Electrifying the Home: Making Decisions with Cityfi’s Social Impact Calculator

By Chelsea Lawson

Increasingly, cities and even individuals are thinking about the wide-ranging impacts of their decisions. What impact will my choice have on my finances? On my well-being? What does my choice mean for the environment at large? Or for social equity?

For a few years now (and as discussed in several blog posts), Cityfi has been working on a framework to model investment decisions based on their comprehensive social impact. We have had the honor of getting to do this for public entities, including the Miami Department of Public Works and the Michigan Department of Transportation.

As the lead designer of the tool, it is also personally near and dear to my heart. So, when I found myself equivocating on a home investment decision, I turned to the framework for guidance.

Here is the decision: My husband and I currently have a gas stove and oven (collectively called a “range”). Over the past few years, I have been made aware of the negative health effects of gas ranges and indoor pollution, and we have a one-year-old. On the other hand, we live in Southern California where we can usually keep the door or windows open. We are both environmentalists and generally think that electrification is good for society, but there are nuances there, like the electricity source and the efficiency of using electricity for heat. It is unclear whether the investment increases home value or not. Etc. etc.

Even if you face a similar decision, the specifics of your life, preferences, and values will differ. As such, in this version of our Social Impact Calculator, I represented the numerical values with interactive sliders. You can see the explanation of each category, decide the score for yourself, and see whether the net result is positive (go for it) or negative (not worth it).

Here is the live tool. We would love to hear any thoughts or questions and will have more updates in the future about applications of the tool for our Cityfi clients.

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