If you've been following the conversation around climate change and the push to clean energy, you might have come across the term "electrification." However, what exactly does electrification mean, and why is it such a big deal in the transition to clean energy?

What Is Electrification?

At its core, electrification is about moving away from fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas, and replacing them with electricity coming from clean energy. This isn’t just about electricity as your home's energy source. It’s about rethinking the way we power almost everything in our lives - from the cars we drive, to the way we provide heat to our homes, schools, businesses, and industries.

Why Is Electrification Important?

The main reason electrification is so crucial in the transition to clean energy is its potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. By switching to electricity that is generated from clean energy sources, we drastically reduce the amount of carbon being added to our atmosphere which is driving climate change. (See “The Carbon Cycle is the center of it all”.)

How Does Electrification Affect Our Lives?

Electrification touches many aspects of our daily lives. Here are some examples.

• Transportation: Electric cars, buses, and trains don’t burn gasoline or diesel directly.
• Home and Building Heating: Electric heat pumps are more energy efficient than traditional gas or oil heating systems.
• Industry: Electric machinery often uses less energy and costs less to maintain.

The Benefits of Electrification

Electrification offers several key benefits:

• Lower Carbon Emissions: Reducing the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere helps fight climate change. (See "The Carbon Cycle is the center of it all".)
• Energy Efficiency: Electric systems are generally more energy efficient, meaning they use less energy to do the same job compared to their fossil fuel-powered counterparts. 
• Cleaner Air: Moving away from fossil fuels reduces air pollution, leading to better health and a cleaner environment.

The Challenges Ahead

While electrification is a promising path forward, it’s not without its challenges:

• Conversion to clean energy electricity generation: To truly benefit from electrification, we need to generate more electricity from clean sources.  So while the EIA reports  that 44% of current electricity generation is produced from natural gas, they are fortunately anticipating that 70% of new electric generating capacity is from clean energy by the end of 2024 which means over time, less burning to generate the more electricity needed.
• Upfront costs: The switching out of fossil fuel equipment for their electrical equivalents require significant upfront costs regardless of the long term savings. Fortunately, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 provides numerous incentives in the form of tax credits and rebates to offset parts of these upfront costs.  In addition and over time, as fossil fuel equipment ages out, they will be replaced with their electrical equivalents.
• Expanding the grid: As we electrify more aspects of our lives, the demand for electricity will increase. This means we need to expand and modernize the power grid to handle this new demand. This includes adding transmission lines that would carry the electricity generated from where the clean energy is being produced to where people live and work, and addressing permit reform to get those transmission lines in place sooner. (See “Why the buzz about transmission lines?” and “Hello Permit Reform - Let me introduce you to the Tradeoff Triangle and the PMO”)  It also includes leveraging electricity distribution networks in new ways available today. (See “Distributed Energy Resources (DERs): A Key Component to Tomorrow's Grid”.)
• Energy Storage: As we rely more on clean energy sources like wind and solar, which can’t produce power all the time, it’s becoming more important to have ways to store energy. Storing energy helps us cut down on carbon emissions, keeps the power grid stable, and handle new demands like charging stations for electric vehicles.  (See “Energy storage...the answer to the intermittency issue”.)

Moving Forward

Electrification is a critical component in our transition to a clean energy future. By replacing fossil fuels with electricity from clean energy, we can significantly reduce our carbon emissions and make a real difference to our climate situation. While there are challenges to overcome, the cost in overcoming these challenges are dwarfed by the benefits we realize from electrification for our health, environment, and the future for our children and grandchildren.