Electrify Your Lifestyle with EVmatch and YellowTin

Most of us would love to reduce our carbon footprint and have taken steps over the years to do so, from using public transit and biking, to composting, to avoiding fast fashion, and the list goes on.

But maybe you’ve hit a wall and don’t know what else you can do to live a lower-impact life. Perhaps you’re a renter and don’t feel empowered to make changes in your rental unit, or, if you own your place, might have limited funds to make clean energy improvements.

In recent history, there haven’t been many resources out there to support individuals and households who want to take meaningful steps to transition to a clean energy lifestyle.

Until now.

We are elated to share a new partnership with the team at YellowTin, who have developed a consumer-centric software platform that educates and empowers homeowners and renters to make informed decisions about switching to more cost-effective, electricity-based solutions in their homes, vehicles and lifestyles.

So how does it work?

Start by signing up for YellowTin here (it’s free!). You will be asked some basic questions about your current energy habits, appliances, and household. You will then gain access to a smart dashboard, customized just for you, that considers your energy needs, capabilities, and preferences, and then provides tips and resources to help you electrify to save money and cut emissions. You can toggle between a 1 month, 1 year, and 20 year time frame to compare carbon savings. Here’s what mine looks like:

You can also connect data from your electricity provider to the platform to get a better look at your current usage and costs (not yet available with all utility providers). My family invested in solar panels and electrified our vehicles over the past decade, so our costs are already quite low.

If you are earlier in your electrification journey, and are interested in exploring the addition of solar panels and electric vehicles into your life, your smart dashboard will look a bit different. Below is a sample dashboard for a user who is exploring these areas.

For solar, YellowTin allows you to plug in details about the type and condition of your roof, and specify whether you are adding to your solar or starting fresh, to give you an accurate estimate of the associated costs. As far as your ride is concerned, the platform lets you search EVs by cost, range, and available rebates, as well as asking you to predict how much charging you plan to do at home.

Once you have set up your dashboard, the platform will allow you to:

• Review your energy dashboard to explore ways to save money and reduce emissions at your home, and with your transportation and overall lifestyle habits. You will be provided with a breakdown of options, including their net costs, to help you make choices that fit within your budget. 
• Get a better understanding of carbon savings associated with each one of these changes on the dashboard, as well as a more thorough understanding of the benefits of clean electrification.
• Simulate how different technologies interact, such as how a solar system size will need to be larger if you choose to add an electric vehicle, and that solar capacity is determined by the type of EV, how many miles it is driven, what percentage of the time it is charged from home, etc.
• Build a plan to electrify everything so you know the order in which to make each shift, and the best way to pay for it.
• Gain access to additional financial incentives and rebates available to households that qualify as low- to moderate-income.
• Identify rebates and start shopping for clean energy upgrades like electric vehicles, solar panels, heat pumps, efficient dryers, and more. YellowTin offers a home electrification marketplace right on their platform, making it easy to directly purchase high quality and vetted efficient products!

We are grateful for this partnership and for the ability to offer this innovative platform to our growing EVmatch community, at no cost! This useful tool cuts out the guesswork and the many hours of research typically needed to make decisions about home and lifestyle energy upgrades. Whether you rent or own, and regardless of your budget, we want to support you in taking steps to electrify your lifestyle.

Please reach out with any questions or feedback. We’d love to hear how you plan to leverage your personal YellowTin insights to make lifestyle changes.

Here’s to a clean energy future!