I'm definitely in for this challenge! Fortunately, we are fairly already far down that road.
Progress so far:
1. We live in BC where essentially all electricity is hydro-electric except for some smaller islands that aren't connected to the grid. Those tend to be diesel gen-sets!
2. The house we bought a few years ago had just been renovated which included the installation of a heat-pump, an induction stove (love it!), and blown insulation in the attic.
3. We replaced one car with an EV almost four years ago and the other car (Subaru Legacy) only does about 3000km per year. At that rate it could last many years, although it has cost a fair bit just to keep it running lately.
4. Now that I have FIRE'd I almost always walk or bike locally. The EV takes us on any road-trips, camping, etc.
5. If the Subaru were to die, or if we decide it's not worth keeping any more, my wife seems willing to try going with the EV, an e-cargo bike, car-share, etc.
6. Thirteen-year-old son said he didn't want a driver's license. That will likely change, and I do think it's essential to have one even if you don't have a car, but his head is in the right place.
Challenges:
1. House is not super well insulated. We replaced three windows, but once we've replaced a few more and a sliding door our remaining options are a lot more expensive. Re-doing any of the insulation in the walls would only make sense if/when we have to redo the exterior (painted stucco). Some of the renovation work that was done missed a few things, like insulating rim joists I think, but fixing that potentially means a lot of drywall work.
2. We have succeeded in sealing up a lot of air leaks, although nowhere near a Passivhaus level, but if we do much more we'll probably need a heat-recovery air exchange system.
3. Upstairs (living room, kitchen, master bedroom, office) are kept warm by the heat-pump. The downstairs has baseboard heaters and fairly poor insulation. It's already electric so it meets the goal of not burning stuff, but it's where we're least efficient. A second heat-pump with two zones for the basement might be an option. A second heat-pump has the advantage of providing some redundancy too. Our neighbour's heat-pump motor failed during a cold stretch.
4. Backup heat: we get very few power outages here, despite some pretty good windstorms, but if there was an extended one we would either want a super-insulated house, or a backup heat source. We have a propane fireplace insert as a backup, although it really needs the fan to be effective. Because our insulation isn't great we do use this insert on especially cold days to supplement the heat-pump. Eliminating it completely is a challenge. Our propane use is low but not zero. Step one is probably moving the plug for the fan so in a power failure we could run it on a backup battery (Ecoflow, Bluetti, etc.).
5. Solar options on our roof aren't great due to angle and shading. Solar in BC makes less sense than many places due to low electricity rates anyway, but that does make EVs make more sense. I've considered building a stand-alone garage and that location would have better sun, so that could be a location for PV. Building it as a super-insulated and earthquake resistance structure could allow us to ditch the propane as it could be our emergency location in the event of an extended outage.
6. Probably the biggest challenge is broader than us. We live in a fairly car-dependent area. It's not like a "classic" North American suburb as it's an older neighbourhood (built in the 1940's) but it's not at the level of density that, frankly, all cities need to be aiming for if not burning stuff is the goal. I'm willing to walk and bike a lot more than many people, including my wife. Many of our neighbours might walk for recreation, but never to actually go anywhere for errands. We have one grocery store that's a 15 minute walk away, and many many options within 30 minutes, but it could be so much better. As with most municipalities, it's a drag-out, knock-down fight with both the city council and the NIMBYs to get sidewalks, bike lanes, bus routes, and zoning for buildings with enough density to support a local coffee shop or frequent transit. This has been why I've used my time in FIRE to get involved in activism around these things. They are probably way more important than anything I can do to my own house or transportation choices (but I still want to do those too of course).
