Home Electrification – January 2023

The third Menlo Park Community Collaboration Session covered improvements in Home Electrification and was led by Tom Kabat, Chair of Menlo Park’s Environmental Quality Commission and a climate consultant and activist. Tom was previously with the City of Palo Alto as an engineer and resource planner working on a variety of energy and climate projects. The webcast replay is available here and you can download Tom’s presentation and a set of useful links.

Tom’s session covered new availability and affordability for electric appliances, including heat pumps (for heating, cooling and water heating), cleaner, safer, and faster induction cooking, better clothes drying, and gentler car charging. He talked about how to make an electrification plan so appliances can all fit on your existing electric panel and how to harvest the many thousands of dollars of incentives available today.

Community Collaboration Sessions invite different guests to host discussions on a variety of environmental issues affecting our city. Community members, local environmental nonprofits, and members of Menlo Park’s Environmental Quality Commission, working as private citizens, have established this new series of citizen-led discussions to help address Menlo Park’s responses to a changing climate.

The goal is to prompt deeper dialogue, gather new ideas, and ensure multiple voices are represented in proposed solutions. Future sessions will include discussions on electric vehicles and transportation, electrification, sea-level rise, and green careers.

Everyone is welcome to attend, share ideas, and join these discussions about the future of our city. Any questions: Reach out to Tom Kabat at tomgkabat@gmail.com