How You Can (Mostly) Cut Using Fossil Fuels as a Renter in the Bay Area

Here’s your guide for how to do that.

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Cooking

Warming and cooling your home

Generating some of your own electricity

Storing energy

Charging your car

Drying your clothes

Talking to your property owner

Paying for your utility bills

Cooking

Studies show gas stoves expose people to unhealthy air and emit methane, the main component in natural gas. Methane warms the climate at nearly 80 times the rate of carbon dioxide, although it stays in the atmosphere for a far shorter time.

Switching to an electric or induction stove can dramatically cut pollution. Induction appliances also tend to heat up faster and be more energy efficient.

There are two induction options: cooktops and stoves.

Induction cooktops

Induction cooktops are fairly flat rectangles that can rest on any countertop or table. Many people simply place them on their gas stove (remember not to ignite your gas stove with the cooktop there).

Induction cooktops provide even heat and boil water quickly. They offer a kitchen upgrade without a remodel or thumbs up from a property owner. They’re portable and easy to pack when you move.

Large retailers like IKEA sell single, plug-in burners, and other companies offer four-burner cooktops.

Keep in mind: Buy an induction cooktop that plugs into a standard 120-volt outlet to avoid the need for wiring upgrades.

Induction requires compatible cookware like stainless steel and cast iron. Aluminum pots and pans do not work with induction — they simply won’t heat up. To test pots and pans to see if they are compatible, hold a fridge magnet up to them. If it sticks, they will work!

Cost: Induction cooktops start around $75 for a single burner.

Induction stoves that plug into a standard outlet 

While many induction stoves require home rewiring to provide enough electricity, there’s a burgeoning market of stoves that plug into a standard 120-volt outlet. They have an internal battery that charges when not in use and provides extra oomph when needed.

This option is more appropriate for people planning to stay in their rental for a while.

Keep in mind: A stove with a backup battery will allow you to keep cooking during a power outage, at least for a few meals.

Induction stoves also require compatible stainless steel and cast-iron cookware.

You’ll need to switch off the gas valve behind the old gas stove to prevent any gas from flowing into your home. It’s a good idea to talk to your property owner before making this kind of change, especially to be sure you’re properly dealing with the gas valve.

A large stove will be hard to take with you when you move. Some renters have reported storing the gas stove that came with the rental, and plan to take their induction stove to their next house.

Cost: Induction stoves range from $2,000-$7,000. Bay Area author and celebrity chef Samin Nosrat loves this one.

Other kitchen appliances

Even if you don’t replace your gas cooktop, you can use it far less with the help of other appliances like electric water kettles, toaster ovens, slow cookers, microwaves, and air fryers.

Warming and cooling your home

The median cost for an HVAC heat pump installation in California is $18,816, which includes equipment and upgrades to existing ductwork, labor, and removing the old appliance.

But a renter, or a homeowner for that matter, can pull this off for far less.

Like recent innovations in stoves, there are now fairly portable, affordable window heat pumps that will plug into a standard outlet. They’re similar to AC units, but without the water drips and with far less noise.

Keep in mind: Most models are meant to warm or cool a single room, and most only work in sash windows that open up and down.

Cost: Popular models start at $550.

Generating some of your own electricity

Plug-in solar consists of just a few panels that people set up themselves and connect to a wall outlet. In under an hour, people can start generating enough power to keep an efficient refrigerator humming. Panels can be propped in yards or hung from balconies or windows.

Keep in mind: According to safety certification organization UL Solutions, risks with current plug-in solar systems include overloading a circuit and damaging equipment or even starting a fire, and a plug may shock a person if they touch it immediately after unplugging.

Distributors say they have solved these issues, however, and that their systems are safe. Some recommend dedicating a circuit specifically to plug-in solar panels to avoid any overloading issues.

In California, plug-in solar panels must be registered with your utility as if they were a full rooftop solar array. Proponents of the technology argue that this kind of registration process defeats the goal of plug-and-play systems, making them too expensive and slow to set up.

There is current legislation to change California’s plug-in solar registration; however, some people are already installing the panels without registering them.

Cost: Smaller systems range in size and cost from around $500 to $1,900.

Storing energy

While a whole-home battery system is out of the question for a renter, smaller portable batteries are hitting the market. It’s a good option for people needing to keep medicines cool, or mobility devices charged in the case of a power outage.

Cost: $1,299

Charging your car

Should you go the electric vehicle route, you’d most likely want to charge where you park. While some dogged EV fans have made it work charging at public and fast chargers, this takes commitment and money. Fast chargers are more expensive than charging at home.

If you have a garage, many EV drivers use the method of “trickle charging,” which means just plugging into an existing 120-volt outlet. In EV-speak, this is considered “Level 1” charging and provides enough energy to meet the average Bay Area household commute of 20 miles per day.

A Level 1 charger adds about 5 miles to a car’s range in an hour, per the Department of Energy. Paying for this extra electricity is a conversation to have with your property owner.

For people with too few or no outlets in their garage, start-ups are popping up to solve this problem. Orange can install Level 1 chargers in larger parking garages at each spot. The lower-level chargers make the upgrade faster and more affordable for the building owner. The start-up Moon Five promises to install an EV charger that the tenant pays back monthly, at no cost to the property owner.

Cost: This depends on each project.

Drying your clothes

The majority of clothes dryers in California are powered by gas. Recently, several electric, heat-pump dryers have come out that do not require rewiring and can be plugged into a 120-volt outlet.

Keep in mind: The lower amount of electricity going into these dryers means the cycle will typically take longer than a gas dryer or one that plugs into a 240-volt outlet.

Some of these dryers are ventless, which means they collect water internally and do not require an outside steam vent. You’d need to dump out the water the machine collects each time.

Cost: Compact dryers go for a few hundred dollars, and fancier versions top $1,000.

Talking to your property owner

Some of the changes to cut planet-warming pollution from your home involve smaller appliances, and are a matter of personal choice, like a toaster oven.

But some larger changes would be worth bringing up with your property owner, said Ted Tiffany, Senior Technical Lead for advocacy group the Building Decarbonization Coalition.

If someone plans to turn off the gas valve behind their heater or stove, they’d want to be sure to do it right, Tiffany said. He also recommended people consult their property owner for more visible changes, like a heat pump, heater, and air conditioner window unit.

Here are some tips for talking to your property owner:

1. Discuss health benefits. Gas that vents indoors, like a gas stove, emits unhealthy indoor air pollution. You can track your indoor air quality with air sensors that start around $70 to document what changes you see when you turn on your gas appliances.
2. Propose cost sharing. For a larger appliance that may stay with the unit when you move, you could take on some of the cost, too.
3. Talk about climate benefits. Research shows that 42% of planet-warming emissions come from fossil fuels burned in our personal homes and vehicles.
4. Help find incentives. There are several websites that identify incentives depending on your address.
5. Talk about property value. There is some research showing that installing a heat pump can increase the value of your property significantly. Another advocacy group, Rewiring America, has more talking points along these lines on its website.

Paying for your utility bills

While swapping out gas appliances for electric ones will improve indoor air quality and reduce emissions, in most cases, it will increase your utility bill because electricity rates in California are higher than gas ones.

Replacing window air conditioners and/or plug-in space heaters with heat pumps may cut expenses, as heat pumps are more efficient.