Thread by @energysmartohio

@RDCFineHomes @MontePaulsen @briansiana @UCSUSA Good question. Pragmatists and conservatives. This is adapted from Geoffrey Moore's "Crossing the Chasm". Everyone should read that book.

They require a "complete product" that is demonstrably better than current options. It needs to be easy to procure and readily available.

@RDCFineHomes @MontePaulsen @briansiana @UCSUSA In EVs Tesla crossed the chasm with their Supercharger network. @EfficiencyLast's aunt and uncle bought a 2015 Model S and drove it across the country multiple times.

That's remarkable. It truly replaced an ICE vehicle.

@RDCFineHomes @MontePaulsen @briansiana @UCSUSA @EfficiencyLast For houses a broad solution is needed that can apply to most homes and require little to no thought from the owner. That's why we use high end communicating equipment. It looks like a furnace and the thermostat is familiar. It does the thinking for people.

@RDCFineHomes @MontePaulsen @briansiana @UCSUSA @EfficiencyLast In all of our solutions design we're looking to go far enough to drastically reduce risk of failure while using products and methods that are familiar to our audience, be they homeowners or contractors.

We want to swim in The Sea of Success.

@RDCFineHomes @MontePaulsen @briansiana @UCSUSA @EfficiencyLast We did an Electrify Everything night at a client home, two clients who hadn't yet upgraded HVAC yet were there.

They went in the basement and saw that the heat pump in that house looked just like their furnace. It was familiar.

Both now have a heat pump running in their homes

@RDCFineHomes @MontePaulsen @briansiana @UCSUSA @EfficiencyLast Meanwhile the HVAC contractor we work with (who also has some building science training, which is awesome), is comfortable installing these units because they go in just like any other new air conditioner, they just happen to be a heat pump and there's no furnace either.

@RDCFineHomes @MontePaulsen @briansiana @UCSUSA @EfficiencyLast His guys think I'm a little nutty, but now that we have a bunch of them in and they're all doing the job, they don't give me crap anymore.

The case studies on those houses give us a MASSIVE hammer to squash objections with. Few HVAC contractors argue with me anymore.

@RDCFineHomes @MontePaulsen @briansiana @UCSUSA @EfficiencyLast The wild thing is, we've only done about 35 projects in total. The whole time we've been working to create a replicable process that can be largely done with entry level talent.

Crazy thing is, at last check that's 35X the certified Passive Houses in Ohio.

@RDCFineHomes @MontePaulsen @briansiana @UCSUSA @EfficiencyLast So our pissant little practice has saved a crap ton more energy than Passive House in Ohio single family homes.

And those 35 houses just don't matter.

There are 60 million existing homes in the US that use fossil fuels. We need to be doing 2 million/yr to finish by 2050.

@RDCFineHomes @MontePaulsen @briansiana @UCSUSA @EfficiencyLast So we set out to figure out how to make comfortable, healthy homes available to everyone.

We ended up building software, which wasn't where we began. And we're creating a guild that will train itself.

Ideally by 2030 every new home HVAC system will be a heat pump in the US.

@RDCFineHomes @MontePaulsen @briansiana @UCSUSA @EfficiencyLast It required educational material that didn't exist. So we wrote a book.

It requires a different business model for HVAC contractors to make them (and their clients!) happier and more profitable.

So we're building that.

If we succeed, we can cover the fat part of the curve.

@RDCFineHomes @MontePaulsen @briansiana @UCSUSA @EfficiencyLast Does that help Bob?

New homes are much tougher in our eyes because of split incentives (builder pays for performance, not homeowner, in many cases), and so many parties involved.

Not intractable, perhaps you have an answer!

@RDCFineHomes @MontePaulsen @briansiana @UCSUSA @EfficiencyLast @threadreaderapp unroll please

@RDCFineHomes you can download it when it shows up.