The Scott Brothers Want to Renovate the Planet, Ecologically Speaking
To hear the Scott Brothers' views on sustainability, environmental policy, and much more, join them in conversation with House Beautiful Editor-in-Chief Joanna Saltz this Friday, April 28th from 12pm-2pm EST at The Future of Eco-Conscious Living Virtual Summit. Register for the Summit here.
As often happens, Jonathan and Drew Scott were first drawn to environmental advocacy by a personal connection—or rather, a situation that really, really pissed them off. They were renovating their family home in Las Vegas about a decade ago, and decided to outfit it with solar power. "After we'd done all this work and were ready to go, the utility would just not give us permission to flip a switch and start using it," Jonathan remembers. "No sooner did we finally get that approval than the PUC [Public Utilities Commission] changed the legislation and basically killed solar in Nevada. All the solar companies closed down. We were like, What the hell is going on here?"
Over Zoom on a break from filming, he shakes his head in frustration at the memory. "Drew and I were debaters in college. If something doesn't smell right, we don't let go."
Their research, and personal revelations about what they call the "whole secret war being waged" against renewable energy companies by fossil fuel utilities, led to the award-winning 2020 PBS documentary Jonathan Scott's Power Trip. Three years later, the Property Brothers have transformed themselves into the fully fledged eco warriors. As two of HGTV's biggest, most bankable stars, they’ve starred in 11 shows or spinoffs, and created product lines, a production company, a podcast, two books, a magazine and more. Now, they're throwing themselves into using their considerable influence to push their true passion of sustainability.
Some might consider environmental crusading an odd fit for celebrities with a big fan base in red states—constituents of the very politicians waging the "whole secret war." But the Scott brothers beg to differ. "Our shows are the perfect platform. Now that we have the highest-rated shows on HGTV, every episode is a chance to reach millions of people," points out Drew.
Still, they understand that the key to their success is being practical, not preachy. "Incorporating an induction range in this episode, showing how you can blow in more insulation in that episode, swapping out light bulbs for LEDs…Those were little things that we could do to start to educate," says Drew.
Off-camera, they made sure their own products were produced with sustainable materials and methods; created an internal sustainability team at Scott Brothers Global; and leaned on contractors, third-party vendors, and industry partners to adopt similar practices.
More recently, the Scott Brothers have taken their voices all the way to Washington. In March, 2022, Jonathan testified before Congress about the benefits of heat pump technology. At the 2023 International Builders Show in Las Vegas, both brothers participated in a talk with Jeremiah Baumann from the Department of Energy. And, last year, Jonathan, who sits on the board of the nonprofit Rewiring America, held an Instagram Live discussion with Senator Martin Heinrich to discuss induction ranges, an issue that became a political circus for a few weeks there in early 2023, when conservative politicians—and the natural gas industry—warned of an impending gas stove ban before President Biden clarified none was imminent.
"The scariest reports have finally come out about indoor air quality and gas ranges. No one ever turns their hood on. They're pumping all of those fumes and that exhaust into their homes and that is causing asthma, respiratory problems, and deaths in severe circumstances," says Jonathan. (For a kitschy throwback to help understand the gas industry's promotion of such stoves, he recommends watching the '80s-tastic campaign, Now You’re Cooking with Gas, which encouraged Americans to do just that.) "With induction ovens," Jonathan continues, "not only is [the cooktop] not hot to the touch, so it's safe for kids, there’s no benzene coming off. You can boil a pot of water two to three times faster, and [you don’t have] the cost of running gas lines."
They're not constantly spouting statistics, though. When Jonathan wonders whether it would be helpful to get "other" celebrity chefs to take up the induction mantle, Drew interrupts with the type of repartee that captured audience hearts long ago. "Are you calling yourself a celebrity chef?" he teases, to which his brother immediately cracks, "Yeah, I happen to dabble. And make a mean omelet."
The brothers have literally banked on their silly banter, but they're also eager to get serious. They don’t seem worried about risking the alienation of their considerable number of conservative viewers by, say, working with the Biden administration on publicizing the Inflation Reduction Act. "The whole thing with Jonathan and me is, we're not biased, red and blue. What we want is what's best for families," says Drew. "Climate change is a big thing, but there's a lot of keywords that scare people or just offend them, and they get their defenses up. We cut that all aside."
The Scotts return again and again to this assertion—that their environmental work is all about families. "At the end of the day, what Jonathan and I are focused on is a happy, healthy home for all families in America," says Drew.
In an effort to make that happen, they've worked to create an apolitical website, drewandjonathan.com, that aims to provide clear solutions to home updates and eco-conundrums while cutting through the propaganda from the fossil fuels industry. "Being so inundated, and so busy with life in general, it's really hard for people to take the time to figure out sustainability," he explains. "When you know there's some new policy or something that's coming that is not for the best interest of people, how do we create this bullshit button that just calls it out?" The brothers seem to hope their site will serve as just such a BS Buzzer, helping viewers cut through the hype to understand what is truly in their best interests.
As part of their effort to get the word out about sustainability, the Scott brothers are quick to point out that working to save the planet can help families save money, too. "Solar [energy] is so much more cost-effective! It's almost pennies compared to ten years ago, when we were doing that Vegas house. Induction ovens are less expensive than the fossil-fuel driven options because you have those rebates and tax incentives," Drew explains. "Price doesn't have to be the barrier."
Jonathan chimes in, "The more people who adopt these technologies, the quicker that price comes down, because manufacturing costs substantially reduce."
The brothers are known to geek out—talking about the coolest new technologies and product innovations gets them both jazzed. And it's not all talk and no action. They're the first to adopt the technologies they endorse. Take SPAN panels, which replace traditional circuit breakers. "It's an AI-driven panel—that's what Zooey and I put in our home," Jonathan says, referring to his actress partner, Zooey Deschanel. "It monitors everything and tells us if an appliance is going to fail before it fails. [If] your power's out, you can go charge your electric vehicle and power your home off your EV."
Drew also uses SPAN panels to track the energy output of the home he shares with his wife, Linda, and their nearly year-old son, Parker. "You can see if an appliance is drawing way too much power. I have the same for water-leak detection, so I can tell if somebody's running their shower for longer than they should be. If my wife's sister is visiting and likes her long showers, I would just shut off the water," he says drily. "That's just teaching them to be more sustainable. Yeah, I'm mature!"
You may not have a sister-in-law who'd see the humor in a curtailed shower—or an EV charging in the driveway. But, the brothers have some ideas for how to approach making your own home more sustainable without getting overwhelmed or depressed. "Do a little bit of reconnaissance at home. Create a list of all the things or ways that you potentially waste, whether it's electricity or single-use plastics or something else," suggests Drew. "Once you see it, break it into sizeable chunks, like, 'Hey, let's focus on the heating/cooling, or insulating, or the window coverings.'"
For their own list of goals listing how to achieve a more sustainable future, the brothers seem to have written Don't shame the audience in block letters at the top. "There's no need to vilify," says Jonathan. "If we can make sure that the clean, green appliances are competitive at the point when somebody needs to change their appliance, then we're doing our job."
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