EN Webinar: Electrical Panel Upgrades – A key to scaling home electrification

Join Electrify Now for Electrify Week – a series of webinars on electrification during Sustainable Buildings Week.

As more homeowners learn about the advantages of electrifying heating and cooking and replace gas cars with EVs, the humble electrical panel become a focus of attention. In some homes, this workhorse appliance can be a bottleneck as the demand for additional circuits and more power increases. Older homes in particular may have 100 amp panels or insufficient circuit breaker space to power the 240V loads needed for heat pumps or EV charging. In order to scale home electrification, this problem will need to be overcome.

Join us for an overview of the solutions available for this important problem. We will address the following questions and more:

• Why are electrical panels a potential stumbling block for home electrification?
• How much of the US building stock could face panel issues in order to electrify?
• What are the typical costs for panel upgrades?
• Is is possible to electrify a home without a panel upgrade?
• What are circuit sharing devices and how do they help this issue?
• How do smart panels work and what are their benefits?
• Does the Inflation Reduction Act help address the costs of panel upgrades?

Panelists:

Cora Wyent is a Research Associate at Rewiring America, where she is conducting research and analysis to enable rapid electrification of everything in the economy. Prior to Rewiring America, she completed her PhD in Physics at Caltech, where she studied new materials for ultrathin solar cells and and carbon capture technologies.

Hannah Bruegmann is Director of Programs at Build it Green, a non-profit devoted to creating a healthy housing ecosystem that fosters the well-being of individuals, communities and the natural world. She holds a MS in Product Design from Stanford University and a BS in Physical Geography from Arizona State University.

Chadwick Conway is Head of Products at SPAN, an innovation leader in smart home electrical panels. Chad helped to build the Tesla Powerwall product line and development team before joining SPAN and graduated from the Rose-Hulman Institue of Technology with a BS in Mechanical Engineering.