Green Success Stories got to chat with Larry Waters, the founder of Electrify My Home. Waters has worked in the HVAC industry for years, installing furnaces, air conditioners, water heaters, and improving the performance of homes through insulation and air sealing upgrades. Throughout his tenure he learned the value of electrifying a home properly and seamlessly, transitioning from all of its fossil fuel based and inefficient or outdated electric appliances, to energy-efficient appliances and solar-power.
Tell us a little bit about you and your background:
I have over 40 years in the HVAC trade, being personally responsible for selling thousands of gas furnaces! With an understanding of building science, while seeking out a solution to comfortably and efficiently condition tight California homes. With direction of a mentor in 2015 I installed my first high-efficiency inverter, heat pump. Since then I got the bug and have been living and breathing inverter heat pump installations, and have installed hundreds of them all over the bay area.
Looking to only address electrification in the future I retired in 2019 and started Electrify My Home. A one of its kind electrification only, one stop shop. We specialize in heat pump systems that perform far better through design and thoughtful execution we also tackle the building envelope, Heat pump water heaters and electrical upgrades.
We help our customers plan their Electrification roadmap so they can make wise decisions. Electrify My Home won the 2021 Green Builder Magazine Eco Leader Award. We have a 4 year consulting contract with Tech Clean California to train other contractors how to “speak the language” and offer what we call “good electrification” and “install small” two important principles that will help reduce grid impact.
I am a founding member of the Building Decarbonization Coalition Advisory Board and now a BDC leading light. Our business is growing and we adding more capacity.
What is a fun fact about you?
I’m known as Ice Waters to my close friends because I used to do a great ice ice baby dance. I have also taught people how to do Sasquatch calls.
Why do you think climate change and sustainability is such an important topic today?
We are watching a perfect storm of accelerating visible weather changes, increasing interest in carbon reduction and energy efficiency, legislation, investment and incentives all play out simultaneously. The momentum is building rapidly and this is the very reason I started Electrify My Home When I did.
What do you envision your industry looking like 10 years from now?
Since I am in the HVAC industry I envision majority of it still looking the same. Predatory contractors taking advantage of unsuspecting homeowners using dishonest techniques, with little or no design expertise and low quality installations.
What can the average person do to make a difference?
Start with the low hanging fruit in your own orbit: change your lightbulbs, install an energy monitor on your home, and run all your errands in one trip.
Green Success Stories is a television show, podcast, social media, and news platform, hosted by Dylan Welch, that highlights climate change scientists, renewable energy experts, and clean tech entrepreneurs by giving them a voice in the mainstream media. The Green podcast highlights leading experts in cleantech, sustainability, media, finance, and real estate. Tune in and subscribe to the podcast on Apple or Spotify to listen to interviews with leading cleantech and sustainable experts. If you are interested in being featured on Green, click HERE.