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Go Electric! A guide to kicking fossil fuel out of your life.

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Fresh Energy is making sure Minnesota and our region move quickly toward a clean energy future. Help us accelerate this transition by cutting your dependence on fossil fuel and electrifying your life one appliance, vehicle, and tool at a time.

The more we learn about the climate and health impacts of the items we depend upon every day to dry our clothes, cook our food, and get us around, the better informed we will be when it comes time to replace them.

Start thinking more about your clean transportation and electrification options!

  • Bike and walk more: Minnesotans take about 90 million bicycle and e-bike trips annually on their own bikes and via bikeshare. Whether it’s to the grocery store, daycare, work, and for fun, it all adds up to reducing emissions.
  • Drive an electric vehicle (EV): Now that Minnesota is a clean cars state, more EV options will be available for sale. As the EV market grows, so too will the used EV market. A federal tax credit of up to $7,500 is still available for many EV makes, but due to high sales by some manufacturers, credits for certain makes are phasing out.
  • Get on a utility rate for EVs: Many utilities offer a reduced electric price for EV owners who charge at home during the night and on weekends when the grid is least busy.
  • Try and opt into carshare and transit: Some areas of Minnesota, including the Twin Cities and Rochester have care sharing programs and HOURCAR in Minneapolis/Saint Paul has even launched an EV fleet!
  • Electrify home heating and cooling: Heat pumps are an efficient, affordable, and all-electric choice for home heating and cooling in cold weather climates like Minnesota. From air- to ground-source, heat pumps are the MVP of home electrification.
  • Mow electric: Cut emissions by going electric with yard care at home and advocating for it around town. Options abound for electric lawn mowers, saws, trimmers, leaf blowers, and even snow blowers.
  • Switch to electric appliances: Combusting natural gas inside your home releases nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and more into the air you breathe. As you replace your water heater, dryer, and range, make the switch to electric. There is great new technology—including modern induction stoves— that perform as well or better than their gas counterparts.
  • Amp up efficiency: The kilowatt hour you don’t use is always the cleanest and cheapest. Both homeowners and apartment dwellers can make a plan to increase energy efficiency.

With the help of guest experts, Minnesotans sharing their experiences, and Fresh Energy staff, we have been exploring what transitioning from gas to electric means at a practical level. We’ve hosted online webinars featuring electric vehicles, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, chainsaws, and more.


Read up more on electrification with these blog posts and product lists:

Electric Product Lists from American Lung Association, Shift2Electric, and Fresh Energy:

Stream our past electrification-focused webinars!