For a quick primer, and to take directly from the book (New York: Portfolio/Pengin [2018], pages 256-257), “Objectives are the ‘Whats.’ They:
- Express goals and intents;
- Are aggressive yet realistic
- Must be tangible, objective, and unambiguous; should be evident to a rational observer whether the objective has been achieved.
- The achievement of an objective must provide clear value for the organization.
Key Results are the ‘Hows.’ They:
- Express measurable milestones which, if achieved, will helpfully advance objectives to their constituents;
- Must describe outcomes, not activities. If your KRs include words like ‘consult,’ ‘help,’ ‘analyze,’ or ‘participate,’ they describe actions. Instead, explain the end-user impact of these activities.
- Must include evidence of completion. This evidence must be available, credible, and easily discoverable.”
This got me thinking: if OKRs are used for businesses and non-profit organizations, why not use them for our own house?
Why You Should Stop Burning Natural Gas In Your Home
When we built our house ten years ago, it was all about efficiency. The general thinking back then was because natural gas was a more efficient and less expensive choice for heating. In addition, natural gas is a cleaner-burning fuel than coal, and because the electrical grid was primarily fueled by coal, natural gas-powered equipment was the cleaner choice for our air.
Now, though, as coal is becoming a less significant part of the electric grid power source—30% of the total U.S. electricity generation in 2017, down from 48% in 2008, as renewables (hydro, solar, and wind) have grown from 9% to 17% over that same period, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency—that means electric-powered equipment can be cleaner than gas-powered equipment. As climate change is reaching levels where we need to panic, as David Wallace-Wells asserts in his recent New York Times Op-Ed piece, it’s all about quitting fossil fuel consumption, period.
What does that mean for homeowners? The four appliances that typically use natural gas in many areas of the continent—heaters, hot water heaters, stoves, and clothing dryers—can instead be powered by electricity. Because we can rely on a cleaner electrical grid and solar panels, electrifying our home is one way to reduce our carbon footprint and help fight climate change.
There are additional reasons to stop burning natural gas in our homes. First: our health. When we light that gas stove, it’s not only emitting carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that causes global warming. In addition, it can emit carbon monoxide (CO)—a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas (this is why we have the building code requirement of CO monitors in all homes, on all levels of the house). While carbon monoxide is the worst offender, burning natural gas emits nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and formaldehyde (HCHO), both of which can exacerbate various respiratory and other health ailments, according to a 2014 article published in Environmental Health Perspectives.
Second, there’s the safety factor. According to Environmental Science and Technology, “incidents involving natural gas pipelines still cause an average of 17 fatalities and $133 M in property damage annually.” So while you’re not likely to die from a natural gas explosion, wouldn’t you rather not have that possibility in your house?
Third, natural gas leaks are the largest source of human-caused methane (CH4) emissions in the U.S. Methane is roughly 86 times more potent* than carbon dioxide as a heat-trapping greenhouse gas—so that’s a huge problem. But it’s not just near and around natural gas plants. Bruce Nilles of the Rocky Mountain Institute told us that the entire underground network of natural gas piping is leaking methane—and the older the pipes, the worse it is.
When I asked Bruce how we can stop this, given that we as homeowners can’t just dig up our gas piping, he gave me an excellent visual: think of the underground network of natural gas lines as a great big tree, and we are trimming it down, twig by twig. For each house that eliminates natural gas, the pipe can be capped off at the line by the house. Then, if everyone on the street does that, the entire branch can be trimmed. Then, the whole neighborhood, and so on. We keep doing that, and the tree is fully trimmed; the leaks stop. Brilliant.
