Electrifying Our Old Oak Park Home

In 2022 and 2023, I documented our process of fully electrifying our 100-year-old home in Oak Park, IL. We installed solar panels on our roof (giving us a source of free renewable electricity), switched out our gas furnace with electric heat pumps, and replaced all gas appliances with electric equivalents.

Home electrification is one of the most impactful actions any household can do to fight climate change, and it will improve your home comfort and lower your energy bills in the process. And with all the new incentives and rebates available, it costs less than you think.

In 2023, the Village of Oak Park produced a video tour of our fully electrified home:

Read the blog posts on Electrifying Our Old Oak Park Home

Electrifying Our Old Oak Park Home #1: Going Solar

Published on Nov 1, 2022
We are in the process of electrifying our Oak Park home and completely eliminating all our household emissions. This post is an attempt to document our process as we go, with the hopes that it will inspire our neighbors to do the same and learn from our efforts.

Electrifying Our Old Oak Park Home #2: Heat Pumps

Published on May 6, 2023
We’ve made the switch from gas heating to heat pumps in our 100 year old home, and you can too. We’ll explain how we took a big step in fighting climate change while also lowering our utility bills and increasing the comfort of our home in the process.

Electrifying Our Old Oak Park Home #3: Appliances

Published on Aug 22, 2023
We’ve made the switch to being fully electric in our 100-year-old home! I’ll explain the final steps we took to electrify our home by replacing our stove, hot water heater, clothes dryer and car with electric equivalents. These upgrades allowed us to fully cut our gas usage and eliminate the last ~20% of emissions from our home.

Electrifying Our Old Oak Park Home #4: One Year In

Published on Jun 29, 2024
A little over a year ago in April of 2023, we completed the electrification of our house. Since then, I’ve received a lot of interest in this project, was awarded a Green Award by the Village of Oak Park, and was even featured in the Chicago Tribune! While the blog posts I’ve written have been useful to reference and point people to, there’s one outstanding question still to address: How much money are these electrification changes saving us, and how long until the upgrades pay for themselves?

Electrifying Our Old Oak Park Home #5: EV Road Trippin’

Published on Aug 28, 2024
In August 2024, our family took our first multi-day road trip with our electric car: 1,200 miles from Oak Park, Illinois, to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. We had to do some research for this trip to be a success, so I’m sharing what we learned with you!

Media coverage

Concerned about climate change, more Chicagoans are buying all-electric home heating systems
Chicago Tribune | Nara Schoenberg | January 31, 2024

What you need to know about heat pumps: Cost, rebates, energy efficiency and more
Daily Herald | Jenny Whidden | November 12, 2023

How to Fully Electrify Your Home (video)
Village of Oak Park | October 19, 2023

Electrifying My Old Oak Park Home - Fully Electrified! (video)
Climate Reality Chicago | June 15, 2023

Electrifying My Old Oak Park Home - Solar and Heat Pumps (video)
Climate Reality Chicago | January 19, 2023

Electrifying Our Old Oak Park Home: Going Solar
One Earth Film Fest | November 12, 2022