Tour of an electrified home in Champaign, IL

On Saturday, January 31st, Illinois PIRG Education Fund, Build Equinox and other partners hosted its first Clean Energy Home Tour. The homeowner Alex Long, a mechanical engineer himself, gave a personal tour to Champaign area residents and walked them through his home electrification process. Long is a co-founder of Build Equinox, a company that specializes in installing and designing technology to improve air quality in the home. 

Over 80% of households in Illinois rely on fossil fuels for home heating, but there are cheaper and healthier alternatives to burning gas in our homes. We do not need to continue using fossil fuels when we have the technology to transition to all-electric, clean energy buildings. Homeowners like Alex Long who have already electrified elements of their homes are sharing what they’ve learned with neighbors and other Illinoisans.

The first steps in home electrification

Long is the perfect tour guide: as a mechanical engineer, he knows all the technical pieces of the technology on display, much of which he and his father installed themselves. They started during the pandemic, by replacing the windows and redoing the insulation in the attic and basement. This is key to the electrification process; to seal off the house from outside temperature so the technology can do its work. 

After sealing up the house, Alex started installing energy efficient technology in the basement, where most of the tour was held. In his 2023 appraisal of the house, he found that his home value increased by approximately 170,000 since electrification and his utility bill for the entire year was $752, including 7000 miles of electric driving.

Adopting more efficient and clean energy technologies

He now has a heat pump water heater, solar panels, heat pump heating/AC system, and Build Equinox’s CERV2, an air quality management system from the company he co-founded, and will soon be installing an electric washer and dryer.

Alex made it clear in the tour, “There are so many things you can do at every different financial level, you can start small,” said Kathy Shannon of the Champaign County Board. “It doesn’t have to be perfect; every improvement makes a difference.” 

Getting information in homeowners hands

Guests were provided electrification resources from local businesses that provide home electrification and insulation services, state programs for saving on new appliances, and guides for how to lower your gas bills in the meantime. Many of the attendees had already started the process and were able to ask experts about their next steps and how to best save money. 

While solar has gained quite a bit of popularity in our state, there are still a lot of unknowns about cost-saving technology like heat pump systems. The state and utility companies have many home energy incentives and rebates, but consumers often don’t know of them or struggle to implement these solutions in their homes. 

This is just the first part of Illinois PIRG Education Fund’s larger effort to educate Illinois residents about the benefits of home electrification, assist those who are already electrifying, and work concretely towards a future without gas.

By hosting home tours throughout the state, Illinois PIRG Education Fund is trying to make it easier for homeowners and communities to get in touch with those resources. Illinois PIRG Education Fund, Environment Illinois Research & Education Center and Illinois Green Alliance plan to host more tours like this throughout Southern Illinois. You can find the list of tours here.