New Missoula city staffer says: 'it's electric' - Missoulian
New Missoula city staffer says: ‘it’s electric’
One of the city’s newest personnel additions, Devin Filicicchia, recently came on as a grant-funded electrification specialist. His role, driven by previous work at the University of Montana, is to help local residents, businesses, governments and others electrify their buildings and transportation technologies. For Filicicchia, the undertaking is a way to localize the enormity of the climate crisis.
“In the spring of 2022, I finished my MS degree in environmental studies at UM,” said Filicicchia. “My focus was on climate action planning and environmental justice. That gave me the perspective on the importance of local climate action.”
Jeremy Nichols, who works for a climate and energy nonprofit, electrified his entire Missoula house.
Filicicchia’s colleague, climate and sustainability specialist Evora Glenn, agreed with Filicicchia’s assessment. That’s why the pair teamed up to help local groups and individuals take advantage of new assets in green technology.
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The first step, according to Glenn and Filicicchia, is to visit the city’s website at Electrifymissoula.org. There, the city offers a bevy of insights into electrification efforts, like health, economic and climate benefits, details on financing, as well as a tool to make an electrification plan.
Glenn explained these resources offer help on decisions like switching to a heat pump water heater or pairing electrification with other energy-efficient improvements. And she stressed that now is the best time to get involved, thanks to Filicicchia’s presence and a massive amount of rebates to take advantage of.
“Electrification offers the biggest emission reductions, so we really do need to mobilize as fast as we can around existing incentives,” said Glenn. “We will see nationwide the most emission reductions if communities like ours really mobilize around these opportunities.”
Many of the rebates offered by the federal government will last for the next 10 years. Glenn and Filicicchia recognized that transitions to clean power take time, and they’re excited to work with Missoulians to make practical plans for that switch.
“I think one of the challenges, big picture, is how quickly the technology changes,” Filicicchia added, noting some technology that used to struggle to go toe-to-toe with traditional options has become much more competitive lately. “There are a lot of rumors and it feels like a big challenge is changing those perspectives.”
“We were able to have new capacity for this work with Devin,” said Glenn. “And it’s so needed.”
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: electricity
Electricity is a secondary energy source: it is generated through the conversion of primary energy sources such as natural gas, coal, solar, hydropower, and wind. Electricity’s versatility is not cost-free: a substantial amount of energy is lost in its generation and the cost of storage is high, compared with fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. The economics of battery technology hold the key to expanded use of renewable sources to generate electricity.