Thursday, Mar 19

Welcome to Your Daily Dot where Dot will share tips, advice, and stories on how we can make our world better.

Dear Reader,

Dot is currently engaged in a heated (lol) discussion with my brother about whether to replace my 97-year-old father’s faulty furnace with a heat pump. My brother argues that a natural-gas furnace is cheaper to install, and that it will outlive my father. Dot insists that a heat pump, which relies on electricity, is the way to go. It’s more energy efficient (thus saving money after initial expense while also reducing emissions), it works for both AC and heating, and it’s better for indoor air quality and therefore health. The grid where my father lives is relatively clean — electricity comes primarily from hydro, wind energy, and nuclear. But the very nice people who are selling us either a natural gas furnace or a heat pump are, like so many, more comfortable with the technology they know than with this newfangled heat pump stuff. 

But here’s the thing: We’re talking about it. If I hadn’t brought up the option of a heat pump, my brother would, without thinking too much about it, have gone with the gas furnace because he’s familiar with that. And because the myth that heat pumps can’t work in cold temps simply won’t die, no matter how many times it’s debunked. 

The discussion (or lack thereof) around EVs is similar. The idea of charging a vehicle feels strange. And the myths around EVs — that the battery dies in cold weather, that charging infrastructure is poor — also won’t die. Consequently, while EVs are selling like hotcakes in other parts of the world, sales continue to be sluggish in the United States.

And this is where Seth Meyers comes in — partnering with Electric for All, a non-partisan nonprofit dedicated to informing the public about EVs, in a spot with his buddy, comedian John Lutz. Lutz showed off his new Kia EV, boasting about its 400-mile average range, its quiet, its easy charging, and its cargo space (including the “frunk” which is where an internal combustion engine would typically sit). Conversations like these go a long way toward demystifying some of this newer technology. Dot urges you to have them with the people in your life.

No solution is perfect — whether EV or heat pump. But they are better. (Another persistent myth, that EVs — and the mining required to produce their batteries — are more resource intensive than gasoline-fuelled cars, is not true. Also … have you seen the violence being waged over petroleum? Anything that shifts us to cleaner energy is a positive!) And the more we talk about these solutions and share accurate information about their pros and their cons, the more likely we are to embrace them as better (if not yet perfect) solutions. 

Argumentatively,

Dot

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