Optimistic visions of Americas climate future look dramatically different from life today. The population abandons the suburbs for dense, efficient urban housing. Personal cars give way to bikes and green public transit. Those who can make the sacrifice sweat out the summer heat, rationing the air conditioning for those who most need it.

The alternative, so goes this line of thinking, is apocalyptic chaos.

But what if Americans could drive the same miles and blast the A/C to cool single-family suburban homes all summer long and actually reduce U.S. emissions of climate-changing gases by 40%? Not only is it possible, according to a new study , the average household would save up to $2,500 a year and do it with technology thats on the market today.

The finding, published Thursday morning, is the second major report from Saul Griffith, the physicist, MacArthur genius grant winner and energy researcher behind the group Rewiring America .

The group, which aims to rapidly decarbonize the U.S. by electrifying all aspects of the economy, made its debut in July with a report that found doing so would create 25 million good-paying jobs and eliminate roughly 75% of the countrys carbon emissions in the next 15 years.

The conclusions ran contrary to conventional wisdom in the energy space but painted an oddly optimistic picture, Vox energy columnist Dave Roberts observed in a thorough write-up of the first report, noting that all the U.S. needed was a serious commitment to building the necessary machines and creating a regulatory and policy environment that supports their rapid deployment.