other essentials you’ll want to consider

• Full-finger gloves. “I wear them year-round,” Dean told me. He recommends the full-finger option because, in the unfortunate incident that your chain comes loose, you can pop it back on without getting your hands dirty. Dean especially likes Specialized’s gel gloves for extra hand protection.
• Redshift’s Arclight Pedals. Dean told me these are the #1 safety items he sells at The eBike Store. “While most e-bikes have a light in the front and a light in the back, they don’t have any on the side,” he told me. “And more often than not, you’re hit from the side or someone turning into you. Since the lights are on these pedals, and the pedals are moving, people see it and subconsciously go, ‘Oh, that’s a human,’ versus just a tail light, which people go, ‘Oh, that’s a vehicle.’”
• A rain jacket. “My favorite piece of cycling gear is my Cleverhood rain cape because there’s a saying that goes, There’s no such thing as bad weather for cycling, only bad gear,” Gordon told me.
• A good lock. Think of buying a lock for your bike like it’s the zombie apocalypse, or a bear is chasing you, Dean said: “You don’t have to be the fastest, but don’t be the slowest.” Get a lock that will make a potential thief look for an easier mark. (Also, don’t lock your bike to something easy to saw through, like a tree or a stop sign.)
• A bike fitting. It might sound expensive — a bike fitting will run you about $150 to $200 — but Dean swears it’s worth every penny. You spend a lot of time on your bike, so why not put in the money to get it perfectly adjusted to fit your specific body, from the saddle being moved to just the right place to making sure the controls are all where they need to be? Dean likened the experience to the difference between going to Nordstrom Rack and buying a good enough suit and having a suit custom-made for you.
• A commuter backpack. You don’t necessarily need a special backpack for bike commuting, but you might find that carrying a load in a traditional backpack will throw off your balance and get your back sweaty. While it’s better to let the bike do the work whenever possible (look for baskets mounted to the front frame of the bike, not the handlebars), Lau also suggested the CamelBak M.U.L.E. Commute 22 pack, the Ortlieb Velocity PS pack, and the Osprey Radial bike pack as great options for commuters.
• A helmet. Helmet philosophies differ. Gordon told me a $25 helmet will protect you as well as a $200 helmet will. Dean, however, said you shouldn’t go too cheap: “No matter what you pay for a bicycle helmet, it’s going to be less expensive than an ambulance ride.” Lau specifically suggested the Bontrager Charge WaveCel ($150), the Lazer CityZen KinetiCore ($60), and the Smith Express MIPS ($110), or “multi-directional impact protection system,” a helmet style that includes an internal layer intended to rotate slightly in the case of impact, which is thought to prevent brain injuries. Whatever style you choose, remember that helmets can age out. “Dig your fingernail into the foam of your helmet to see if it’s safe,” said Dean. “If it’s not squishy — if it’s crunchy — throw it away.”

Be safe

Congratulations! You’re the proud owner of a bike or an e-bike (or skateboard or e-scooter or a really good pair of walking shoes). What happens now?

While the benefits of riding a bike (or any other form of active transportation) still outweigh the risks, cars are getting bigger, their blindspots are getting larger, and pedestrian and cyclist deaths nationwide are at a 40-year high. Even electric vehicles might be a small part of the problem since they’re so much heavier than regular cars — and that much more dangerous if you get hit.

I asked Sledge how newly carless commuters could become better pedestrians, and she quickly corrected me. “There is no such thing as being a good pedestrian,” she said. “So often, in the United States, when we have groups of people that are consistently harmed by other groups of people, we’re like, ‘How can the victims be better?’ And the real answer is, ‘How can we create systems and designs that protect those people?’”

We’ll get into that. But the bottom line is: be safe when you’re out on the road. Learn how to navigate intersections safely, and don’t take unnecessary risks. Especially if you’re on an e-bike, “You’re traveling faster than most cars are expecting you to,” Dean said. “To remember that, imagine you are not only invisible, but they’re all trying to kill you.”

Become a transit advocate

“Riding a bike is a really good entry for a lot of people into larger political conversations about climate, the design of their cities or towns, and a host of other issues,” Gordon told me. It might only be a short amount of time before you start to wonder why there aren’t more protected bike lanes in your town or city, or why mass transit isn’t reaching your neighborhood or destination, or why lousy road design is making your commute more dangerous than it should be.

There’s some good news, though: There has never been a better time to become a transit advocate. “It could be as small as your block, or your neighborhood, or your city, but there are tons of groups all over the country that focus on working to make them safer and better for the people in them,” Sledge said.

One of the best places to start is by making your voice and your values heard. As Sledge reminded me, car companies already have — and continue to spend money and time lobbying policies that are better for drivers (and their bottom lines) than others on the road. But where to begin? “First, I would look for any kind of organization in your community, your neighborhood, or your city that focuses on safe streets or fighting climate change, and see if you can get involved with them,” Sledge said. “And if you don’t have that kind of organization, start to go to your city council meetings, making your voice heard with your local representatives — those kinds of things really make a difference.”

Another great resource is Transportation for America’s Transit Advocate Guide, which takes you step-by-step through building a movement in your community. Transportation Alternatives also hosts occasional activist trainings to help you learn how to organize successful campaigns in your neighborhood.

Don’t beat yourself up if you still do a lot of driving!

Maybe you bought an e-bike or a monthly metro pass … but you’ve been unable to quit your car the way you thought you would. That’s okay! This is not an all-or-nothing activity. “Don’t feel guilty if you’re still driving,” Gordon stressed. Remember that “you’re operating within a system that is built for you to drive, so starting small is really good.” Every fit and start of progress helps.

Remember also that better, low- and zero-emissions-friendly infrastructure and a pedestrian-first culture aren’t going to be built overnight. Even the most hard-core among us still need to use cars occasionally. Just “reimagining how we’re going to truly allocate our public resources — our public dollars, our public services — to serve everyone, and radically rethinking how to do that, is so important,” Sledge said.

Become someone else’s bike geek

I will leave you with one last instruction for ditching your car. When you discover the bike that lets you “follow your joy, follow your bliss,” and puts a “smile on your face” — as Dean likes to say — don’t keep it to yourself.

Someone else in your community is beginning to think about ditching their car, too. It’s your turn now. Go forth. Become someone else’s enthusiastic bike geek.

ENJOY THE E-RIDE!

https://heatmap.news/decarbonize-your-life/best-ebikes

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Eat Less Beef, Waste Less Food

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

Let’s get this out of the way: You don’t have to turn vegetarian to make a meaningful dent in your carbon emissions. You don’t have to start eating insects or experiment with precision-fermented plant-based proteins. You don’t even have to eat less meat, necessarily. Just eat less beef — or, if you prefer the idea of “more” to the idea of “less,” you could even say: Eat more chicken.

Either way, the reason comes down to some of the simplest carbon accounting we have. Cows are, by far, our most carbon-intensive protein source. Every kilogram of beef produced in the U.S. emits about 38 kilograms of carbon from cradle to slaughterhouse, according to Gillett. Compare that to roughly 3.8 kilograms of CO2 per kilogram of chicken, and even 4.9 kilograms of CO2 per kilogram of pork, and you can start to see why even such a small change can have a big impact. A chicken needs to eat just 1.6 kilograms of feed to produce a kilogram of meat.

“1.6 is basically magic, right?” Arthur Gillett, chief research officer at HowGood, an emissions research and data service for the food sector, told me. “Why are we messing with crickets?”

Beyond that, though, the picture gets murkier. Because here’s the thing: Even if you wanted to track every single ounce of carbon related to your food intake, you couldn’t, at least not with any meaningful degree of accuracy. Of all the many systems operating in the global economy, the food system is perhaps the most complex, involving processes we’re still trying to understand, let alone track.

For example: dirt. Essentially all the food we eat depends, at some point in its life cycle, on dirt. One reason beef is such a high-emission product is that it takes a lot of dirt to grow all the feed a typical cow eats over the course of its life — which runs to the thousands of pounds (including byproducts from other agricultural production) — plus a lot more to grow the cow itself. Even in the U.S., where cows are mostly finished on feedlots, livestock occupy 41% of available farmland, but are raised on just 30% of farms. In Brazil, the world’s largest exporter of beef, where cows are mostly grass-fed, cattle graze on somewhere between 189 million and 253 million acres of what used to be the Amazon rainforest, depending on whose estimate you use.

But back to dirt: Climate scientists still don’t really understand how it works, from a carbon perspective. How much carbon is stored in the Earth’s soil? Estimates vary pretty widely, biogeochemist Rose Abramoff told me. How much is it emitting each year? That’s even less clear. Does it make a difference whether that soil is planted with genetically modified soy versus heirloom squash? No idea.

More ways to decarbonize

Which Fake Meats Are Actually Good?

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How to Decarbonize Your Life

Robinson Meyer and Emily Pontecorvo

Until seven or eight years ago, it was accepted practice in the life-cycle analysis world to resolve these uncertainties by assuming soil-related emissions were stable and therefore marking them at zero, according to Gillett, “which is incredibly wrong,” he told me. Analyses are starting to be able to account for those emissions now, he said, but to be really meaningful, they would have to be recalculated every year. “So then every LCA, to be worth its salt, has to be a multi-year LCA. That’s impossible.” Gillett said.

In other words, the science is very much still changing, and you could drive yourself crazy trying to keep up with it. These days, Gillett is excited about the potential for regenerative agriculture practices like no-till farming and co-locating livestock with crops to transform dairy into one of our most carbon-efficient sources of protein, he told me — something he never would have expected to say a year or two ago.

Similarly, “Maybe 10 years ago, all of us were talking about food miles,” i.e. the distance from farm to table, according to Minnie Ringland, manager of climate and insights at ReFED, a food waste reduction advocacy group. You may have experienced this in the form of admonishments to “eat local.” Since then, however, cold storage supply chains have gotten a lot better, particularly in the Global South, which means that we’re losing a lot less food to spoilage — compared to the agricultural process itself, shipping represents a negligible portion of the emissions related to just about any given product.

It’s also important to remember that not all farming regions are created equal. California, for instance, is a great place to grow lots of things; Arizona, less so. “Depending on the geography where the food is being produced, it can be super intensive in terms of land use change, if land is being deforested in order to make way for agricultural fields or for grazing,” Ringland said. Another factor is the use of nitrogen fertilizer, which is both emissions-intensive to produce and generates carbon dioxide from its use, the environmental effects of fertilizer run-off on nearby land and waterways notwithstanding.

That’s not to say there aren’t other important benefits to eating locally: contributing to your local economy, supporting biodiversity, encouraging holistic farming practices. The farmers at your weekend farmers market are a whole lot more likely to be practicing regenerative techniques and fertilizing with compost instead of industrial chemicals. But they’re also not going to be there at 7:48 p.m. on any given Tuesday when you’re midway through cooking a batch of chicken cacciatore and realize that you forgot the bell peppers.

Speaking of compost, though, here’s a bonus trick to reduce your food-related carbon emissions: Collecting and composting your food scraps is good, but wasting less food is even better. The reason why is pretty obvious: Before it can be composted, food still has to go through the entire supply chain. And while composting food produces fewer emissions than landfilling food waste, it’s not an entirely emissions-free process, and can be more or less carbon-intensive depending on where and how it’s made. Reducing your food waste requires a bit more planning, but it will also save you money and send a more accurate demand signal down the farm-to-grocery-store supply chain.

I could go on and on about things like the relative carbon impact of plant-based proteins and the emissions reduction potential of standardizing expiration dates on food labels, but all of that is still being worked out. If you are fake meat-curious, you can check out our guide on that here. And if you’re already a vegetarian or curious about it for reasons of health, ethics, etc., that’s great. The most important thing you, as a consumer, can do to reduce emissions from the food system is hold companies accountable for their carbon claims, which means not getting sucked into the stuff that sounds too good to be true. There’s plenty of delicious food out there that doesn’t take elaborate math to justify eating.

So to recap: Eat less beef, waste less food. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but everything else is gravy.

https://heatmap.news/food-emissions

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Eat Less Beef, Waste Less Food

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

Let’s get this out of the way: You don’t have to turn vegetarian to make a meaningful dent in your carbon emissions. You don’t have to start eating insects or experiment with precision-fermented plant-based proteins. You don’t even have to eat less meat, necessarily. Just eat less beef — or, if you prefer the idea of “more” to the idea of “less,” you could even say: Eat more chicken.

Either way, the reason comes down to some of the simplest carbon accounting we have. Cows are, by far, our most carbon-intensive protein source. Every kilogram of beef produced in the U.S. emits about 38 kilograms of carbon from cradle to slaughterhouse, according to Gillett. Compare that to roughly 3.8 kilograms of CO2 per kilogram of chicken, and even 4.9 kilograms of CO2 per kilogram of pork, and you can start to see why even such a small change can have a big impact. A chicken needs to eat just 1.6 kilograms of feed to produce a kilogram of meat.

“1.6 is basically magic, right?” Arthur Gillett, chief research officer at HowGood, an emissions research and data service for the food sector, told me. “Why are we messing with crickets?”

Beyond that, though, the picture gets murkier. Because here’s the thing: Even if you wanted to track every single ounce of carbon related to your food intake, you couldn’t, at least not with any meaningful degree of accuracy. Of all the many systems operating in the global economy, the food system is perhaps the most complex, involving processes we’re still trying to understand, let alone track.

For example: dirt. Essentially all the food we eat depends, at some point in its life cycle, on dirt. One reason beef is such a high-emission product is that it takes a lot of dirt to grow all the feed a typical cow eats over the course of its life — which runs to the thousands of pounds (including byproducts from other agricultural production) — plus a lot more to grow the cow itself. Even in the U.S., where cows are mostly finished on feedlots, livestock occupy 41% of available farmland, but are raised on just 30% of farms. In Brazil, the world’s largest exporter of beef, where cows are mostly grass-fed, cattle graze on somewhere between 189 million and 253 million acres of what used to be the Amazon rainforest, depending on whose estimate you use.

But back to dirt: Climate scientists still don’t really understand how it works, from a carbon perspective. How much carbon is stored in the Earth’s soil? Estimates vary pretty widely, biogeochemist Rose Abramoff told me. How much is it emitting each year? That’s even less clear. Does it make a difference whether that soil is planted with genetically modified soy versus heirloom squash? No idea.

More ways to decarbonize

Which Fake Meats Are Actually Good?

                Taylor Kate Brown
            </div>

How to Decarbonize Your Life

                Robinson Meyer and Emily Pontecorvo
            </div>

Until seven or eight years ago, it was accepted practice in the life-cycle analysis world to resolve these uncertainties by assuming soil-related emissions were stable and therefore marking them at zero, according to Gillett, “which is incredibly wrong,” he told me. Analyses are starting to be able to account for those emissions now, he said, but to be really meaningful, they would have to be recalculated every year. “So then every LCA, to be worth its salt, has to be a multi-year LCA. That’s impossible.” Gillett said.

In other words, the science is very much still changing, and you could drive yourself crazy trying to keep up with it. These days, Gillett is excited about the potential for regenerative agriculture practices like no-till farming and co-locating livestock with crops to transform dairy into one of our most carbon-efficient sources of protein, he told me — something he never would have expected to say a year or two ago.

Similarly, “Maybe 10 years ago, all of us were talking about food miles,” i.e. the distance from farm to table, according to Minnie Ringland, manager of climate and insights at ReFED, a food waste reduction advocacy group. You may have experienced this in the form of admonishments to “eat local.” Since then, however, cold storage supply chains have gotten a lot better, particularly in the Global South, which means that we’re losing a lot less food to spoilage — compared to the agricultural process itself, shipping represents a negligible portion of the emissions related to just about any given product.

It’s also important to remember that not all farming regions are created equal. California, for instance, is a great place to grow lots of things; Arizona, less so. “Depending on the geography where the food is being produced, it can be super intensive in terms of land use change, if land is being deforested in order to make way for agricultural fields or for grazing,” Ringland said. Another factor is the use of nitrogen fertilizer, which is both emissions-intensive to produce and generates carbon dioxide from its use, the environmental effects of fertilizer run-off on nearby land and waterways notwithstanding.

That’s not to say there aren’t other important benefits to eating locally: contributing to your local economy, supporting biodiversity, encouraging holistic farming practices. The farmers at your weekend farmers market are a whole lot more likely to be practicing regenerative techniques and fertilizing with compost instead of industrial chemicals. But they’re also not going to be there at 7:48 p.m. on any given Tuesday when you’re midway through cooking a batch of chicken cacciatore and realize that you forgot the bell peppers.

Speaking of compost, though, here’s a bonus trick to reduce your food-related carbon emissions: Collecting and composting your food scraps is good, but wasting less food is even better. The reason why is pretty obvious: Before it can be composted, food still has to go through the entire supply chain. And while composting food produces fewer emissions than landfilling food waste, it’s not an entirely emissions-free process, and can be more or less carbon-intensive depending on where and how it’s made. Reducing your food waste requires a bit more planning, but it will also save you money and send a more accurate demand signal down the farm-to-grocery-store supply chain.

I could go on and on about things like the relative carbon impact of plant-based proteins and the emissions reduction potential of standardizing expiration dates on food labels, but all of that is still being worked out. If you are fake meat-curious, you can check out our guide on that here. And if you’re already a vegetarian or curious about it for reasons of health, ethics, etc., that’s great. The most important thing you, as a consumer, can do to reduce emissions from the food system is hold companies accountable for their carbon claims, which means not getting sucked into the stuff that sounds too good to be true. There’s plenty of delicious food out there that doesn’t take elaborate math to justify eating.

So to recap: Eat less beef, waste less food. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but everything else is gravy.

https://heatmap.news/decarbonize-your-life/food-emissions

---

Which Fake Meats Are Actually Good?

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

It was burrito night — I had some tortillas, salsa, guacamole and red onion in my refrigerator, but all our meat was still frozen, and I didn’t have any beans handy. So I did what any climate reporter with an interest in food systems would do and grabbed a pack of meatless “carne asada” I’d picked up out of curiosity and threw it into the mix. The end result was more “huh” than “wow,” but it held its own — with a little help from some hot sauce.

Growing, raising, processing and transporting food is responsible for roughly a quarter of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, nearly 60% of which comes from meat production, according to one estimation. If you’re concerned about your personal carbon impact, eating less meat is probably on your to-do list. But what if you still like a carne asada burrito? Thankfully, there are plenty of companies working on satisfying your cravings, no animals involved.

There are lots of other food system concerns that won’t make it into this guide — things like agricultural livelihoods, water use, and animal well-being. But if you’re curious about how fake meats work, what they taste like, and their emissions impact, here’s what you’ll want to know.

THE EXPERT PANEL

Ben Kelley, owner and proprietor of Kelley Farms Kitchen, a vegan restaurant in Harpers Ferry, WV. Ben and his wife Sondra started Kelley Farms after going vegan themselves more than a decade ago. The cafe offers a mix of housemade and commercially available meat alternatives.

Ismael Montanez, the program manager at University of California Berkeley’s Alt Meat Lab, where he’s focused on food and sustainability broadly. He is co-founder and former CTO of plant-based lamb company Black Sheep Foods and eats both meat and plant-based replacements.

Andrea Cecchin, senior agriculture and carbon researcher at HowGood, a sustainability ratings company. Cecchin told me he and his family limit the amount of meat they eat but are focused on a wider plant based diet.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS

• Know your proteins.
  
• Assess your health needs and limitations.
• Take stock of your current diet and figure out what makes sense to replace.
• Maintain an open mind.

THE BASICS

• A food’s total carbon impact can be divided into four main areas: agriculture, processing, packaging and transportation, Cecchin told me. As a general rule, the largest part of any food’s impact is going to be in the agricultural phase. The processing stage, where food (e.g. wheat) is broken down into ingredients (e.g. flour) and/or processed with other foods to make a final product (e.g. bread), is “the other step where you can have quite some significant impacts.” Emissions at the processing stage are highly dependent on what kind of energy a business uses to power their processing, and how much energy they are using to do it, Cecchin said. In comparison, the packaging and transportation stage make up relatively small percentages of any food’s total impact.

What about eating local?

There’s plenty of environmental and social benefits to eating locally, but climate impact isn’t generally one of them.

With the exception of high-value fresh commodities that need to be transported by air, like coffee or cocoa, transportation has a “very limited impact” on a final product’s emissions, Cecchin said. This especially holds true for meat — according to one major study, transportation made up a vanishingly small percentage of total meat-related emissions..

Transportation emissions may make up a higher percentage of the fruits’ and vegetables’ total impact, but the overall impact will still be far less than meat, whether you’re snacking on imported pineapple from the chain grocery store or an apple from your farmer’s market.

Packaging is a similar story. “Many low-impact single serving items can end up with packaging driving up to 50% of their emissions,” Arthur Gillett, chief research officer at HowGood, told me — but “these products still generally have a low overall emissions factor.”

• When it comes to the comparative size of foods’ emissions impact, beef cattle (and other grazing animals raised for meat, like goats and lamb), have the highest median greenhouse gas emissions per 100 kilograms of protein. Even compared to other animal products – pork, chicken, cheese, etc. — the difference is “massive,” Cecchin says. There are a couple reasons why:

• A significant portion of beef’s emissions come from cows’ digestion. Cattle and other ruminants break down the grass and feed they eat by means of enteric fermentation, which in turn produces lots of methane, mostly in the form of burps, which are responsible for the vast majority of cow-related methane emissions.
• Cattle are also “inefficient” compared to other protein sources, Cecchin explained, needing much more feed and/or grass (and thus land) to produce a pound of protein compared to other animals. This process also takes more time than other animals, increasing the total amount of methane released per cow, especially if what they’re eating is harder to digest. It makes beef an “obvious target” for any company pitching a plant-based alternative, Cecchin said.

• Crops have their own carbon emissions, primarily from the use of nitrogen fertilizer, which is not only energy intensive to make, once it’s spread on fields it reacts with the soil to produce nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that’s much more powerful than CO2. Deforestation drives additional carbon emissions — although much of deforestation is actually driven by crops grown for animal feed.

• Mock meats, cheese, eggs and seafood can be made from a wide variety of ingredients, but soy, wheat, and pea proteins are the cheapest and easiest to make at scale, Montanez told me. They’re also pretty flavor-neutral, which makes them easier to disguise as other things. “If you’re making up a lamb flavor or a goat flavor or a pork flavor or a fish flavor, the protein source that you get might contribute to a little bit of umami,” Montanez added, but not enough to be distracting from the other ingredients. That’s especially important as the new batch of plant-based companies find taste is driving consumer’s decisions more than environmental impact, he said. “These products have to taste just as good, if not better, in order to have people switch over,” Montanez told me.

• Many companies use high-heat extrusion processes to texturize plant proteins, creating structures that replicate meat textures. That involves putting the raw material through “a lot of heat and pressure, forcing the proteins to align in strips, so it looks like muscle fiber,” Montanez explained.

• Other companies produce fake meat via fermentation, in which fungi or mushrooms are inoculated in an organic growing medium (sometimes itself a food byproduct) and naturally grow similar fibrous structures. You’ll see it on food labels as mycelium, fungus, or mushrooms — this is how my burrito’s “carne asada” was made — and it’s used to build everything from chicken cutlets to ribs. While this skips an expensive and energy-intensive extrusion step and can allow for more chewy or moist textures, Montanez said, it’s also slower to grow and less established commercially.

Confusingly, mushroom fermentation products cannot be called plant-based because fungi as a category are not considered plants. Go figure!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. Does what I eat even matter for the climate?

It’s a multi-trillion dollar question, frankly. While the worldwide food system is far more complex than individual consumer choices, shifts in demand for food products, especially among higher-income individuals, have created changes, such tripling the price of quinoa during a boom in its popularity in mid-2010s. The U.S. and China’s growing middle classes also drove a spike in pork demand, only to have that growth slow and reverse in the past few years over health concerns.

2. Is it safe to eat meat that’s grown in a lab?

The plant-based meat alternatives currently available at your grocery store may be highly processed, but they’re different from the cultivated or “lab-grown” meat coming from a new batch of food companies that seek to “grow” meat from scratch on the cellular level. In theory, this would create direct replacements for things like steaks or fish without actually requiring us to raise actual animals. Almost all of these products are still in the research and development stage, however, and none are currently commercially available in the U.S.

3. What if my burgers are labeled “carbon-neutral”?

Let’s not mince words: There is no such thing as carbon-neutral beef. How to reduce cattle’s climate impact is an area of active research, encompassing supplements and dietary changes, breeding programs to create animals that process food more efficiently, and even methane-sucking gas masks. There are also ranchers committed to using specific grazing techniques that encourage extra retention of soil carbon, thereby offsetting emissions from cows, but “the science is not there yet” on the scale of sequestration needed for fully carbon-neutral meat, Cecchin says. “Climate-friendly” or “low-carbon” meat labels have been criticized for a lack of data transparency and only represent a 10% reduction in beef emissions overall.

BEFORE YOU GET STARTED

1. Consider the animal.

The process of making plant-based mock meats is basically the reverse of their animal version, Montanez explained. While meat is made by processing animals into specific cuts or parts, plant-based replacements use protein-packed flours and other ingredients to build the “meat” back up.

Almost all fake red meat products will have a smaller greenhouse gas impact than their animal versions, Cecchin explained. Compared to a beef burger, the alternatives “really bring down the carbon footprint — the amount of water we need to use, and the amount of land that we use” per unit of food. But for other products, the savings are less clear. Chicken, for instance, has a much lower footprint, meaning replacements have to compete against a “very efficient industry and a very efficient meat.”

Processing details are rarely public, making it difficult to declare other meat replacements automatic emissions winners. “It’s really company by company, and could even be year by year as processing efficiencies change,” Cecchin said, adding that he hopes more companies will show clear evidence of their total emissions, including being specific about what they are comparing against.

2. Read the nutrition labels.

Fake animal products are also not the same nutritionally as actual animal products, in ways that can be positive or negative depending on your specific dietary needs. An allergy to soy or wheat gluten would immediately knock out a good portion of these options, and my carne asada came with a warning to anyone “sensitive” to fungi.

There are generally more carbs, less fat, and more fiber in substitutes compared to meat, but protein levels can vary widely, and sodium levels can be high (e.g. Impossible burgers have just as much fat and more salt than a 80% lean beef burger of the same size, though zero cholesterol). As with any processed or prepared food, a look at the nutritional label is well worth it.

More ways to decarbonize

Why One Weird Trick Can Cut Your Food-Related Emissions

Jillian Goodman

The Methodology Behind Decarbonize Your Life

Emily Pontecorvo

HEATMAP RECOMMENDS

If you want the convenience of bulk frozen burger patties, go with Impossible or Beyond burgers.

The experts all enjoyed the big-name beef replacements — Cecchin even said he has chosen Impossible and Beyond patties over regular burgers while eating out. If you have a little more time, though, Kelley said to skip the fast food fake burgers and make them yourself. Making good tasting meat replacements isn’t all that different from cooking meat itself: spices, technique and how it integrates into a meal makes all the difference. This is the case whether he’s using Impossible beef on the restaurant griddle or hand-making a black bean and chickpea patty. “Just like a raw piece of chicken,” he said, “it’s about how you cook it.”

If you love a chicken sandwich, pick up Gardein’s Chick’n filets.

Everyone I spoke to said most breaded chicken replacements match their animal versions pretty well — Montanez even called them “most consistently tasty” than their actual meat equivalents, which for him was enough to justify the slight additional cost. He said he thinks Impossible’s chicken nuggets are the “most convincing” — although he also cautioned that he doesn’t eat a lot of breaded meat products in the first place.

Morningstar Farms’ Chik Patty has been a go-to at-home lunch in my house for nearly three decades, primarily because of that consistency and ease of preparation. (The “buffalo” flavor is by far the best, in my opinion.) Kelley uses Gardein’s Chick’n on one of their most popular sandwiches at the restaurant — they’re a big fan of the company and product.

Don’t expect a lot of options for raw chicken alternatives, however. Montanez suspects the economics of competing with relatively cheap meat isn’t attractive to companies, especially when prepared breaded versions, both animal and plant-based, are already popular.

“Emulating the flavor of American chicken is relatively easy and shouldn’t be seen as a significant achievement,” Montanez said. “What’s truly interesting is creating a versatile analog that can withstand the same cooking conditions as real chicken.”

If you’re tailgating, get the Beyond Sausage Brat Original.

Kelley’s favorite meat replacement is Beyond’s bratwurst sausage, made with pea protein and avocado oil. He uses it in a variety of meals at his cafe, as well as to grill up at home, sometimes adding it to pasta.

If you must have a plant-based steak, try Juicy Marbles.

Steak and other meats that include marbled fats have been a particularly tricky nut to crack for fake meat producers because the traditional extrusion process makes it difficult to capture fat alongside protein. Montanez told me Juicy Marbles has developed a process capable of doing both, which it’s used to create filet and loin products.

If you’re trying to make the perfect vegan BLT, you might be out of luck (unless you live in Berkeley).

Montanez’s favorite fake bacon is only available in a vegan deli in Berkeley, California, but generally both he and Kelley haven’t found full bacon strips that really match the experience of eating bacon. “There’s no way to hold it after you cook it without it drying out,” Kelley said. Instead, he likes using soy [bacon] crumbles in various dishes, including in his potato salad.

If you’re putting together a charcuterie board, you want Prime Roots Koji Pepperoni.

The pepperoni and other fermented charcuterie from Prime Roots is “quite impressive, even from a meat eater’s perspective,” Montanez told me. The company starts its process with koji, a strain of fungus that has been part of Japanese cuisine for hundreds of years, including in the product of soy sauces and sake.

If you’re building a stacked sandwich, go with Tofurky.

The deli slices Kelley uses in sandwiches like reubens or Italian hoagies are made with seitan or a mix of seitan and soy, from a variety of companies. But the Tofurky brand (not just turkey) is one of their favorites. “We are always testing new recipes of our own and using reliable and ethical companies that we grew up loving,” he said.

If you’re craving a lobster roll, you might be on your own.

Kelley has yet to be convinced by most seafood replacements, he told me. “All the seafood is kind of just the same as the chicken replacements,” he said. Instead, he uses unripe jackfruit – a common meat replacement with a stringy texture – hearts of palm, and spices to replicate crab cakes. Having an exact match isn’t always a priority for Kelley, who’d rather highlight an ingredient that serves as a replacement rather than calling it by its faux name. His lobster roll replacement is made with hearts of palm, but it’s not “vegan lobster” on his menu, it’s a “hearts of palm” roll.

Texture is a “very difficult thing in seafood,” Montanez said. “I haven’t seen anything myself where it is 100% convincing,” but he points out companies like Impact Food that are making plant-based sushi without extrusion or fermentation, currently available in some New York and California restaurants.

If you’re making a sauce for your vegan buffalo wings, use Climax Foods’ blue cheese.

Montanez also called out vegan cheese as a category that struggles to match its original, citing texture, not flavor, as the sticking point, especially when it needs to work in a multitude of different recipes. “You might see a vegan cheese that’s okay applied in pieces,” he said, “but it’s only as good if you put it in pizza oven temperatures.” An exception to the rule for him is Climax Foods’ blue cheese, which almost pulled off a Judgment of Paris-like upset in a food competition this year before being removed from the running.

If you want a no-meat picnic full of protein, sample the various offerings from Quorn.

Montanez identified Quorn as a brand that’s not trying to replicate meat exactly, but tastes good on its own. The British company has a wide range of no-meat products that feel like they could have a home in a Tesco, from a vegan Yorkshire ham to mini sausage rolls to “picnic eggs.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

1. It’s all a matter of taste.

Approaches to fake meat taste fall on a spectrum. On one end are companies that try to replicate as closely as possible the taste, texture, and smell of some specific meat product — say, a chicken nugget. (Your personal mileage may vary when it comes to replicas of more complicated meat cuts such as steaks or pork chops.) On the other end are brands that offer a functional, hopefully flavorful replacement for meat in a meal but otherwise aren’t trying to fool anyone.

The former approach involves more materials science and chemistry, Montanez told me. For example, Impossible makes a soy version of a key molecule in meat known as heme and combines it with a carefully calibrated proportion of sugars, fats, and water to induce the Maillard reaction, the process that makes meat brown and form a crust. It’s possible to create a similar meaty flavor profile without heme (Impossible has a patent on their version), but they have their own complications.

“It’s those sugars reacting with the proteins and creating these molecules that ultimately result in a meaty aroma or flavor,” Montanez said.

Kelley Farm’s menu is a good example of the wider ingredient possibilities of meat replacements beyond this approach. In addition to Impossible patties, Beyond brats, and Gardein’s Chick’n, the restaurant also serves deli meat replacements made with seitan (basically textured wheat gluten); folded eggs made from mung beans; BBQ pulled pork made from jackfruit, which mimics that stringy texture naturally (I’ve had both Kelley Farms’ barbeque sandwich and commercial jackfruit BBQ versions and would happily eat either again); and a burger patty that’s their own mix of chickpeas and black beans.

2. Don’t overcomplicate it.

It’s also worth noting that there is a more literal approach to eating a plant-based diet that’s already the standard in many other countries — that is, rather than replacing meat products with fake meat products, just eat more plants. If you feel like you’re missing out on protein, beans, lentils, tofu, and certain grains like quinoa, farro or teff, have high amounts.

Highly engineered meat substitutes are often more expensive than the animal products they are replacing, so if you’re struggling with hunger, have specific dietary requirements, anxiety around food, or an eating disorder, concerns about emissions shouldn’t even enter the picture.

For that matter, just reorienting your approach to eating meat saves a lot of carbon on its own. Kelley told me he reaches for meat replacements when he’s craving something specific, while Cecchin prefers meat alternatives when he’s eating out.

SAVOR THE MEAT-FREE FLAVORS!

https://heatmap.news/best-fake-meat

---

Which Fake Meats Are Actually Good?

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

It was burrito night — I had some tortillas, salsa, guacamole and red onion in my refrigerator, but all our meat was still frozen, and I didn’t have any beans handy. So I did what any climate reporter with an interest in food systems would do and grabbed a pack of meatless “carne asada” I’d picked up out of curiosity and threw it into the mix. The end result was more “huh” than “wow,” but it held its own — with a little help from some hot sauce.

Growing, raising, processing and transporting food is responsible for roughly a quarter of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, nearly 60% of which comes from meat production, according to one estimation. If you’re concerned about your personal carbon impact, eating less meat is probably on your to-do list. But what if you still like a carne asada burrito? Thankfully, there are plenty of companies working on satisfying your cravings, no animals involved.

There are lots of other food system concerns that won’t make it into this guide — things like agricultural livelihoods, water use, and animal well-being. But if you’re curious about how fake meats work, what they taste like, and their emissions impact, here’s what you’ll want to know.

THE EXPERT PANEL

Ben Kelley, owner and proprietor of Kelley Farms Kitchen, a vegan restaurant in Harpers Ferry, WV. Ben and his wife Sondra started Kelley Farms after going vegan themselves more than a decade ago. The cafe offers a mix of housemade and commercially available meat alternatives.

Ismael Montanez, the program manager at University of California Berkeley’s Alt Meat Lab, where he’s focused on food and sustainability broadly. He is co-founder and former CTO of plant-based lamb company Black Sheep Foods and eats both meat and plant-based replacements.

Andrea Cecchin, senior agriculture and carbon researcher at HowGood, a sustainability ratings company. Cecchin told me he and his family limit the amount of meat they eat but are focused on a wider plant based diet.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS

• Know your proteins.
  
• Assess your health needs and limitations.
• Take stock of your current diet and figure out what makes sense to replace.
• Maintain an open mind.

THE BASICS

• A food’s total carbon impact can be divided into four main areas: agriculture, processing, packaging and transportation, Cecchin told me. As a general rule, the largest part of any food’s impact is going to be in the agricultural phase. The processing stage, where food (e.g. wheat) is broken down into ingredients (e.g. flour) and/or processed with other foods to make a final product (e.g. bread), is “the other step where you can have quite some significant impacts.” Emissions at the processing stage are highly dependent on what kind of energy a business uses to power their processing, and how much energy they are using to do it, Cecchin said. In comparison, the packaging and transportation stage make up relatively small percentages of any food’s total impact.

What about eating local?

There’s plenty of environmental and social benefits to eating locally, but climate impact isn’t generally one of them.
    </div>

With the exception of high-value fresh commodities that need to be transported by air, like coffee or cocoa, transportation has a “very limited impact” on a final product’s emissions, Cecchin said. This especially holds true for meat — according to 
        <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">one major study</a>, transportation made up a vanishingly small percentage of total meat-related emissions..
    </div>

Transportation emissions may make up a higher percentage of the fruits’ and vegetables’ total impact, but the overall impact will still be far less than meat, whether you’re snacking on imported pineapple from the chain grocery store or an apple from your farmer’s market.
    </div>

Packaging is a similar story. “Many low-impact single serving items can end up with packaging driving up to 50% of their emissions,” Arthur Gillett, chief research officer at HowGood, told me — but “these products still generally have a low overall emissions factor.”
    </div>

• When it comes to the comparative size of foods’ emissions impact, beef cattle (and other grazing animals raised for meat, like goats and lamb), have the highest median greenhouse gas emissions per 100 kilograms of protein. Even compared to other animal products – pork, chicken, cheese, etc. — the difference is “massive,” Cecchin says. There are a couple reasons why:

• A significant portion of beef’s emissions come from cows’ digestion. Cattle and other ruminants break down the grass and feed they eat by means of enteric fermentation, which in turn produces lots of methane, mostly in the form of burps, which are responsible for the vast majority of cow-related methane emissions.
• Cattle are also “inefficient” compared to other protein sources, Cecchin explained, needing much more feed and/or grass (and thus land) to produce a pound of protein compared to other animals. This process also takes more time than other animals, increasing the total amount of methane released per cow, especially if what they’re eating is harder to digest. It makes beef an “obvious target” for any company pitching a plant-based alternative, Cecchin said.

• Crops have their own carbon emissions, primarily from the use of nitrogen fertilizer, which is not only energy intensive to make, once it’s spread on fields it reacts with the soil to produce nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that’s much more powerful than CO2. Deforestation drives additional carbon emissions — although much of deforestation is actually driven by crops grown for animal feed.

• Mock meats, cheese, eggs and seafood can be made from a wide variety of ingredients, but soy, wheat, and pea proteins are the cheapest and easiest to make at scale, Montanez told me. They’re also pretty flavor-neutral, which makes them easier to disguise as other things. “If you’re making up a lamb flavor or a goat flavor or a pork flavor or a fish flavor, the protein source that you get might contribute to a little bit of umami,” Montanez added, but not enough to be distracting from the other ingredients. That’s especially important as the new batch of plant-based companies find taste is driving consumer’s decisions more than environmental impact, he said. “These products have to taste just as good, if not better, in order to have people switch over,” Montanez told me.

• Many companies use high-heat extrusion processes to texturize plant proteins, creating structures that replicate meat textures. That involves putting the raw material through “a lot of heat and pressure, forcing the proteins to align in strips, so it looks like muscle fiber,” Montanez explained.

• Other companies produce fake meat via fermentation, in which fungi or mushrooms are inoculated in an organic growing medium (sometimes itself a food byproduct) and naturally grow similar fibrous structures. You’ll see it on food labels as mycelium, fungus, or mushrooms — this is how my burrito’s “carne asada” was made — and it’s used to build everything from chicken cutlets to ribs. While this skips an expensive and energy-intensive extrusion step and can allow for more chewy or moist textures, Montanez said, it’s also slower to grow and less established commercially.

        Confusingly, mushroom fermentation products cannot be called plant-based because fungi as a category are not considered plants. Go figure!
    </div>

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. Does what I eat even matter for the climate?

It’s a multi-trillion dollar question, frankly. While the worldwide food system is far more complex than individual consumer choices, shifts in demand for food products, especially among higher-income individuals, have created changes, such tripling the price of quinoa during a boom in its popularity in mid-2010s. The U.S. and China’s growing middle classes also drove a spike in pork demand, only to have that growth slow and reverse in the past few years over health concerns.

2. Is it safe to eat meat that’s grown in a lab?

The plant-based meat alternatives currently available at your grocery store may be highly processed, but they’re different from the cultivated or “lab-grown” meat coming from a new batch of food companies that seek to “grow” meat from scratch on the cellular level. In theory, this would create direct replacements for things like steaks or fish without actually requiring us to raise actual animals. Almost all of these products are still in the research and development stage, however, and none are currently commercially available in the U.S.

3. What if my burgers are labeled “carbon-neutral”?

Let’s not mince words: There is no such thing as carbon-neutral beef. How to reduce cattle’s climate impact is an area of active research, encompassing supplements and dietary changes, breeding programs to create animals that process food more efficiently, and even methane-sucking gas masks. There are also ranchers committed to using specific grazing techniques that encourage extra retention of soil carbon, thereby offsetting emissions from cows, but “the science is not there yet” on the scale of sequestration needed for fully carbon-neutral meat, Cecchin says. “Climate-friendly” or “low-carbon” meat labels have been criticized for a lack of data transparency and only represent a 10% reduction in beef emissions overall.

BEFORE YOU GET STARTED

1. Consider the animal.

The process of making plant-based mock meats is basically the reverse of their animal version, Montanez explained. While meat is made by processing animals into specific cuts or parts, plant-based replacements use protein-packed flours and other ingredients to build the “meat” back up.

Almost all fake red meat products will have a smaller greenhouse gas impact than their animal versions, Cecchin explained. Compared to a beef burger, the alternatives “really bring down the carbon footprint — the amount of water we need to use, and the amount of land that we use” per unit of food. But for other products, the savings are less clear. Chicken, for instance, has a much lower footprint, meaning replacements have to compete against a “very efficient industry and a very efficient meat.”

Processing details are rarely public, making it difficult to declare other meat replacements automatic emissions winners. “It’s really company by company, and could even be year by year as processing efficiencies change,” Cecchin said, adding that he hopes more companies will show clear evidence of their total emissions, including being specific about what they are comparing against.

2. Read the nutrition labels.

Fake animal products are also not the same nutritionally as actual animal products, in ways that can be positive or negative depending on your specific dietary needs. An allergy to soy or wheat gluten would immediately knock out a good portion of these options, and my carne asada came with a warning to anyone “sensitive” to fungi.

There are generally more carbs, less fat, and more fiber in substitutes compared to meat, but protein levels can vary widely, and sodium levels can be high (e.g. Impossible burgers have just as much fat and more salt than a 80% lean beef burger of the same size, though zero cholesterol). As with any processed or prepared food, a look at the nutritional label is well worth it.

More ways to decarbonize

Why One Weird Trick Can Cut Your Food-Related Emissions

 Jillian Goodman

The Methodology Behind Decarbonize Your Life

 Emily Pontecorvo

HEATMAP RECOMMENDS

If you want the convenience of bulk frozen burger patties, go with Impossible or Beyond burgers.

The experts all enjoyed the big-name beef replacements — Cecchin even said he has chosen Impossible and Beyond patties over regular burgers while eating out. If you have a little more time, though, Kelley said to skip the fast food fake burgers and make them yourself. Making good tasting meat replacements isn’t all that different from cooking meat itself: spices, technique and how it integrates into a meal makes all the difference. This is the case whether he’s using Impossible beef on the restaurant griddle or hand-making a black bean and chickpea patty. “Just like a raw piece of chicken,” he said, “it’s about how you cook it.”

If you love a chicken sandwich, pick up Gardein’s Chick’n filets.

Everyone I spoke to said most breaded chicken replacements match their animal versions pretty well — Montanez even called them “most consistently tasty” than their actual meat equivalents, which for him was enough to justify the slight additional cost. He said he thinks Impossible’s chicken nuggets are the “most convincing” — although he also cautioned that he doesn’t eat a lot of breaded meat products in the first place.

Morningstar Farms’ Chik Patty has been a go-to at-home lunch in my house for nearly three decades, primarily because of that consistency and ease of preparation. (The “buffalo” flavor is by far the best, in my opinion.) Kelley uses Gardein’s Chick’n on one of their most popular sandwiches at the restaurant — they’re a big fan of the company and product.

Don’t expect a lot of options for raw chicken alternatives, however. Montanez suspects the economics of competing with relatively cheap meat isn’t attractive to companies, especially when prepared breaded versions, both animal and plant-based, are already popular.

“Emulating the flavor of American chicken is relatively easy and shouldn’t be seen as a significant achievement,” Montanez said. “What’s truly interesting is creating a versatile analog that can withstand the same cooking conditions as real chicken.”

If you’re tailgating, get the Beyond Sausage Brat Original.

Kelley’s favorite meat replacement is Beyond’s bratwurst sausage, made with pea protein and avocado oil. He uses it in a variety of meals at his cafe, as well as to grill up at home, sometimes adding it to pasta.

If you must have a plant-based steak, try Juicy Marbles.

Steak and other meats that include marbled fats have been a particularly tricky nut to crack for fake meat producers because the traditional extrusion process makes it difficult to capture fat alongside protein. Montanez told me Juicy Marbles has developed a process capable of doing both, which it’s used to create filet and loin products.

If you’re trying to make the perfect vegan BLT, you might be out of luck (unless you live in Berkeley).

Montanez’s favorite fake bacon is only available in a vegan deli in Berkeley, California, but generally both he and Kelley haven’t found full bacon strips that really match the experience of eating bacon. “There’s no way to hold it after you cook it without it drying out,” Kelley said. Instead, he likes using soy [bacon] crumbles in various dishes, including in his potato salad.

If you’re putting together a charcuterie board, you want Prime Roots Koji Pepperoni.

The pepperoni and other fermented charcuterie from Prime Roots is “quite impressive, even from a meat eater’s perspective,” Montanez told me. The company starts its process with koji, a strain of fungus that has been part of Japanese cuisine for hundreds of years, including in the product of soy sauces and sake.

If you’re building a stacked sandwich, go with Tofurky.

The deli slices Kelley uses in sandwiches like reubens or Italian hoagies are made with seitan or a mix of seitan and soy, from a variety of companies. But the Tofurky brand (not just turkey) is one of their favorites. “We are always testing new recipes of our own and using reliable and ethical companies that we grew up loving,” he said.

If you’re craving a lobster roll, you might be on your own.

Kelley has yet to be convinced by most seafood replacements, he told me. “All the seafood is kind of just the same as the chicken replacements,” he said. Instead, he uses unripe jackfruit – a common meat replacement with a stringy texture – hearts of palm, and spices to replicate crab cakes. Having an exact match isn’t always a priority for Kelley, who’d rather highlight an ingredient that serves as a replacement rather than calling it by its faux name. His lobster roll replacement is made with hearts of palm, but it’s not “vegan lobster” on his menu, it’s a “hearts of palm” roll.

Texture is a “very difficult thing in seafood,” Montanez said. “I haven’t seen anything myself where it is 100% convincing,” but he points out companies like Impact Food that are making plant-based sushi without extrusion or fermentation, currently available in some New York and California restaurants.

If you’re making a sauce for your vegan buffalo wings, use Climax Foods’ blue cheese.

Montanez also called out vegan cheese as a category that struggles to match its original, citing texture, not flavor, as the sticking point, especially when it needs to work in a multitude of different recipes. “You might see a vegan cheese that’s okay applied in pieces,” he said, “but it’s only as good if you put it in pizza oven temperatures.” An exception to the rule for him is Climax Foods’ blue cheese, which almost pulled off a Judgment of Paris-like upset in a food competition this year before being removed from the running.

If you want a no-meat picnic full of protein, sample the various offerings from Quorn.

Montanez identified Quorn as a brand that’s not trying to replicate meat exactly, but tastes good on its own. The British company has a wide range of no-meat products that feel like they could have a home in a Tesco, from a vegan Yorkshire ham to mini sausage rolls to “picnic eggs.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

1. It’s all a matter of taste.

Approaches to fake meat taste fall on a spectrum. On one end are companies that try to replicate as closely as possible the taste, texture, and smell of some specific meat product — say, a chicken nugget. (Your personal mileage may vary when it comes to replicas of more complicated meat cuts such as steaks or pork chops.) On the other end are brands that offer a functional, hopefully flavorful replacement for meat in a meal but otherwise aren’t trying to fool anyone.

The former approach involves more materials science and chemistry, Montanez told me. For example, Impossible makes a soy version of a key molecule in meat known as heme and combines it with a carefully calibrated proportion of sugars, fats, and water to induce the Maillard reaction, the process that makes meat brown and form a crust. It’s possible to create a similar meaty flavor profile without heme (Impossible has a patent on their version), but they have their own complications.

“It’s those sugars reacting with the proteins and creating these molecules that ultimately result in a meaty aroma or flavor,” Montanez said.

Kelley Farm’s menu is a good example of the wider ingredient possibilities of meat replacements beyond this approach. In addition to Impossible patties, Beyond brats, and Gardein’s Chick’n, the restaurant also serves deli meat replacements made with seitan (basically textured wheat gluten); folded eggs made from mung beans; BBQ pulled pork made from jackfruit, which mimics that stringy texture naturally (I’ve had both Kelley Farms’ barbeque sandwich and commercial jackfruit BBQ versions and would happily eat either again); and a burger patty that’s their own mix of chickpeas and black beans.

2. Don’t overcomplicate it.

It’s also worth noting that there is a more literal approach to eating a plant-based diet that’s already the standard in many other countries — that is, rather than replacing meat products with fake meat products, just eat more plants. If you feel like you’re missing out on protein, beans, lentils, tofu, and certain grains like quinoa, farro or teff, have high amounts.

Highly engineered meat substitutes are often more expensive than the animal products they are replacing, so if you’re struggling with hunger, have specific dietary requirements, anxiety around food, or an eating disorder, concerns about emissions shouldn’t even enter the picture.

For that matter, just reorienting your approach to eating meat saves a lot of carbon on its own. Kelley told me he reaches for meat replacements when he’s craving something specific, while Cecchin prefers meat alternatives when he’s eating out.

SAVOR THE MEAT-FREE FLAVORS!

https://heatmap.news/decarbonize-your-life/best-fake-meat

---

Soyuz capsule with 2 Russians, 1 American from ISS returns to Earth

date: 2024-09-23, from: VOA News USA

Moscow — A Soyuz capsule carrying two Russians and one American from the International Space Station landed Monday in Kazakhstan, ending a record-breaking stay for the Russian pair.

The capsule landed on the Kazakh steppe about 3 1/2 hours after undocking from the ISS in an apparently trouble-free descent. In the last stage of the landing, it descended under a red-and-white parachute at about 7.2 meters per second (16 mph), with small rockets fired in the final seconds to cushion the touchdown.

The astronauts were extracted from the capsule and placed in nearby chairs to help them adjust to gravity, then given medical examinations in a nearby tent.

Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub returned after 374 days aboard the space station; on Friday they broke the record for the longest continuous stay there. Also in the capsule was American Tracy Dyson, who was in the space station for six months.

Eight astronauts remain in the space station, including Americans Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have remained long past their scheduled return to Earth.

They arrived in June as the first crew of Boeing’s new Starliner capsule. But their trip was marred by thruster troubles and helium leaks, and the U.S. space agency NASA decided it was too risky to return them on Starliner.

The two astronauts are to ride home with SpaceX next year.

https://www.voanews.com/a/soyuz-capsule-with-2-russians-1-american-from-iss-returns-to-earth/7794800.html

---

Want to Decarbonize Your Community? Here’s How.

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

Driving less has a lot of benefits. You’ll be healthier than your vehicle-bound peers, about a third of whom don’t walk for more than 10 minutes a week. You’ll cut carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane emissions. In the process, you’ll probably realize how awful America’s public and active transportation infrastructure is — and may want to do something about it.

The same goes for just about any action you’ll find in Heatmap’s guide to decarbonizing your life. Should it be easier to get a permit to install rooftop solar panels? For sure. Should there be more public chargers to support EV adoption in your community? Without a doubt.

It can be especially overwhelming to think about getting involved in your local political processes when it comes to mobility because the cards are stacked so heavily in drivers’ favor. But it’s far from impossible. Here’s Heatmap’s guide to advocating for better transportation options and infrastructure in your community.

Pick a project

This might be the hardest step of all. To take transportation as an example, most American cities and towns were literally constructed to get drivers from point A to point B as fast as possible — meaning that their design is often actively hostile to anyone who wants to walk, bike, or take mass transit instead. If you put your mind to it, you could probably devise a dozen ways to make your immediate neighborhood friendlier to carless commuters.

Transportation for America’s transit advocate guide has several suggested starting places, including advocating for additional late-night service on a particular bus route, improving access to transit stations or stops (known as first- or last-mile connectivity), and pushing for shuttle services to connect riders with jobs. Petitioning for something like a bike lane, new sidewalk, safer intersections, or a missing crosswalk is another good place to start.

“Focus on one individual project,” Alexa Sledge, the communications director at Transportation Alternatives, a New York City nonprofit promoting non-polluting, safe, and quiet travel, told me. Being clear and focused on what you want — and, importantly, not getting overwhelmed or pulled in multiple directions — will help you achieve your goal. Strong Towns, a nonprofit that supports transportation advocates, calls this step the “humble observation:” identifying where people are struggling in your community and zeroing in on the smallest first possible step to help.

More ways to decarbonize

How (and Why!) to Think About Driving a Little Less

Jeva Lange

How to Shop for an EV

Andrew Moseman

Get involved with your local transportation advocacy group

Here’s the excellent news: You aren’t in this fight alone.

Pretty much every major city and metropolitan region in the U.S. has its own transportation advocacy group these days, and you’re potentially just a Google search away from locating yours. (If you can’t find a transportation-specific group, look into local climate or pedestrian organizations, which frequently have overlapping objectives.)

It’s important to link up with others not just because they might already have identified priority projects in your area. Advocating for structural change requires, by definition, allies — and unfortunately, car-centricity is so dominant that transit advocates are often forced to prove the obvious community benefits of things like better bus routes or protected bike lanes.

If you don’t live in an area with an active transit group, nationwide organizations like Transportation for America and Strong Towns can connect with to get the tools, resources, training, and advice you need to start gathering allies.

How do I change a zoning law? Or weigh in on a renewable energy project near me?

Maybe you’re reading this guide because you’re interested in advocating climate-conscious zoning reform or want to weigh in on a wind farm nearby. There is a “profound diversity” of processes to do so from municipality to municipality, and no one-size-fits-all approach. That’s why it’s extra important to get involved with a local advocacy group; veteran organizers in your area can help you navigate the labyrinthine processes of your specific local government.

That said, here are a few things to keep your eyes peeled for:

• Comment Periods. A comment period typically lasts 30 to 60 days and is conducted by the overseeing public agency (for example, here is the EPA’s database of environmental impact statements that are currently open for public comments). Public comment periods for large developments typically happen during the scoping process, following a Notice of Intent published in the Federal Register.
• Metropolitan Planning Organizations help oversee how federal transportation funds get used regionally. They can be structured in different ways but generally they’re run by elected officials. Getting in touch with your MPO representative can be powerful because, as Streetsblog writes, “you’ll likely catch them by surprise and find them more receptive to strategic pressure than expected.”

• Typically, state legislators need to write new laws to change things like existing zoning regulations. Learn who represents you and tell them what you think about plans in your city or town — and organize locally to campaign for candidates who would advance your goals.

Let your elected officials know you care about transit

There is an old urban planning joke about how traffic woes could be fixed by adding just one more lane. (They can’t be). Alas, this is also something of a federal policy; even though the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law set aside $36 billion to “transform our transportation system,” many states used their flexible funds for things like widening roads. Mass and active transit are often only an afterthought when it comes to funding: the Capital Investment Grants Program, one of the most significant federal programs for transit, is on the chopping block every budget-writing session, and programs like the Highway Trust Fund puts as little as 13% toward mass transit.

It’s our elected officials who make these decisions, though — and it’s their job to listen to their constituents. Here’s a handy page for determining the relevant senators and representatives to contact about federal funding for transit and active mobility policies; for local projects, you’ll want to reach out to your city council members, whose names and email addresses or phone numbers you should be able to find on your city website. And if you feel you’re getting brushed off by city staff when you reach out, focus on the smallest possible steps forward and be persistent (you can learn more strategies here).

Make a public comment

The truth is, most people don’t go to their city council meetings. “When you really get down to the local level, there often aren’t as many people fighting, so you really can make a big difference,” Sledge said. Speaking up at hearings, town halls, public comment periods, or city council meetings can result in significant change and progress.

But let’s face it: Because most of us don’t have experience in local activism, telling someone to “go to a city council meeting” is much easier said than done. “The thing to remember is that your city council members work for you,” Sledge said. “They are elected members of your government, and you vote for them, and they are paid with taxpayer money. It’s part of their job to listen to you.”

Doug Gordon, the cohost of The War on Cars, a podcast about the fight against car culture, also suggested taking some of the pressure off yourself. “Don’t feel like you have to give the rousing patriotic speech in defense of the neighborhood bike lane,” he told me. “Just go and listen, and maybe if all that’s asked of you is to raise your hand when they ask how many people support this project, and that’s all you do, great.”

You don’t necessarily need to show up at a town council meeting or a representative’s office, either. Sledge suggested taking smaller steps like a phone call or email, or even just talking to people in your immediate community (for example, if you want a crosswalk outside your kid’s school, start by talking to the school board or other parents). When approaching someone like your city counselor, use language like: “This crosswalk is really important to me. How do I get this done?”

A Step-By-Step Guide to Making a Public Comment

1. Depending on the project you’re pursuing, look up when your local transportation authority is inviting public comments ( here’s an example of what that page looks like in New York City). You can also search for when your state is holding public transportation hearings (here’s what Oklahoma’s looks like) and contact the relevant representatives to express your views. Most likely, though, you’ll be looking for your town’s public meeting schedule (here’s an example of San Jose’s) and seeking a special session related to transportation or a regular business meeting. Virtual hearings have also been common since the pandemic.

   2. Research beforehand to learn how to comment publicly in your city or town. This may involve signing up on the town’s website or on a sign-in sheet when you arrive at the hearing.

   3. In most cases, during the public comment portion of the city council meeting, you can address the council on any public issue (it does not have to be on the agenda). Again, check your city or town’s website to learn the specifics of procedures. Also, be aware of the time limit for your comments; generally, you’ll have about three minutes.

   When you’re called on:

   • State your full name and any brief, relevant details, like the neighborhood you live in or the transit advocacy group you’re associated with.
   • Give a one-sentence “ask” for what you want from the council.
   • Add supporting details — tell your story. Why is this important to you? How will it benefit others in your community? When you can, back up statements with data (the American Public Transportation Association has a toolbox full of handy stats).
   • Restate your “ask” in conclusion.
   • Thank your representatives.

   During your comment, you will probably see a timer somewhere in the room to help you track how long you have left to speak. The best comments are short and concise. Even if you’re frustrated with the process, be polite; remember that your comment can be seen and cited by anyone, including the media. Speak slowly. Here’s a guide for making an effective public comment from the National Resources Defense Council, with a sample script.

Keep going

“If changing the system was easy,” writes Strong Towns, “we’d have done it long ago.” Many campaigns take years to come to fruition — being persistent and building a consensus, so advocates are working together toward the same cause, are two of the biggest lessons for success that Transportation for America stresses in their case studies.

It may take getting creative. Join the greater transportation advocacy community; listen to relevant podcasts, read related books, watch relevant YouTube videos, and learn from other campaigns. “You need a website, you need a public petition, and you need a T-shirt, because otherwise you’re just somebody with an opinion,” Rob Goodspeed, a founder of Trains Not Lanes, which successfully convinced Michigan’s Department of Transportation to drop highway expansion plans, told Streetsblog.

And when you do finally succeed? Celebrate. Promote it. Share your lessons with other organizers. Then identify a new project and begin again.

https://heatmap.news/how-to-get-a-new-bike-lane

---

Want to Decarbonize Your Community? Here’s How.

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

Driving less has a lot of benefits. You’ll be healthier than your vehicle-bound peers, about a third of whom don’t walk for more than 10 minutes a week. You’ll cut carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane emissions. In the process, you’ll probably realize how awful America’s public and active transportation infrastructure is — and may want to do something about it.

The same goes for just about any action you’ll find in Heatmap’s guide to decarbonizing your life. Should it be easier to get a permit to install rooftop solar panels? For sure. Should there be more public chargers to support EV adoption in your community? Without a doubt.

It can be especially overwhelming to think about getting involved in your local political processes when it comes to mobility because the cards are stacked so heavily in drivers’ favor. But it’s far from impossible. Here’s Heatmap’s guide to advocating for better transportation options and infrastructure in your community.

Pick a project

This might be the hardest step of all. To take transportation as an example, most American cities and towns were literally constructed to get drivers from point A to point B as fast as possible — meaning that their design is often actively hostile to anyone who wants to walk, bike, or take mass transit instead. If you put your mind to it, you could probably devise a dozen ways to make your immediate neighborhood friendlier to carless commuters.

Transportation for America’s transit advocate guide has several suggested starting places, including advocating for additional late-night service on a particular bus route, improving access to transit stations or stops (known as first- or last-mile connectivity), and pushing for shuttle services to connect riders with jobs. Petitioning for something like a bike lane, new sidewalk, safer intersections, or a missing crosswalk is another good place to start.

“Focus on one individual project,” Alexa Sledge, the communications director at Transportation Alternatives, a New York City nonprofit promoting non-polluting, safe, and quiet travel, told me. Being clear and focused on what you want — and, importantly, not getting overwhelmed or pulled in multiple directions — will help you achieve your goal. Strong Towns, a nonprofit that supports transportation advocates, calls this step the “humble observation:” identifying where people are struggling in your community and zeroing in on the smallest first possible step to help.

More ways to decarbonize

How (and Why!) to Think About Driving a Little Less

                Jeva Lange
            </div>

How to Shop for an EV

                Andrew Moseman
            </div>

Get involved with your local transportation advocacy group

Here’s the excellent news: You aren’t in this fight alone.

Pretty much every major city and metropolitan region in the U.S. has its own transportation advocacy group these days, and you’re potentially just a Google search away from locating yours. (If you can’t find a transportation-specific group, look into local climate or pedestrian organizations, which frequently have overlapping objectives.)

It’s important to link up with others not just because they might already have identified priority projects in your area. Advocating for structural change requires, by definition, allies — and unfortunately, car-centricity is so dominant that transit advocates are often forced to prove the obvious community benefits of things like better bus routes or protected bike lanes.

If you don’t live in an area with an active transit group, nationwide organizations like Transportation for America and Strong Towns can connect with to get the tools, resources, training, and advice you need to start gathering allies.

How do I change a zoning law? Or weigh in on a renewable energy project near me?

Maybe you’re reading this guide because you’re interested in advocating climate-conscious zoning reform or want to weigh in on a wind farm nearby. There is a “profound diversity” of processes to do so from municipality to municipality, and no one-size-fits-all approach. That’s why it’s extra important to get involved with a local advocacy group; veteran organizers in your area can help you navigate the labyrinthine processes of your specific local government.

That said, here are a few things to keep your eyes peeled for:

• Comment Periods. A comment period typically lasts 30 to 60 days and is conducted by the overseeing public agency (for example, here is the EPA’s database of environmental impact statements that are currently open for public comments). Public comment periods for large developments typically happen during the scoping process, following a Notice of Intent published in the Federal Register.
• Metropolitan Planning Organizations help oversee how federal transportation funds get used regionally. They can be structured in different ways but generally they’re run by elected officials. Getting in touch with your MPO representative can be powerful because, as Streetsblog writes, “you’ll likely catch them by surprise and find them more receptive to strategic pressure than expected.”

• Typically, state legislators need to write new laws to change things like existing zoning regulations. Learn who represents you and tell them what you think about plans in your city or town — and organize locally to campaign for candidates who would advance your goals.

Let your elected officials know you care about transit

There is an old urban planning joke about how traffic woes could be fixed by adding just one more lane. (They can’t be). Alas, this is also something of a federal policy; even though the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law set aside $36 billion to “transform our transportation system,” many states used their flexible funds for things like widening roads. Mass and active transit are often only an afterthought when it comes to funding: the Capital Investment Grants Program, one of the most significant federal programs for transit, is on the chopping block every budget-writing session, and programs like the Highway Trust Fund puts as little as 13% toward mass transit.

It’s our elected officials who make these decisions, though — and it’s their job to listen to their constituents. Here’s a handy page for determining the relevant senators and representatives to contact about federal funding for transit and active mobility policies; for local projects, you’ll want to reach out to your city council members, whose names and email addresses or phone numbers you should be able to find on your city website. And if you feel you’re getting brushed off by city staff when you reach out, focus on the smallest possible steps forward and be persistent (you can learn more strategies here).

Make a public comment

The truth is, most people don’t go to their city council meetings. “When you really get down to the local level, there often aren’t as many people fighting, so you really can make a big difference,” Sledge said. Speaking up at hearings, town halls, public comment periods, or city council meetings can result in significant change and progress.

But let’s face it: Because most of us don’t have experience in local activism, telling someone to “go to a city council meeting” is much easier said than done. “The thing to remember is that your city council members work for you,” Sledge said. “They are elected members of your government, and you vote for them, and they are paid with taxpayer money. It’s part of their job to listen to you.”

Doug Gordon, the cohost of The War on Cars, a podcast about the fight against car culture, also suggested taking some of the pressure off yourself. “Don’t feel like you have to give the rousing patriotic speech in defense of the neighborhood bike lane,” he told me. “Just go and listen, and maybe if all that’s asked of you is to raise your hand when they ask how many people support this project, and that’s all you do, great.”

You don’t necessarily need to show up at a town council meeting or a representative’s office, either. Sledge suggested taking smaller steps like a phone call or email, or even just talking to people in your immediate community (for example, if you want a crosswalk outside your kid’s school, start by talking to the school board or other parents). When approaching someone like your city counselor, use language like: “This crosswalk is really important to me. How do I get this done?”

A Step-By-Step Guide to Making a Public Comment

1. Depending on the project you’re pursuing, look up when your local transportation authority is inviting public comments ( here’s an example of what that page looks like in New York City). You can also search for when your state is holding public transportation hearings (here’s what Oklahoma’s looks like) and contact the relevant representatives to express your views. Most likely, though, you’ll be looking for your town’s public meeting schedule (here’s an example of San Jose’s) and seeking a special session related to transportation or a regular business meeting. Virtual hearings have also been common since the pandemic.

   2. Research beforehand to learn how to comment publicly in your city or town. This may involve signing up on the town’s website or on a sign-in sheet when you arrive at the hearing.

   3. In most cases, during the public comment portion of the city council meeting, you can address the council on any public issue (it does not have to be on the agenda). Again, check your city or town’s website to learn the specifics of procedures. Also, be aware of the time limit for your comments; generally, you’ll have about three minutes.

   When you’re called on:

   • State your full name and any brief, relevant details, like the neighborhood you live in or the transit advocacy group you’re associated with.
   • Give a one-sentence “ask” for what you want from the council.
   • Add supporting details — tell your story. Why is this important to you? How will it benefit others in your community? When you can, back up statements with data (the American Public Transportation Association has a toolbox full of handy stats).
   • Restate your “ask” in conclusion.
   • Thank your representatives.

   During your comment, you will probably see a timer somewhere in the room to help you track how long you have left to speak. The best comments are short and concise. Even if you’re frustrated with the process, be polite; remember that your comment can be seen and cited by anyone, including the media. Speak slowly. Here’s a guide for making an effective public comment from the National Resources Defense Council, with a sample script.

Keep going

“If changing the system was easy,” writes Strong Towns, “we’d have done it long ago.” Many campaigns take years to come to fruition — being persistent and building a consensus, so advocates are working together toward the same cause, are two of the biggest lessons for success that Transportation for America stresses in their case studies.

It may take getting creative. Join the greater transportation advocacy community; listen to relevant podcasts, read related books, watch relevant YouTube videos, and learn from other campaigns. “You need a website, you need a public petition, and you need a T-shirt, because otherwise you’re just somebody with an opinion,” Rob Goodspeed, a founder of Trains Not Lanes, which successfully convinced Michigan’s Department of Transportation to drop highway expansion plans, told Streetsblog.

And when you do finally succeed? Celebrate. Promote it. Share your lessons with other organizers. Then identify a new project and begin again.

https://heatmap.news/decarbonize-your-life/how-to-get-a-new-bike-lane

---

How Heatmap’s Staff Decarbonizes Their Lives

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

As a renter in a walkable city, I can’t get heat pumps or solar panels and don’t need an EV. The main thing I try to do is buy used. There’s so many vintage, consignment, and thrift stores, online used clothing and furniture marketplaces, and even name-brand businesses that recycle old styles and models that you can find basically anything you want. Yearning for a pair of Lululemon leggings or in need of a basic black J.Crew blazer? Check Poshmark or Depop, where someone is inevitably giving away theirs for a discount. Facebook Marketplace is a goldmine for chairs, desks, lamps, toasters, fans, air conditioners, and so much more. If you’re in search of a couch or dresser that you need delivered, try AptDeco. Searching for used clothing and furniture takes time and effort, and can make me feel crazy. But fast fashion and furniture are a scourge of the Earth, and this is my best effort at resistance. — Emily

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I fully endorse buying a used Chevy Bolt. With its estimated 259 miles of range and its zippy acceleration, there is no better bang for your buck if you’re considering an electric vehicle. Plus, you can score a federal (and sometimes state-level) rebate on the purchase if you meet certain income requirements. Factoring in incentives, it’s possible to nab one for about $12,000 in certain states. Sure, it’s not a head-turner, nor is it the fastest to charge, but you’d be hard pressed to find a better deal when buying an electric vehicle. — Mike

The internet overlords knew that I had been reporting on plastic waste and the myth of plastic recycling a few years back and bombarded me for months with perfectly targeted Instagram ads for Blueland. Eventually I caved and bought its reusable hand soap bottle and soap tablets (and eventually a number of other cleaning products, too). You can order new dissolvable tablets on a recurring or one-off basis, thereby avoiding buying and disposing of single-use plastic products every time you need more soap, detergent, or surface cleaner. Lest you need reminding, plastics are made from natural gas and crude oil, so even though you might not see emissions spewing out of your disposable dish soap bottle, know that there is indeed a better way. — Katie

We live in an older apartment that, unfortunately, does not have central air, and we haven’t yet sprung for a heat pump. Upon moving in last year, however, we replaced our old, drafty living room windows with double-pane windows, and the ancient window unit with a Midea U-shaped air conditioner. Our area is relatively dense and our apartment is across the street from a fire station, so in this case our pursuit of energy efficiency hasn’t just improved our carbon footprint, but also our quality of life in terms of noise. — Matthew

I did my first Veganuary in 2021, while quarantining at my parents’ house (because there’s no time like a global pandemic to completely upheave your lifestyle). I’ve been a vegetarian for almost 20 years and have never eaten red meat, so I’d been pretty confident that going 31 days without using any animal products would be a piece of (plant-based) cake. Wrong. I was humbled by the challenge — and awakened to how much dairy and eggs I consume without even realizing it. Ever since then, I’ve been far more intentional about using ingredients like cheese and butter only when I really need them; my husband and I haven’t had cow milk in our fridge in years because we don’t mind the substitutes. That’s the thing about diet: While eating plant-rich meals is one of the highest-impact things an individual can do to reduce their emissions, it truly doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing endeavor. Believe me, I still love cheese — but now I also know that vegan butter makes the best chocolate chip cookies. — Jeva

When my wife and I were in college, we became vegetarians together; we did it for reasons that involved animal welfare, personal health, and, somewhat embarrassingly, the fact that I got really into Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael. For the two of us, habit-shifting environmental concerns were not yet in the mix. Many years have since passed, and though we still don’t eat meat, those once-distant concerns have taken center stage, and on the rare occasion that we’re asked why we’re vegetarians, the state of the environment has become our first response. Though it now feels almost passive, avoiding meat remains one of the most significant ways that we — my wife and me, and also all of us — can reduce our emissions, and now that we’re parents, it feels like a valuable lesson that we’ve passed on to the next generation of lentil aficionados. — Jacob

When you use toilet paper from one of the big tissue brands, you are literally wiping your ass with a 100-year-old tree — so deeply is this seared into my brain that I could have sworn I’d read it word for word in the Natural Resources Defense Council’s inaugural “Issue With Tissue” report, but when I search the text, it’s nowhere to be found. In any case, the message stands: As recently as last year, all three of the major U.S. tissue manufacturers — Kimberly-Clark, Procter & Gamble, and Georgia-Pacific — still made their toilet tissue and paper towels exclusively from virgin forests, which is simply not something I can live with. In my house, we use Seventh Generation Extra Soft & Strong, made from 100% recycled paper pulp and treated with non-chlorine bleach. But things are beginning to change! The sixth edition report came out last week, showing that two out of the Big Three have improved their options and practices. — Jillian

https://heatmap.news/staff-recommends

---

How Heatmap’s Staff Decarbonizes Their Lives

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

As a renter in a walkable city, I can’t get heat pumps or solar panels and don’t need an EV. The main thing I try to do is buy used. There’s so many vintage, consignment, and thrift stores, online used clothing and furniture marketplaces, and even name-brand businesses that recycle old styles and models that you can find basically anything you want. Yearning for a pair of Lululemon leggings or in need of a basic black J.Crew blazer? Check Poshmark or Depop, where someone is inevitably giving away theirs for a discount. Facebook Marketplace is a goldmine for chairs, desks, lamps, toasters, fans, air conditioners, and so much more. If you’re in search of a couch or dresser that you need delivered, try AptDeco. Searching for used clothing and furniture takes time and effort, and can make me feel crazy. But fast fashion and furniture are a scourge of the Earth, and this is my best effort at resistance. — Emily

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I fully endorse buying a used Chevy Bolt. With its estimated 259 miles of range and its zippy acceleration, there is no better bang for your buck if you’re considering an electric vehicle. Plus, you can score a federal (and sometimes state-level) rebate on the purchase if you meet certain income requirements. Factoring in incentives, it’s possible to nab one for about $12,000 in certain states. Sure, it’s not a head-turner, nor is it the fastest to charge, but you’d be hard pressed to find a better deal when buying an electric vehicle. — Mike

The internet overlords knew that I had been reporting on plastic waste and the myth of plastic recycling a few years back and bombarded me for months with perfectly targeted Instagram ads for Blueland. Eventually I caved and bought its reusable hand soap bottle and soap tablets (and eventually a number of other cleaning products, too). You can order new dissolvable tablets on a recurring or one-off basis, thereby avoiding buying and disposing of single-use plastic products every time you need more soap, detergent, or surface cleaner. Lest you need reminding, plastics are made from natural gas and crude oil, so even though you might not see emissions spewing out of your disposable dish soap bottle, know that there is indeed a better way. — Katie

More ways to decarbonize

Decarbonize Your Life

                Heatmap News
            </div>

The Methodology Behind Decarbonize Your Life

                Emily Pontecorvo and Robinson Meyer
            </div>

We live in an older apartment that, unfortunately, does not have central air, and we haven’t yet sprung for a heat pump. Upon moving in last year, however, we replaced our old, drafty living room windows with double-pane windows, and the ancient window unit with a Midea U-shaped air conditioner. Our area is relatively dense and our apartment is across the street from a fire station, so in this case our pursuit of energy efficiency hasn’t just improved our carbon footprint, but also our quality of life in terms of noise. — Matthew

I did my first Veganuary in 2021, while quarantining at my parents’ house (because there’s no time like a global pandemic to completely upheave your lifestyle). I’ve been a vegetarian for almost 20 years and have never eaten red meat, so I’d been pretty confident that going 31 days without using any animal products would be a piece of (plant-based) cake. Wrong. I was humbled by the challenge — and awakened to how much dairy and eggs I consume without even realizing it. Ever since then, I’ve been far more intentional about using ingredients like cheese and butter only when I really need them; my husband and I haven’t had cow milk in our fridge in years because we don’t mind the substitutes. That’s the thing about diet: While eating plant-rich meals is one of the highest-impact things an individual can do to reduce their emissions, it truly doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing endeavor. Believe me, I still love cheese — but now I also know that vegan butter makes the best chocolate chip cookies. — Jeva

When my wife and I were in college, we became vegetarians together; we did it for reasons that involved animal welfare, personal health, and, somewhat embarrassingly, the fact that I got really into Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael. For the two of us, habit-shifting environmental concerns were not yet in the mix. Many years have since passed, and though we still don’t eat meat, those once-distant concerns have taken center stage, and on the rare occasion that we’re asked why we’re vegetarians, the state of the environment has become our first response. Though it now feels almost passive, avoiding meat remains one of the most significant ways that we — my wife and me, and also all of us — can reduce our emissions, and now that we’re parents, it feels like a valuable lesson that we’ve passed on to the next generation of lentil aficionados. — Jacob

When you use toilet paper from one of the big tissue brands, you are literally wiping your ass with a 100-year-old tree — so deeply is this seared into my brain that I could have sworn I’d read it word for word in the Natural Resources Defense Council’s inaugural “Issue With Tissue” report, but when I search the text, it’s nowhere to be found. In any case, the message stands: As recently as last year, all three of the major U.S. tissue manufacturers — Kimberly-Clark, Procter & Gamble, and Georgia-Pacific — still made their toilet tissue and paper towels exclusively from virgin forests, which is simply not something I can live with. In my house, we use Seventh Generation Extra Soft & Strong, made from 100% recycled paper pulp and treated with non-chlorine bleach. But things are beginning to change! The sixth edition report came out last week, showing that two out of the Big Three have improved their options and practices. — Jillian

https://heatmap.news/decarbonize-your-life/staff-recommends

---

Admins using Windows Server Update Services up in arms as Microsoft deprecates feature

date: 2024-09-23, updated: 2024-09-23, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

There are other ways to keep things patched, but this one will sting for some

Microsoft giveth and Microsoft taketh away, as administrators using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) will soon find out.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/23/microsoft_wsus_deprecation/

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@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-23, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)

The escalation of violence in Lebanon and Palestine are the direct result of the policy of the United States: with unlimited military funding and diplomatic support for Israel, there is no room for finding peaceful solutions, only more death and misery.

What an abject failure and a betrayal of principles.

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113187101121205843

---

NASA Astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, Crewmates Return from Space Station

date: 2024-09-23, from: NASA breaking news

NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson completed a six-month research mission aboard the International Space Station on Monday, returning to Earth with Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub. The trio departed the space station aboard the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft at 4:36 a.m. EDT Monday, Sept. 23, making a safe, parachute-assisted landing at 7:59 a.m. (4:59 p.m. […]

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-astronaut-tracy-c-dyson-crewmates-return-from-space-station/

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@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-23, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

Social networks are condemned when they carry lies from race-hate, misogyny and worse, but the major news orgs do it all the time. It's ridiculous that there are two standards.

https://www.google.com/search?q=social+networks+race+hate

---

How to Decarbonize Your Life

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

Welcome to Decarbonize Your Life, Heatmap’s special report that aims to help you make decisions in your own life that are better for the climate, better for you, and better for the world we all live in.

This is our attempt, in other words, to assist you in living something like a normal life while also making progress in the fight against climate change. That means making smarter and more informed decisions about how climate change affects your life — and about how your life affects climate change. The point is not what you shouldn’t do (although there is some of that). It’s about what you should do to exert the most leverage on the global economic system and, hopefully, nudge things toward decarbonization just a little bit faster.

We certainly think we’ve hit upon a better way to think about climate action, but you don’t have to take our word for it. Keep reading here for more on how (and why) we think about decarbonizing your life — or just skip ahead to our recommendations.

---

A better way to think about individual action

At this point, everyone knows that individual action won’t solve climate change. Didn’t BP invent the term “carbon footprint” in 2004 so as to distract from fossil fuel companies’ guilt and greed?

As the journalist Rachel Cohen has observed, around the 2010s it became unpopular to believe that individual action could help address any major social problem. And sure, it’s true that only collective action — achieved through something like the political system — will let us eventually manage climate change at the global level.

But at Heatmap, we believe that that isn’t quite the whole story. Just because politics and collective action are the only things that can solve climate change doesn’t mean they are the only things that can do something about climate change. What’s more, the problem of carbon emissions — and the stickiness of fossil fuels — emerges from a tight knot of chemical efficiency, political power, and logistical lock-in. If individual consumers can pry at that knot, can make it a little easier to imagine a post-fossil energy system, then they can realize a zero-carbon world a little sooner.

High-leverage actions, not just low emissions

That way of thinking about climate change, however, requires us to think somewhat differently about how to take individual action in the first place. Often, when you read about how to fight climate change as a person or family, the advice assumes that you want to reduce your responsibility for climate change. You’re advised to turn down the thermostat in the winter (or turn it up in the summer), shut off the lights when you leave the room, and compost.

More ways to decarbonize

The Methodology Behind Decarbonize Your Life

                Emily Pontecorvo and Robinson Meyer
            </div>

Why Switching to an EV Matters So Much for the Climate

                Robinson Meyer
            </div>

This advice assumes that the reader’s goal is to personally exculpate themselves or their family from global warming — and to assuage their own guilt for participating in a polluting system.

At its most sophisticated, this advice can be valuable insofar as it can help you cut your marginal carbon emissions. The most precise versions of these recommendations often speak in terms of emissions abatement: They might advise, say, that switching to a plant-based diet could save 0.8 tons of carbon emissions a year.

You’ll see some of that kind of recommendation in this project: It’s a valid way to think about individual actions, and it works especially well in some domains, such as food. But it’s not, in our view, the best way of thinking about individual action to fight climate change.

That’s because it is essentially impossible to exculpate yourself from climate change. That’s not being fatalistic. It’s just a fact. Simply by living in the year 2024, your life is enmeshed in a sprawling economic network that devours fossil fuels as its great lifestyle subsidy. Look out the nearest window — do you see cars, asphalt, power lines, sidewalks, buildings? Do you see steel-framed structures or a plane cutting its way across the sky? None of those things could exist without fossil fuels. And unless you’re looking into wild and unkempt wilderness (if so, lucky you!), then even the plants and grass out your window, the food in your pantry, grew up on fertilizer that was manufactured with fossil fuels. If you live in a rich or middle-income country, buy goods and clothes, eat food, use electricity, or even leave your house by any means other than walking, then you are responsible, to some degree, for climate change.

Trying to zero out your personal carbon footprint, in other words, is a fool’s errand. What you can do, however, is maximize the degree to which you’re building a new, post-fossil-fuel world.

To be clear, we don’t mean that in a woo-woo way. We’re not saying you should imagine a kumbaya world where we all hold hands and take public transit to the nearest all-volunteer renewable-powered co-op. We’re saying that there are real, already existing products and technologies that must become a bigger part of today’s built environment if we are to have any hope of solving climate change. What you can do — and what we recommend in this guide — is help take those technologies from the fringes into the center of everyday life. If you want to decarbonize the whole planet, you should think about decarbonizing your life.

What we have tried to do here is not focus on how to reduce your marginal emissions — the number of tons that you, personally, are responsible for pumping into the environment. Instead, we’re trying to help you understand how to focus on high-leverage actions — the kinds of choices that can drive change throughout the energy system. That’s why in this guide you’ll find advice on how to switch to an EV, buy zero-carbon electricity, make your home more energy-efficient, and electrify your appliances. We also recommend these in the order that we think they’ll be most effective — to learn more about how we reached that ranking, read about our methodology here.

The kind of shifts we advise in this guide, to be clear, won’t solve climate change on their own. But they will help you alter the systems in which you’re enmeshed, and they’ll make you a smarter climate citizen.

What about flying?

Flying is maybe the trickiest climate question. Although it makes up a relatively small share of both global and U.S. emissions — about 2% each — it is among the most climate-polluting activities many Americans will do on a minute-to-minute basis. (Although if you live in a dense and walkable city like New York, San Francisco, or Washington, D.C., but travel frequently, then flying may make up a large share of your emissions.) It is probably also the most difficult “everyday” activity to decarbonize.

There is no practical substitute for long-distance or transcontinental flying. Today, only one ocean liner regularly makes the journey from New York to London, and it departs from each city only once a month. And unless you hitch a ride on a container ship, there is literally no slow boat to China. If you want to travel abroad, then you must fly. Even within the United States, there is essentially no substitute for long-distance flights. Europeans and East Asians can rely on superior long-distance rail systems, but America’s extensive road network, unusually high infrastructure costs, sclerotic rail agency, and chronic lack of transit investment mean that Americans are stuck with flying or driving.

Commercial aviation is a miracle of the modern world: It facilitates a level of global connectedness and international communication that earlier generations could only dream of. Affordable and long-distance passenger flight is, in many ways, the crowning achievement of our highly technical society, and it allows for the amount of global immigration and mass tourism that defines the modern world. (If you have a private jet, of course, stop using it. Because so few people take each flight, private jets are uniquely destructive for the climate, emitting every seven hours what the average American emits all year.)

Fossil fuels’ weight and energy density is ideal for flying. There is, right now, no drop-in replacement for jet fuel that is being produced at scale. So while we have some advice about how to mitigate your climate pollution from flying, it won’t make up a large part of this guide. Reduce the number of flights you take if you can, sure, and take more direct flights if possible. But the truth is that for now, there are smarter and more high-leverage decisions that you can make.

Only decarbonization can get us closer to tackling climate change once and for all. Our belief at Heatmap is that if you care about climate change, then decarbonization — and not mere emissions reductions — should be your guiding star. If you want to follow that star, then read on.

https://heatmap.news/decarbonize-your-life/how-to-decarbonize-your-life

---

Mulaney Plays Dreamforce

date: 2024-09-23, updated: 2024-09-23, from: One Foot Tsunami

https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/09/23/mulaney-plays-dreamforce/

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Muslim Americans could flex ‘political muscles’ in November US elections

date: 2024-09-23, from: VOA News USA

Muslims account for less than 2% of the U.S. population, but as VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, Muslim American influence in U.S. elections is growing, driven largely by concerns over the continued war between Israel and Hamas.

https://www.voanews.com/a/muslim-americans-could-flex-political-muscles-in-november-us-elections/7794750.html

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iPhone 16 dubbed Apple’s most repairable model in years

date: 2024-09-23, updated: 2024-09-23, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

A low bar, for sure, but a move in the right direction

Apple’s iPhone 16 has arrived, and the teardown crew at iFixit has wasted no time in pulling apart the latest device and found its repairability… rather good, relatively speaking.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/23/iphone_16_teardown_ifixit/

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The Year’s Big Climate Summit Is Here. No, Not That One.

date: 2024-09-23, from: Heatmap News

Current conditions: One of South Africa’s busiest highways has reopened after an unusual heavy snowfall • The streets of Cannes turned to rivers as heavy rains swept through southeast France • It will be about 70 degrees Fahrenheit and cloudy in New York City for most of Climate Week.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Thousands descend on NYC for Climate Week

Climate Week kicked off in New York City yesterday. The event, which corresponds with the 79th United Nations General Assembly, is expected to draw some 100,000 people – including entrepreneurs, financiers, CEOs, diplomats, scientists, and creatives – to discuss climate solutions. More than 900 events are planned all over the city. Climate Week has become “the unofficial climate summit of the year,” as Bloomberg put it, not just because of its size, but also because of the low expectations going into November’s U.N. COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan (expected to draw just 40,000 people). Climate Week organizers told The Wall Street Journal they’d seen more than 1,350 people apply to speak this year, up from 650 last year. Here’s this year’s official agenda. The event runs through September 29.

2. Warm waters could supercharge evolving storm in Caribbean

Forecasters are warning people in Florida’s Panhandle and along the eastern Gulf coast to prepare for a hurricane as a storm churns through the unusually warm Caribbean waters. It is expected to strengthen into Tropical Storm Helene today or tomorrow, and then become a hurricane Wednesday before making landfall Thursday. “Helene could become a formidably strong hurricane in the Gulf,” according to The Weather Channel. “That’s because heat content is one favorable ingredient for intensification, and the map below shows there is plenty of deep, warm water in the northwest Caribbean and parts of the Gulf of Mexico.”

Weather.com

3. House backs bill to block EPA tailpipe rules

The Republican-led House of Representatives on Friday passed a bill that aims to block new emissions standards for light-duty and medium vehicles that were put in place by the Environmental Protection Agency in March. The vote was 215 to 191, with eight Democrats joining 207 Republicans in support. But the bill is very unlikely to get past the Senate, and will face a veto if it somehow makes it to President Biden’s desk. The EPA estimates that the rules could see EVs make up anywhere between 30% and 56% of new light-duty sales from model years 2030 to 2032, and avoid more than 7 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions and provide nearly $100 billion of annual net benefits to society by improving public health, and reducing fuel and maintenance costs for drivers.

4. New report spotlights where net zero targets are falling short

More than 40% of “non-state entities” – that is, major companies, regions, and cities – do not have targets in place for curbing greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report from Net Zero Tracker. The group’s annual stocktake examines net zero targets “across all countries, states, regions in the largest 25-emitting countries in the world, all cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants, and the largest 2,000 publicly listed companies in the world.” It found that, while more net zero targets are being made, many of these fall short on integrity measures, like providing clarity on the use of offsets, covering all emissions scopes, annual progress reporting, and having a published implementation plan. Among the major companies that do not yet have a mitigation target are Tesla, Nintendo, and Berkshire Hathaway.

Net Zero Tracker

5. California firefighter suspected of igniting 5 fires

Police arrested a California firefighter on Friday suspected of igniting five brush fires while off duty over the last month or so. Robert Matthew Hernandez, a 38-year-old CAL FIRE fire apparatus engineer, is under investigation in connection with the Alexander Fire, the Windsor River Road Fire, the Geysers Fire, and the Geyser and Kinley fires. Luckily the blazes combined only burned through less than an acre, CAL FIRE said. But the strange development comes as the state’s firefighters have been battling fires that have charred almost a million acres, fueled by high temperatures and dry vegetation. “I am appalled to learn one of our employees would violate the public’s trust and attempt to tarnish the tireless work of the 12,000 women and men of CAL FIRE,” Joe Tyler, the agency’s director and fire chief, said in a statement. Some of this year’s biggest fires in the state have been linked to arson.

THE KICKER

There were just 1,228 mentions of “climate change” in the nearly 200,000 hours of unscripted TV that aired in the U.S. in the six months between September 2022 and February 2023. Fifty-eight of those mentions were on “paranormal/mystery” programs.

https://heatmap.news/climate/climate-week-new-york-2024

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OUT NOW: The Official Raspberry Pi Handbook 2025 has landed

date: 2024-09-23, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)

The brand new Official Raspberry Pi Handbook 2025 is out now: fantastic step-by-step tutorials, an easy Starter Guide, and more!

The post OUT NOW: The Official Raspberry Pi Handbook 2025 has landed appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/out-now-the-official-raspberry-pi-handbook-2025-has-landed/

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What partisan divides are doing to our workplaces

date: 2024-09-23, from: Marketplace Morning Report

Would it surprise you to learn that a quarter of Americans say that they’ve avoided a work colleague due to differing political views? Today, as part of our Office Politics series, we’re joined by Sean Westwood, director of Dartmouth’s Polarization Research Lab, to do the numbers on polarization’s impact on the workplace. Then, Congressional negotiators reached a bipartisan deal over the weekend to avoid a government shutdown in a week.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/what-partisan-divides-are-doing-to-our-workplaces

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UPS supplier’s password policy flip-flops from unlimited, to 32, then 64 characters

date: 2024-09-23, updated: 2024-09-23, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

That ‘third party’ person sure is responsible for a lot of IT blunders, eh?

A major IT hardware manufacturer is correcting a recent security update after customers complained of a password character limit being introduced when there previously wasn’t one.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/23/cyberpower_password_changes/

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The Markup Wins ONA Awards for General Excellence and Community-Centered Journalism

date: 2024-09-23, from: The Markup blog

The awards honor excellence in digital journalism around the world

https://themarkup.org/inside-the-markup/2024/09/23/online-news-general-excellence-gather-community-award

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@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-23, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

A privacy-first, no-nonsense, super-fast blogging platform.

https://bearblog.dev/

---

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-23, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

Putin Is Hunting Down Ordinary People All Over the World.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/23/opinion/russia-putin-kremlin.html?unlocked_article_code=1.M04.3zhM.F_Ky0Tz8Wao6&smid=url-share

---

Feel free to ignore GenAI for now – a new kind of software developer is being born

date: 2024-09-23, updated: 2024-09-23, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Kubernetes whizz says devs can redefine their roles and capitalize on coding ML rewards

Interview  Software industry veteran and developer advocate Kelsey Hightower, well known for his contributions to the Kubernetes community, has an interesting take on generative AI: he won’t be paying too much attention to it for now, except insofar as how it will be instrumental in changing what it means to be a software engineer.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/23/kelsey_hightower_interview_part_2/

---

Feel free to ignore GenAI for now – a new kind of software developer is being born

date: 2024-09-23, updated: 2024-09-23, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Kubernetes whizz says devs can redefine their roles and capitalize on coding ML rewards

Interview  Software industry veteran and developer advocate Kelsey Hightower, well known for his contributions to the Kubernetes community, has an interesting take on generative AI: he won’t be paying too much attention to it for now, except insofar as how it will be instrumental in changing what it means to be a software engineer.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/23/hightower_interview_part_2/

---

Sri Lanka swears in new president

date: 2024-09-23, from: Marketplace Morning Report

From the BBC World Service: Anura Kumara Dissanayake has been sworn into office in Sri Lanka, promising “clean” politics as the country recovers from one of its worst-ever economic crises. We hear more. Then, as cross-border clashes continue in the Hezbollah-Israel conflict, we ask how businesses in the affected regions of Lebanon are grappling. Also on the program: a Tamagotchi store in the U.K. and a WTO challenge to China’s EU dairy product investigation.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/sri-lanka-swears-in-new-president

---

Alleged Trump gunman wrote of ‘assassination attempt,’ prosecutors say

date: 2024-09-23, from: VOA News USA

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — The man accused of hiding out with a gun near Donald Trump’s Florida golf course in an apparent bid to kill the former president wrote a letter months earlier describing an “assassination attempt” and offering a bounty on Trump’s life, U.S. prosecutors said on Monday.

Ryan Routh, 58, has been charged with two gun crimes after he allegedly pointed a rifle through the tree line on Sept. 15 while the Republican presidential candidate was playing golf at his course in West Palm Beach, according to a criminal complaint. He has not yet entered a plea.

Routh is due to appear at a hearing scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) on Monday in which prosecutors where will ask a judge to keep him in jail until his trial. In a court filing released before the hearing, prosecutors said that several months prior to the incident, Routh dropped off a handwritten letter addressed to “the world” that offered a bounty on Trump.

“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you,” the suspect wrote, according to the filing. “I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job.”

The letter was found in a box handed over by an unidentified civilian witness that also included ammunition, a metal pipe and four phones, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors also said that when Routh was arrested this month his car contained a handwritten list of dates in August, September and October of places where Trump had appeared or was expected to appear. They said a search of his cellphone records showed that the devices had pinged towers near the Trump International golf course where the incident took place and by the Mar-a-Lago resort where Trump lives.

Routh has been charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. More charges could follow.

A U.S. Secret Service agent spotted the weapon and fired in Routh’s direction, causing the suspect to flee, according to the complaint. Routh was later arrested along a Florida highway. U.S. officials have said Routh did not fire a shot during the encounter at the golf course and did not have a line of sight to Trump, who was a few hundred meters away.

Authorities have not yet divulged a motive for the incident, which the FBI has said is being investigated as an apparent attempted assassination of Trump ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election.

It came about two months after another gunman wounded Trump on the ear during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. That gunman was shot and killed by the Secret Service. The pair of incidents revealed the agency’s strains at a time of rising political threats and violence in the United States.

Routh, a struggling roofing contractor who most recently lived in Hawaii, had a criminal history. He was a vocal supporter of Ukraine who was interviewed about his quixotic effort to recruit Afghans to fight against Russia’s invasion.

In a 2023 self-published book, Routh wrote that Iran was “free to assassinate Trump” for pulling the United States out of an international nuclear deal with Teheran during his presidency.

In December 2002, Routh was convicted in North Carolina of possessing a weapon of mass death and destruction. He was also convicted of possessing stolen goods in 2010, according to court records.

Cellphone data showed that Routh may have been waiting in the area for nearly 12 hours - from around 2 a.m. until about 1:30 p.m. - when the gun was spotted, according to the criminal complaint. Investigators found a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope, a digital camera and a plastic bag with food at the scene, according to the complaint.

https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-attempted-assassination-suspect-ryan-routh-to-appear-in-court-/7794653.html

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High inflation memories cloud US consumers’ outlooks

date: 2024-09-23, from: VOA News USA

Washington — Even before the Federal Reserve approved its outsized half-percentage-point interest rate cut last week, financial markets had begun making credit cheaper for households and businesses as they bid down mortgage rates, cut corporate bond yields, and chipped away at what consumers pay for personal, auto and other loans.

How fast that process will continue now that the U.S. central bank’s first rate cut is in the books is unclear, in particular whether easing credit conditions will become tangible to consumers in ways that shift attitudes about the economy before the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election.

Recent surveys suggest that while the pace of price increases has declined dramatically, the public’s mood is still marred by nearly two years of high inflation — even if falling rates signal that chapter of recent economic history is closed and will begin making it cheaper for people to borrow money.

“My daughter has been trying to buy a home for years and cannot,” said Julie Miller, who works at her son’s electrical company in Reno, Nevada, a state where home prices rose fast during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of seven key battleground states in the presidential race, Nevada is being aggressively contested by Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate, and former President Donald Trump, the Republican challenger.

If housing costs are vexing Miller’s daughter, higher prices at Taco Bell have caused Miller to cut back on the usual Friday night trips to the fast food retailer with her granddaughter, and left her inclined to vote for Trump because “I don’t think Biden has done a great job with inflation.”

Harris supporters had similar concerns about high prices even as they vouched for her as the best candidate to address the problem.

Borrowing costs decline

The Fed’s rate cut on Sept. 18 is likely to be followed by more, with at least another quarter-percentage-point reduction expected when policymakers begin their next two-day policy meeting a day after the U.S. election.

Just as rate increases feed through to a higher cost of credit for families and businesses, discouraging them from borrowing, spending and investing in order to cool inflation, reductions in borrowing costs change the calculus for would-be homebuyers and firms, particularly small businesses wanting to finance new equipment or expand production.

Looser monetary policy, which the Fed had been signaling was on the way, has already put money back into people’s pockets. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate home mortgage, the most popular home loan, for example, is approaching 6% after nearing 8% just a year ago. Redfin, a real estate firm, recently estimated that the median payment on homes sold or listed in the four weeks through Sept. 15 was $300 less than the all-time high hit in April and nearly 3% lower than a year ago.

But with that adjustment already done, “mortgage rates are likely to remain relatively stable for the next couple of weeks,” Chen Zhao, an economist at Redfin, wrote in a post on the company’s website.

Indeed, under baseline estimates from the Fed’s own staff, mortgage rates are likely to level off somewhere in the mid-5% range, meaning most of the relief there has already occurred.

Banks have begun trimming the “prime rate” they charge their most credit-worthy borrowers to match the Fed rate cut. Other forms of consumer credit - the auto and personal loans where a better deal might be available to households - have changed only marginally so far, and it may take longer for banks to give up on charging higher finance costs.

Investors and economists saw last week’s rate cut as less important than the message it carried of a central bank ready to loosen credit and confident that recent high inflation won’t recur.

Inflation in fact has registered one of its fastest ever declines, with the consumer price index’s annual increase falling from more than 9% in June 2022 to 2.6% on a year-over-year basis last month. The Fed’s preferred personal consumption expenditures price index rose at a 2.5% rate in July, near the central bank’s 2% target.

Sour sentiment

The U.S. economy has been performing reasonably well despite concerns the job market might be on the brink of weakening.

New claims for unemployment benefits remain low and unexpectedly fell in the most recent week, while the unemployment rate, at 4.2% in August, has risen from a year ago but is around the level the Fed feels is sustainable without generating excess wage and price pressures. A Philadelphia Fed index of manufacturing rose recently and retail sales for August grew despite expectations for a drop.

But none of that has led to a decisive shift in public sentiment.

The share of Americans who see the economy as heading in the right direction climbed to 25% in August from 17% in May 2022, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling. Yet the share that sees the economy on the wrong track has eased to 60% from 74% over the same period.

A New York Fed survey that through early this year showed people feeling better off than a year ago and expecting more improvement in the year ahead has since been moving in the other direction even as inflation slowed further and rate cuts became more likely.

The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index had been improving but then dropped in recent months and remains below where it was before the pandemic.

The most recent U.S. Census “pulse” polls of households showed the share who reported trouble paying household expenses in the past week has ebbed from 2022, when inflation hit its peak, but has made little improvement recently.

In his press conference following the rate cut last week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said his aim was to keep the economy on track between the central bank’s two goals of stable inflation and a healthy job market. To that end, credit will ease but at no guaranteed pace.

“This is the beginning of that process,” Powell said. “The direction … is toward a sense of neutral, and we’ll move as fast or as slow as we think is appropriate in real-time.”

https://www.voanews.com/a/high-inflation-memories-cloud-us-consumers-outlooks-/7794639.html

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Axiom Space puts a brave face on claims of dire finances

date: 2024-09-23, updated: 2024-09-23, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Losing money on missions, space station delayed, but ‘we will not be deterred’

Axiom Space CEO Dr Kam Ghaffarian is attempting to reassure customers after an interview that did not go entirely to plan.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/23/axiom_space_finances/

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@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-23, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

Why Is It Silly to Think It’s the Media’s Job to Inform the Public?

https://cepr.net/why-is-it-silly-to-think-its-the-medias-job-to-inform-the-public/

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NHS drops another billion on tech in the hope of finally going digital

date: 2024-09-23, updated: 2024-09-23, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Framework promised last year set to reach value of up to £2.5B after chat with supply chain

The UK’s health system has added £1 billion to a tech deal for software and infrastructure after an “engagement” with suppliers.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/23/nhs_tech_procurement/

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Search underway for suspects in Alabama mass shooting

date: 2024-09-23, from: VOA News USA

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Authorities have reported no immediate arrests after a weekend mass shooting killed four people and left 17 others injured in what police described as a targeted “hit” by multiple shooters who opened fire outside a popular Alabama nightspot.

The shooting late Saturday night in the popular Five Points South entertainment district of Birmingham, rocking an area of restaurants and bars that is often bustling on weekend nights. The mass shooting, one of several this year in the major city, unnerved residents and left officials at home and beyond pleading for help to both solve the crime and address the broader problem of gun violence.

“The priority is to find these shooters and get them off our streets,” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said a day after the shooting.

The mayor planned a morning news conference Monday to provide updates on the case.

The shooting occurred on the sidewalk and street outside Hush, a lounge in the entertainment district, where blood stains were still visible on the sidewalk outside the venue on Sunday morning.

Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said authorities believe the shooting targeted one of the people who was killed, possibly in a murder-for-hire. A vehicle pulled up and “multiple shooters” got out and began firing, then fled the scene, he said.

“We believe that there was a ‘hit,’ if you will, on that particular person,” Thurmond said.

Police said approximately 100 shell casings were recovered. Thurmond said law enforcement was working to determine what weapons were used, but they believe some of the gunfire was “fully automatic.” Investigators also were trying to determine whether anyone fired back, creating a crossfire.

In a statement late Sunday, police said the shooters are believed to have used “machine gun conversion devices” that make semi-automatic weapons fire more rapidly.

Some surviving victims critically injured

Officers found two men and a woman on a sidewalk with gunshot wounds and they were pronounced dead there. An additional male gunshot victim was pronounced dead at a hospital, according to police.

Police identified the three victims found on the sidewalk as Anitra Holloman, 21, of the Birmingham suburb of Bessemer, Tahj Booker, 27, of Birmingham, and Carlos McCain, 27, of Birmingham. The fourth victim pronounced dead at the hospital was pending identification.

By the early hours of Sunday, victims began showing up at hospitals and police subsequently identified 17 people with injuries, some of them life-threatening. Four of the surviving victims, in conditions ranging from good to critical, were being treated at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital on Sunday afternoon, according to Alicia Rohan, a hospital spokeswoman.

A popular nightspot rocked by gunfire

The area of Birmingham where the gunfire erupted is popular with young adults because of its proximity to the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the plethora of nearby restaurants and bars.

The shooting was the 31st mass killing of 2024, of which 23 were shootings, according to James Alan Fox, a criminologist and professor at Northeastern University, who oversees a mass killings database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with the university.

Three of the nation’s 23 mass shootings this year were in Birmingham, including two earlier quadruple homicides.

Mayor pleads for a solution to gun violence

Woodfin expressed frustration at what he described as an epidemic of gun violence in America and the city.

“We find ourselves in 2024, where gun violence is at an epidemic level, an epidemic crisis in our country. And the city of Birmingham, unfortunately, finds itself at the tip of that spear,” he said.

https://www.voanews.com/a/search-underway-for-suspects-in-alabama-mass-shooting/7794582.html

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AI to power the corporate Windows 11 refresh? Nobody’s buying that

date: 2024-09-23, updated: 2024-09-23, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Microsoft should look to Apple for lessons in flogging dead horses

Opinion  In the early 2010s, Intel’s PR did the tech press rounds with a hot story. We’re so far ahead in chip fab, they said, that nobody will ever catch up. The hacks concluded two things from this: Intel was losing ground fast enough to be scared, and it was right on both counts. How did that pan out again?…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/23/windows_11_ai_opinion/

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Biden to give final UN address, with focus on conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine

date: 2024-09-23, from: VOA News USA

Joe Biden makes his final presidential address before the United Nations General Assembly this week. But hanging over his head as he takes to the green marble podium for the last time, and as he meets separately with other leaders in New York: conflict in the Middle East – and how his actions have shaped it. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from New York.

https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-to-give-final-un-address-with-focus-on-conflicts-in-gaza-ukraine/7794571.html

---

Did you hear the one about the help desk chap who abused privileges to prank his mate?

date: 2024-09-23, updated: 2024-09-23, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

The result was no joke, thanks to a Microsoft glitch

Who, Me?  Welcome, dear reader, to another instalment of Who, Me? in which Reg readers share tales of techie woe to remind you that your day could, in fact, be worse.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/23/who_we/

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Leaders, diplomats to address summit on strengthening UN

date: 2024-09-23, from: VOA News USA

https://www.voanews.com/a/leaders-diplomats-to-address-summit-on-strengthening-un/7794561.html

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Rise Of The Insurance Apocalypse

date: 2024-09-23, from: The Lever News

How climate change is breaking down the global safety net for handling life’s risks.

https://www.levernews.com/rise-of-the-insurance-apocalypse/

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Chinese server-maker Inspur claims it’s on track for better liquid cooling with ‘railway sleeper’ design

date: 2024-09-23, updated: 2024-09-23, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Beijing is happy at surging sales and production capacity, falling energy requirements

Chinese server-maker and contract manufacturer Inspur has detailed a memory cooling tech it claims doubles the heat dissipation efficiency of traditional air cooling without complicating system maintenance.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/23/inspur_sleeper_liquid_cooling_design/

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Move over, Cobalt Strike. Splinter’s the new post-exploit menace in town

date: 2024-09-23, updated: 2024-09-23, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

No malware crew linked to this latest red-teaming tool yet

Attackers are using Splinter, a new post-exploitation tool, to wreak havoc in victims’ IT environments after initial infiltration, utilizing capabilities such as executing Windows commands, stealing files, collecting cloud service account info, and downloading additional malware onto victims’ systems.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/23/splinter_red_team_tool/

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AT&T intends to quit VMware, Broadcom claims in legal broadside

date: 2024-09-23, updated: 2024-09-23, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Counter-arguments in support spat paint unflattering picture of telco giant’s IT estate

Broadcom has claimed that AT&T plans to stop using VMware software, but has been tardy about making the move.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/23/att_vmware_quit_claim_broadcom/

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Quantum Safe Communication with Purism

date: 2024-09-23, from: Purism News and Events

Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) is a critical advancement in securing data and communication, the threat of compromise is even greater than normal due to the fact that anything stored with pre-quantum resistant cryptography will be immediately available to view as soon as the qubits of quantum computing increase, which is a matter of when not if.

The post Quantum Safe Communication with Purism appeared first on Purism.

https://puri.sm/posts/quantum-safe-communication-with-purism/

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At UN, leaders agree to ‘Pact for the Future’

date: 2024-09-23, from: VOA News USA

https://www.voanews.com/a/at-un-leaders-agree-to-pact-for-the-future-/7794495.html

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Party In The Rear

date: 2024-09-23, from: Tedium site

Considering the legacy of rear-projection TVs, the most efficient route to a big-screen TV in the pre-LCD era.

https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/16817627/rear-projection-television-history

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Purism Releases STEP File for Librem 5

date: 2024-09-23, from: Purism News and Events

We’re excited to announce another significant step forward in our commitment to open hardware: the release of the STEP file for our Librem 5 smartphone. This move builds upon our previous efforts, where we released the Librem 5 hardware layouts, which can be found here.

The post Purism Releases STEP File for Librem 5 appeared first on Purism.

https://puri.sm/posts/purism-releases-step-file-for-librem-5/

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Huawei to dump Windows for PCs in favor of its own HarmonyOS

date: 2024-09-23, updated: 2024-09-23, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Plus: Indian gov’s fact-checking unit ruled unlawful; Fukushima datacenter boom; GoTo partners with Tencent, too

Asia In Brief  Huawei’s current PCs are the last it will make that run Windows, and future machines will run its own HarmonyOS instead, according to the chair of the Chinese giant’s consumer business group, Yu Chengdong.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/23/asia_tech_news_in_brief/

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@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-23, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

NC governor candidate Mark Robinson campaign staff resigns.

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article292888564.html

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Apple’s latest macOS release is breaking security software, network connections

date: 2024-09-23, updated: 2024-09-23, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

PLUS: Payer of $75M ransom reportedly identified; Craigslist founder becomes security philanthropist, and more

Infosec In Brief  Something’s wrong with macOS Sequoia, and it’s breaking security software installed on some updated Apple systems.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/23/security_in_brief/

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pgAdmin 4 v8.12 Released

date: 2024-09-23, from: PostgreSQL News

The pgAdmin Development Team is pleased to announce pgAdmin 4 version 8.12. This release of pgAdmin 4 includes 13 bug fixes and new features. For more details please see the release notes.

pgAdmin is the leading Open Source graphical management tool for PostgreSQL. For more information, please see the website.

Notable changes in this release include:

Features:

• Added feature to restore preferences to their default values.
• Add a new config variable - ALLOW_SPECIAL_EMAIL_DOMAINS to allow special domains for pgAdmin user emails.
• Allow running non-continuous selected SQL code blocks in the query tool.

Bugs/Housekeeping:

• Fixed a security issue where the OAuth2 client ID and secret were exposed through the web browser (CVE-2024-9014).
• Improved the extensibility of the SchemaView and DataGridView.
• Fix the query tool restore connection issue on the server disconnection from the left side object explorer.
• Revamp the current password saving implementation to a keyring and reduce repeated OS user password prompts.
• Fixed an issue where users could not use pgAdmin if they did not have access to the management database.
• Fixed an issue where servers listed in the servers.json file were being reimported upon container restart.
• Added support for OIDC based OAuth2 authentication.
• Fixed an issue where the cursor moves to the end of line when editing input fields.
• Fixed an issue where different client backend shows all SQL are the same.
• Fixed an issue where the “Quit App” confirmation modal in desktop app is not respecting “Confirm on close or refresh?”

Builds for Windows and macOS are available now, along with a Python Wheel, Docker Container, RPM, DEB Package, and source code tarball from the tarball area.

https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/pgadmin-4-v812-released-2937/

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pgMustard version 5

date: 2024-09-23, from: PostgreSQL News

I’m delighted to announce version 5 of pgMustard, a tool for helping review Postgres query plans.

Major improvements:

• New tip types: suboptimal JIT compilation, excessive trigger time, and scope for more parallelism.
• Workflow improvements: TEXT format support, add plans as optimizations of one another, and share plans privately within a team.
• New API endpoints: one for saving query plans, and another for returning scored tips.
• Postgres 17 support: SERIALIZE and MEMORY parameters, improved InitPlan and SubPlan reporting.

Requirements:

• TEXT or JSON format query plans, from PostgreSQL 9.6 — 17
• The interface and advice are in English
• A GitHub or Google account, for signing in

pgMustard is commercial software and has a free trial.

If you spend time reviewing query plans, we’d love to hear your thoughts.

—

Michael Christofides

https://www.pgmustard.com

https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/pgmustard-version-5-2938/

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Pigsty v3: 336 extensions and MSSQL/Oracle flavor PG kernels!

date: 2024-09-23, from: PostgreSQL News

The Pigsty community is thrilled to announce Pigsty v3.0, which delivers 336 unique extensions. and several in-place PG kernel replacements.

You can replace vanilla PostgreSQL with Babelfish for MSSQL compatibility, with IvorySQL for ORACLE compatibility, and PolarDB for Aurora flavor. You can also wrap any existing PostgreSQL kernel / RDS with add-ons: serving MongoDB wire protocol with the latest FerretDB or the self-hosting firebase alternative Supabase, which is newly available on Debian/Ubuntu in addition to EL distros.

We also have DuckDB support with the CLI binary and PostgreSQL extensions, such as pg_lakehouse / pg_analytics / duckdb_fdw and pg_duckdb (alpha) and many other extensions, to serve the OLAP race in the PG ecosystem. Check the complete release note for all the details.

About Pigsty

Pigsty is a Battery-included, local-first PostgreSQL Distribution as an open-sourced RDS alternative.

Links: Website | GitHub | Demo | Get Started | Features | v3.0.0 Release Note

bash curl -fsSL https://repo.pigsty.io/get | bash

Features

• Extensible: 336 PG Extensions & 6 PG Kernel replacements available (e.g., MSSQL, Oracle compatibility).
• Reliable: Self-healing HA clusters with pre-configured PITR and built-in ACL, CA & SSL secure best practice.
• Observable: SOTA monitoring for PG / Infra / Node based on Prometheus & Grafana stack: Demo & Gallery.
• Available: Auto-routed & pooled customizable database Services Access with haproxy, pgbouncer, and VIP.
• Maintainable: One-Cmd Install, Admin SOP, Auto-Tune, Local Repo, IaC, and Vagrant / Terraform support.
• Composable: Bonus Modules such as Redis, MinIO, Etcd, Docker, DuckDB, FerretDB, Supabase, & more!

Advantages

• Unparalleled Extension: We packed 138 RPM and 133 DEB extensions in addition to the official PGDG repo.
• Stunning Observability: Ultimate experience with 3000+ metrics visualized in 30+ organized dashboards.
• Reliable Best Practices: Proven & Polished in large-scale production environment (25K vCPU) for 5 years+.
• NO Docker/Kubernetes: We choose the hard way to deliver RDS based on bare OS WITHOUT Containers!
• Infrastructure as Code: Describe everything with declarative API and provision with idempotent playbooks!
• Free OSS & Local-First: Pigsty is a free software under AGPLv3. Build for PostgreSQL with passion & love.

https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/pigsty-v3-336-extensions-and-mssqloracle-flavor-pg-kernels-2921/

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GSoC 2024: Statistical Analysis of LLVM-IR Compilation

date: 2024-09-23, from: LLVM Blog

Welcome! My name is Andrew and I contributed to LLVM through the 2024 Google Summer of Code Program. My project is called Statistical Analysis of LLVM-IR Compilation. The objective of this project is to provide an analysis of how time is spent in the optimization pipeline. Generally, drastic differences in the percentage of time spent by a pass in the pipeline is considered abnormal.

Background

In principle, an LLVM IR bitcode file, or module, contains IR features that determine the behavior of the compiler optimization pipeline. By varying these features, the optimization pipeline, opt, can add significantly to the compilation time or marginally. More specifically, optimizations succeed in less or more time; the user can wait for a microsecond or a few minutes. LLVM compiler developers constantly edit the pipeline, so the performance of these optimizations can vary by compiler version (sometimes significantly).

Having a large IR dataset such as ComPile allows for testing the LLVM compilation pipeline on a varied sample of IR. The size of this sample is sufficient to determine outlying IR modules. By identifying and examining such files using utilities which are being added to the LLVM IR Dataset Utils Repo, the causes of unexpected compilation times can be determined. Developers can then modify and improve the compilation pipeline accordingly.

Summary of Work

The utilities added in PR37 are intended to write each IR module to a tar file corresponding to a programming language. Each file written to the tar files is indexed by its location in the HF dataset. This allows easy identification of files for tools which can be used for data extraction and analysis in the shell, notably clang. Tar file creation allows for potentially using less storage space then downloading the HF dataset to disk, and it allows code to be written which does not depend on the Python interpreter to load the dataset for access.

The Makefile from PR36 is responsible for carrying out the data collection. This data includes text segment size, user CPU instruction counts during compile time (analogous to time), IR feature counts sourced from the LLVM pass print<func-properties>, and maximum relative time pass names and percentage counts. The data can be extracted in parallel or serially and is stored in a CSV file.

An important data collection command in the Makefile is clang -w -c -ftime-report $(lang)/bc_files/file$@.bc -o /dev/null. The output from the command is large, but the part of interest is the first Pass execution timing report:

===-------------------------------------------------------------------------=== Pass execution timing report===-------------------------------------------------------------------------=== Total Execution Time: 2.2547 seconds (2.2552 wall clock) ---User Time--- --System Time-- --User+System-- ---Wall Time--- --- Name --- 2.1722 ( 96.5%) 0.0019 ( 47.5%) 2.1741 ( 96.4%) 2.1745 ( 96.4%) VerifierPass 0.0726 ( 3.2%) 0.0000 ( 0.0%) 0.0726 ( 3.2%) 0.0726 ( 3.2%) AlwaysInlinerPass 0.0042 ( 0.2%) 0.0015 ( 39.2%) 0.0058 ( 0.3%) 0.0058 ( 0.3%) AnnotationRemarksPass 0.0014 ( 0.1%) 0.0005 ( 13.3%) 0.0019 ( 0.1%) 0.0020 ( 0.1%) EntryExitInstrumenterPass 0.0003 ( 0.0%) 0.0000 ( 0.0%) 0.0003 ( 0.0%) 0.0003 ( 0.0%) CoroConditionalWrapper 2.2507 (100.0%) 0.0039 (100.0%) 2.2547 (100.0%) 2.2552 (100.0%) Total

A user can visually see the distribution of these passes by using a profiling tool for .json files. The .json file for a given bitcode file is obtained by clang -c -ftime-trace <file>.

The visualization of this output can be filtered to the passes of interest as in the following image:

The CoroConditionalWrapper pass is accounted by the “Total CoroConditionalWrapper” block. Clearly, that pass takes a far smaller amount of time than the others, as accounted for by the pass execution timing report. However, instead of seeing the pass as an insignificant percentage of time, the visualization allows for additional comparisons of the relative timings of each pass. The example image has the optimization passes of interest selected, but the .json file provides information on the entire compilation pipeline as well. Thus, the entire pipeline execution flow can be visualized.

Current Status

Currently, there are three PRs that require approval to be merged. There has been ongoing discussion on their contents, so few steps should be left to merge them.In the current state, users of the utilities in PR38 should be able to readily reproduce the quantitative results I had obtained for my GSoC midterm presentation graphs. Users can easily perform outlier analysis as well on the IR files (excluding Julia IR). Some of the results include the following:

Scatter Plot of C IR Files:

Table of outliers for C IR files:

Future Work

It was discussed in PR 37 to consolidate the tar file creation into the dataset file writer Python script. This is a feature I wish to implement in order to speed up the tar file creation process by having the bitcode files written from memory to the tar instead of from memory, to disk, to tar.

As mentioned, Julia IR was not analyzed. Modifying the scripts to include Julia IR results is desirable to make complete use of the dataset.Adding additional documentation for demonstration-of-use purposes could help clarify ways to use the tools.

Additionally, outlier analysis can be expanded upon by using more advanced outlier detection methods. Not all the data collected in the CSV files was used, so using those extra features–in particular the print<func-properties> pass–can allow for improved accuracy in outlier detection.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my mentors Johannes Doerfert and Aiden Grossman for their constant support during and prior to the GSoC program. Additionally, I would like to acknowledge the work of the LLVM Foundation admins and the GSoC admins.

Links

• PR 38

• PR 37

• PR 36

• LLVM IR Dataset Utils Repo

• Compile Dataset

https://blog.llvm.org/posts/2024-08-29-gsoc-2024-statistical_analysis_of_llvm-ir_compilation/