We surveyed builders from across Colorado to uncover examples of new, all-electric homes — a trend far more common in other parts of the country, but finally gaining a foothold in southwestern climates thanks to some impressive technology advances. In SWEEP's recently-published fact sheet, we profiled 11 examples of all-electric construction either recently built or underway — including large master-planned developments, custom-built single-family homes, multifamily buildings, and a pre-K-12 rural school. These homes and buildings offer several notable benefits, including lower asthma rates, no risk of carbon monoxide poisoning or explosions from gas leaks, and a much smaller carbon footprint compared to homes that use gas or propane for heating, hot water, and cooking. In addition, all-electric homes or buildings’ costs, comfort, and cooking performance can be the same or slightly better, as we detail in the table on page three of the fact sheet. Read below and check out the full fact sheet to find out what we learned.
Top survey findings:
- Builders are planning and constructing larger, master-planned, all-electric communities in several parts of Colorado.
- Costs, quality, and comfort can be comparable to mixed-fuel homes.
- New all-electric buildings typically use air source or ground source heat pumps for both heating and cooling, heat pump water heaters, and induction stoves.
- Builders are marketing all-electric homes with terms like "sustainable," "high-performance," and "net zero" more often than "all-electric" or details of the specific technologies.
- Home buyers are seeking out all-electric homes, out of concerns for health, safety, and climate.
- Utilities are increasingly supporting electrification through rebates and training programs.
- Multifamily buildings — including affordable multifamily housing — and commercial buildings are also growing in popularity.