2009 Is a Great Year to Save Energy, Your Money and the World

This is going to be the year that you take action to reduce your energy bill.

Changes keep improving the function and ease of using on line energy audit materials. The US Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy site has everything you need to get started. Try their YOUR HOME site for a great beginning for 2009 that will help you see where you can cut energy bills at your house.

Be sure to click on every link on the left side to get the most useful information about saving energy at your house. The amount of free cost saving information is astounding. Even if you aren’t interested in one of the links today, click it anyway. You will be surprised at what you learn. Then you can pass the information on to someone you know that might need help.

Here is what you are looking for. Go ahead click them all.

Apartments
Appliances & Electronics
Designing & remodeling
Electricity
Energy Audits
Insulation & Air Sealing
Landscaping
Lighting & Daylighting
Space Heating & Cooling
Water Heating
Windows, Doors & Skylights

We can all be part of the solution whether you are concerned about the environment, the economy, climate change, energy independence or cutting your home expense budget, its all related and you can make a difference and see results.
© 2009 Mark R. Daily

Step One to Energy Addiction Recovery

Know the difference between “Energy Efficiency” and “Energy Conservation” and you will have taken the first step to energy addiction recovery. Plus, you may find joy and happiness.

Last year, energy efficiency guru Amory Lovins wrote this in an email to me and I assume, to many others.

“Fear of specific and avoidable dangers has evolutionary value. Nobody has ancestors who weren’t mindful of saber-toothed tigers. But pervasive dread, currently in fashion and sometimes purposely promoted, is numbing and de-motivating. When I give a talk, sometimes a questioner details the many bad things happening in the world and asks how dare I propose solutions: isn’t resistance futile? The only response I’ve found is to ask, as gently as I can, “Does feeling that way make you more effective?”To be sure, mood does matter. The last three decades of the twentieth century reportedly saw 46,000 new psychological papers on despair and grief, but only 400 on joy and happiness. If psychologists want to help people find joy and happiness, they’re looking in the wrong places. Empathy, humor, and reversing both inner and outer poverty are all vital. But the most solid foundation we know for feeling better about the future is to improve it—tangibly, durably, reproducibly, and scaleably.

This year you can feel better about the world and yourself by learning more about energy efficiency and energy conservation. When you do this the future improves.

There is a lot of hype centered on the terms “energy conservation” and “energy efficiency” and most consumers seem clueless when it comes to knowing the difference and asking the right questions at the right time.

In over twenty years of dealing with electric utility consumers I believe that only about one in nine knows what they are saying when they ask, “which one is more efficient”? They don’t really care which one is more efficient. What they really care about is which one is cheaper.

So the difficult questions become, cheaper for whom and efficient in which way?

The answer for “which one is more efficient" is easy. It’s the solution that uses less energy to produce the same amount of work. This work could be light, heat, refrigeration, air conditioning etc.

The answer for “which one is less expensive” is never easy.

Everyone knows that a cheaper purchase price is often a dead give away for a product that will actually be more expensive over the product’s life of operation. The simple life cycle comparison of a fifty cent incandescent light bulb compared to its more “efficient” product, the three dollar compact fluorescent bulb, can be replicated with even higher costs savings when comparing refrigerators, pumps, water heaters, furnaces, windows, insulation and houses just to name a few.

Each fuel and each appliance has variables that are hard to compare. Certain fuels cost more up front like solar photovoltaic energy. Certain fuels and products traditionally avoid external costs and come in looking cheaper until you factor in the costs for healthcare, environmental degradation, and tax payer subsidies, like coal and nuclear power. The challenge is to define and quantify those external costs. This is hard to do and the producers of these energy products don’t really want you to figure out or factor in, those external costs. Just like the tobacco industry doesn’t want you to factor in the costs of treating lung diseases with the cost of a pack of cigarettes.

Here are the variables that go into the answer for the question, “which one is cheaper?”

What is the cost and efficiency to get the product (useful energy) to your house?

What is the true life cycle cost including operating costs and purchase price of the appliances that use the energy?

What are the operating habits and skills of the people using the appliance?

What is the quality of the building envelope or location in which the appliance is used?

In its simplest definition, energy conservation means those actions that cause you to use less energy. This could be as simple as keeping the thermostat lower and wearing a sweater on a cold day or as silly as trying to read in the dark. Sure you are saving energy and reducing your bill, but you have to suffer to do it. Americans don’t like to suffer. Consequently, most energy conservation programs do little to actually reduce energy use.

Energy Efficiency on the other hand means getting your beer just as cold or our home just as warm with efficient systems or products that use less energy. Like the compact fluorescent light bulb that produces the same light output for less than half the energy use of an incandescent bulb, or the better insulated house that uses less energy to heat the same square footage.

I am not a big fan of Wikipedia because it’s too easy for facts and sources to be questionable. Yet, I often start there for an overview of a topic and then check facts with other websites I consider more reputable or scientific. Their energy efficiency section seems factual and actually helpful. I recommend that you visit and read it all. It will give you some ideas about the possibilities for energy efficient products that can maintain your lifestyle without suffering more than a little higher purchase price. In most cases the life cycle cost of an energy efficient product or system will be cheaper than the “cheaper” product to purchase.

By understanding your options and understanding the language used to talk about energy and energy issues, you can take a big step to your own energy independence, cut your utility bills in the process and find joy and happiness. Wow, this is going to be a great year.

Electric Energy Independence is already underway – One house and one business at a time.

Forget the US Government and Obama’s rhetoric. Remember, every presidential candidate has campaigned on Energy Independence for the last thirty years. Forget your local utility. They’ve been doing business the same way for over 60 years.

Several Blogs ago I predicted the demise of the electric distribution industry as we know it. In Death of the Electric Industry I predicted the end of distribution utilities. In Death of the Electric Industry Part II, I explained how I think this is going to happen.

As little bits and pieces come to me that support my prediction, I tend to get a smug little grin on my face. My predictions had to do with residential customers jumping the grid tied ship like rats on a sinking vessel. But, Solar buzz recently announced a small commercial project that leads the way in proving that even industry can make use of solar energy in a mediocre solar climate like Connecticut. Tri-Town Precision Plastics plans to go solar and expects their investment to pay for itself in six years and deliver all of their electric energy needs all year long.

To plan your escape from the grid you only need two things, know-how and cash. Check out these websites to get the know-how. By acting on this information you can trim your energy appetite and get your house ready for energy independence without the expense of a solar system. Then after you’ve saved a bundle off your utility bill (said bundle being prudently stashed in a secure savings account) you are ready to use available incentives in your area to match your cash and build the system. Find my energy saving tips here.

Useful information is all about “Trust”. If you don’t trust the source of the information you are not going to follow their recommendations. Find sources of Know-How that you trust. Here are some that look pretty good to me.

The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) sponsors efficiency tips at getenergyactive.org. Organized in 1933, EEI is the association of U.S. shareholder or investor-owned electric companies. Their members serve 95 percent of the end use customers in the investor-owned part of the industry, and represent approximately 70 percent of the U.S. electric power industry. So you might be justified in being suspicious of their motives. However, all utilities, especially investor-owned utilities are falling all over themselves these days to prove to regulators that their rate increase requests are justified. One way that they do this is to show State Regulatory Commissions that they take energy conservation seriously.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has locked horns with utilities across the nation over air quality issues. These guys are not friends of the electric utility industry. They are supposed to be friends of the environment. ENERGY AND YOU is their site for all kinds of good information on energy conservation.

The benefits of visiting the above two sites are that they aren’t trying to sell any specific products.

Commercial sites might make you leery, but I think Real Goods has a good reputation for getting systems on the ground that work. Be sure to visit their Get Started and Economics & Financing links.

The American Solar Energy Society (ASES) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the use of solar energy, energy efficiency, and other sustainable technologies in the U.S. Sure they are selling solar equipment and trying to employ solar installation contractors, but these guys can’t last if they lie. Their Solar calculator will take your Monthly kWh and calculate the size of the system you need based on your climate.

Now you are ready to match your utility savings with incentives that can help reduce your out of pocket expenses. This data base at the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency can help you stretch your funds to meet your energy independence goals.

Maybe I’ll be reading about your off grid solar system and smiling one of these days. Don’t get mad at your utility, leave them
© 2008 Mark R. Daily

Steps to Cut Your Utility Bill

Why spend any more money than necessary on your utility bills? Most people continue doing it because they just can’t get motivated to do anything about energy efficiency or energy conservation. They don’t know where to start or which steps to take to save the most off their utility bills. Many people want to “go solar” or be “off the grid” without really knowing what those terms mean.

We all like the idea of energy independence. The recent election reminds me that there has not been a presidential candidate since before Jim Carter that hasn’t promised “energy independence”. Yet, our dependence on energy grows everyday and only a handful of homes provide “off-grid” energy and 21st century western world comforts at the same time.

Where do you start? Whether you plan to “go solar” or just cut your utility bill, the steps are the same.

Step one; find out what energy you use and why you use it. This is harder than it sounds but not as hard as you might think. By using a combination of your own utility bill’s energy use history, a $40.00 appliance meter and the gas or electric meter on your property, you will be able to figure it out.

The EPA’s Power Profiler can get you started with some basic information. They claim “Power Profiler will:
- Determine your power grid region based on your ZIP code and electric utility
- Compare the fuel mix and air emissions rates of the electricity in your region to the national average
- Determine the air emissions impacts of electricity use in your home or business

“Power Profiler is very easy to use and takes about 5 minutes. To start, all you need is your ZIP code.”

Its true and it seems fairly accurate, although you may not be able to pick the exact power company supplying your home. Still it’s a fun exercise and it’s educational. By clicking on the My Emmisions you will see how your house contributes to the issue of global climate change. You‘ll get the most detailed answer if you can fill in your monthly kWh use from your monthly electric bill. That’s another good reason to keep track of your personal energy impact by reading your bill and writing down the monthly kWh. You can get this data from your local utility too. If you do this, ask for the monthly data for the last three years so you can average out weird weather or unusually visitor impacts – like your brother-in-law leaving the refrigerator door open the whole week he was house sitting.

While you are at this site you should click the other two options as well, “Be More Energy Efficient” and “ Buy Green Power”. These links get you to information that can save you money and help you learn how and why you use energy.

The main step in the “How and Why I use Energy” investigation is to do an “Energy Audit”. Some people don’t get this, but you have to do this. I once worked on a video production that filmed one of my energy audits for a consenting customer and the videographer wrote “Energy Odd It” on the cover. I wish a different term had been coined for this, like “List of Energy Using Crap in your House”, because “Energy Audit” sounds so….. mathematical. Sixth grade math is all you need for this.

If you can’t do sixth grade math try the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Consumers Guide to Home Energy Audits. For some reason they do not include appliance energy use as part of their “Home Energy Audit” so you will have to go to their separate Appliance and Home Electronics section. Do your Audit on a room by room search. This will point to rooms that you will want to focus on to get the most energy savings.

Once you have your List of Energy Using Crap in Your House (LOEUCIYH), assign an energy use unit to it like kWh or CCF for the month. This is the only way to motivate a reduction in your energy use which is the only way you are going to actually save money off your utility bill.

By adding up all of the monthly Energy Use numbers in each room from your LOEUCIYH , you will see patterns of use that you might be able to change. No you are ready to compare your Energy Audit, I mean LOEUCIYH results with your unit price per kWh or CCF to get actual dollars spend on your energy. You really should come within about 5% of your actual bill- don’t forget to subtract tax and minimum monthly charges.

Saving money off your utility and saving the planet are important actions we should all take. Hey, if it was easy, we would have already done it, right? Now you know where to start, so what are you waiting for? You could be saving money.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has". - Margaret Mead

© 2008 Mark R. Daily

Energy Conservation- A Life Style You Can’t Afford To Ignore

You may not be a gourmet chef but, I’ll bet you have equipment for cooking and eating – you know- plates and pots and skillets and knives. You may not be a professional painter, but even if you are a renter, I imagine you have a paintbrush and some old paint.. You may not be a professional writer or author, but somewhere in your house I could probably find paper and pen or computer and printer. You may not be a specialist in sewage treatment but I’m guessing you have some toilet paper and a bathroom in your place.

So if you believe in saving energy and reducing utility bills, what kind of equipment do you have to help you create energy savings without just freezing in the dark?

You didn’t give up eating, just because you don’t care to cook. You probably paint something once in a while, even if your brush is in bad shape. And, you probably won’t give up going to the bathroom, just because of the…. well you know. So, why haven’t you done anything lately about energy conservation? If the experts are right, money spent cutting utility bills was a better investment than the stock market even before the credit crunch and stock market tumble.
Here is a thought. You don’t work on energy conservation with the same regularity as preparing meals or going to the bathroom because you don’t have the right equipment.

In fact, energy conservation takes equipment that most people don’t know about and that may not be staring you in the face every time you go to the grocery store. It might not even be sold at Wal-Mart (gasp).

The best tool to use for energy conservation is your electric or gas meter. That’s right. You don’t have to go to the store at all. You just have to find it in your yard or attached to the side of your house. You are already paying for it every month on your gas or electric bill, so use it. Go out with a note pad and jot down the reading – gas and electric. Write down the date and time you took the reading and stick that note right by the spot where you usually sit down to pay your utility bills.

When the next bill comes, look for the meter reading number on the bill. If you can’t find that number, call the toll free number on your bill and ask them where it is. The number on your bill should be larger than the number on your note unless you are into net-metering (see previous blogs if you’re not sure what net-metering is). By counting the total number of billing days shown on your bill and comparing it with the date on your note, you know the number of days between your reading and the end of the month reading from your utility. Gas utilities typically sell their product in units of one hundred Cubic Feet (CCF) or in therms. One therm=100,000 Btu, which is the heat content of about 100 cubic feet of gas. Electric Utilities sell their product in kilo-watt hours (kWh). By comparing the days to the CCF or kWh reading and a little sixth grade math, you can figure the number of CCF of gas or the number of kWh of electricity that you used per day.

You can do that every month if you want to, but try to at least do it in the middle of every season. Make it an appointment, in whatever it is that you make appointments in, so you don’t forget. Just repeat after me, “what gets measured gets managed”.
If any of this is “Greek” to you, visit next week’s Blog for Utility Billing 101. I’ll help you dissect your bill and touch on phantom loads.

Now that you know the big picture, how do you find out what’s making that meter spin? You need a fork. No silly, not like a real fork, a figurative fork. You have a fork to eat with right? Well, you can’t dine on energy savings without the right utensil. You need a meter. I’m not aware of any gas meters for individual appliances that are reasonable to buy, but there are starting to be a host of affordable appliance meters for electric appliances.

With an appliance meter, you can find out how your equipment really performs, sniff out phantom loads, and find small energy hogs that you might be able to butcher (unplug) so you can stop paying for piggies or kilowatt hours you don’t really need.

The holidays are a perfect time to spring for an appliance meter. Get one for yourself with grandma’s thoughtful check, or buy one for the greenie in your house.

If you search for “Power Monitors” or meters on-line, you will find a confusing list of products that are mostly designed for professional utility use. Unless you have specific training and state of the industry protective equipment, these monitors are not for you. There are, however, a couple of safe alternatives for home owners.

I still use my tried and true, P3Kill A Watt model P4400 . The easier to use but slightly more expensive model P4460 also looks useful. At around $30 to $50 dollars, you can almost imagine these as stocking stuffers. With these monitors, you will only be able to check appliances that plug into the wall. I used my P4400 and by standing on my head, (read Paul’s P4400 review) I discovered that buying a new dehumidifier would pay for itself in a couple of years; learned that my old television was a huge phantom load, and; found out that my computer equipment was costing pennies a month.

One of the newer monitors looks promising and lets you check appliances that might be hard to monitor individually, like your dishwasher or air conditioning equipment. The Black and Decker EM 100B Power Monitor straps to your electric meter and with a little data entry based on your own electric bill, you can see what happens when you turn on different pieces of equipment in your house. It works with a wireless transmitter that communicates between the device clamped to your meter and the hand held display that you can carry around to different rooms. When you flip the switch on your equipment and start using electricity, the monitor interprets the change in your meter to give you information that shows what that equipments’ energy use will be. At around $100 you need a serious “greenie” in the house to make this gift appropriate.

Hey, no one said it would be easy. Success as a cook isn’t easy either, but there is nothing like the satisfied feeling you get when you see your utility bill drop. By monitoring your equipment you can choose better management strategies, like turning it down or off, or getting an appliance timer to limit the on time. Good luck saving energy and cutting your utility bills. I hope you will get the right tools to enjoy it. Remember that energy conservation is a life style and like just like the process of going to the bathroom, you really can’t afford to skip it. Who would want to?
© Mark Daily, 2008

Energy Conservation Makes Me Panic

When I hear the phrase “energy conservation” my eyes glaze over; my pulse quickens and my stomach starts doing flip flops. When I hear that phrase, I know I am in for hours of boring lectures that might cover everything from how to drive my car to how to compost my vegetable waste. So, instead of talking about energy conservation, which can cover an infinite number of ways for me to feel bad about my behavior, I want to focus on saving money in two areas that mean something to me -my home electric bill and my home heating bill. I almost always feel better when I spend less money

I am not trying to dis the fine people working on the other parts of energy conservation, but to me, that phrase is too big. Its like have to wade through someone’s entire DNA genome description when all I want to know is, “what color is her hair?” A simple photo or a quick peak would do, right?

So, how do I get that photo or quick peak? Don’t Goggle “energy conservation”. You’ll spend hours looking at stuff that is really interesting but covers too much ground. You have to find a way to focus.

Adding the word “Home” to your goggle search helps focus the field of possibilities. Here is what I found from the first six choices searching for "Home Energy Conservation".

The first choice is powered by Chevron and it got really confusing for me. It went right into MPG and stuff that has nothing to do with my electric or heating bill.

The second choice must have happened because I’m in Indiana. It’s more about donating money than it is about saving money.

The third choice from the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association gets me a little closer to what I want but it’s more about how to build an energy efficient home and I am stuck with the one I have for now – so again, not real helpful.

Finally with the fourth, fifth and sixth choices, I got what I wanted.

Home Energy Saver claims it’s the “first web-based do-it-yourself energy audit tool”. Type in your zip code and start learning what it takes to save utility expenses right away. I liked it and there were lots of other links to get more information on remodeling ideas, “no/low cost” conservation actions and more.

The Home Energy Saver site above is run by the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which sponsors the fifth choice in the Goggle search, the EERE: Energy Savers Home Page. The side bar on the left takes you to details about your house that can help you get a handle on actions you can take to cut your utility bills.

The sixth choice takes you to HOME ENERGY MAGAZINE ONLINE. At first glance it looks like one more request for a subscription, but dig deeper. If you click on the Magazine link at the bottom of the masthead, you get into articles about specific topics utility saving steps. I clicked on the November/December 2008 Thermostat Setbacks- Do they really work and found coverage of a detailed study from Canada that answered every question I ever had about setback thermostats.

I think it’s great that so much attention is landing on the idea of reducing my carbon footprint. But, if ‘m going to make foot prints anywhere, I need some traveling cash. I get my travel money by reducing my utility bill payment footprint. And, I help save the world at the save time.

© 2008 Mark R. Daily

DO IT! (conserve energy & money) Scenerios of the Revolution (the energy revolution)

The Energy Revolution

This is a new revolution. A revolution that lets you tune in to savings and drop out of your energy dependence. No, it won't be televised. But, you will remember it. So, unlike the saying, "if you can remember the 60's, you weren't there", you, will be there to save the planet.

The challenge of energy conservation is in the minute and boring details of everyday living. As with any chronic bad habit (eg. alcoholism, drug addiction, frivolous energy waste, etc.) the first step to a cure is awareness. Nothing goes quicker to the heart of energy waste awareness than two fairly easy steps. One, keep track of the kilowatt hours you use and two, monitor your house appliances and systems to calculate your energy footprint.

Step One: Keep track of your kWh Use

There are several meaningful ways to do this. This easiest way is to set up a computer spreadsheet with columns for months and rows for years. When you get your electric bill, plug in the total kWh from your bill. In less than a year you will start to see patterns in your energy use that can help you make management decisions about energy use. After one year of record keeping you can compare with previous years. This is a great and easy way to see how your energy conservation actions translate into dollar savings, which is the real point of this effort. In three years of record keeping you’ll gain a great understanding of how your house works and document your energy conservation results.

I know a guy that made a form to keep track of his energy use every day. With morning, coffee in hand, he takes a short walk to his electric meter and records the reading. If you were ever suspicious of your electric utility (“no way did I use that much electricity last month - is this bill an estimate?”) this will help reduce those fears. It will also quickly show the impact of energy management decisions in your house. A whole host of energy wasters can be recognized quickly this way. Leaky hot water faucets, stuck thermostats, underground water pipe leaks and failing electric motors have all been some of the things caught early by doing this. So, the effort can save you future headaches by fixing these problems before they turn into bigger problems.

Step Two: Monitor your Stuff

This sounds like a lot of work but really it’s not too bad and the feeling you get from being in control of your energy consumption destiny is well worth the effort. With your Kill-a-watt meter in hand, take turns plugging in different appliances. This is a real eye opener. Plug in each appliance like refrigerators, freezers, television systems, sound systems, computer systems, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, hair dryers, electric blankets, lamps, anything with a cord that plugs into a regular wall outlet. Keep each appliance plugged in for a week. Note the kWh used at the end of the week, divide by seven and multiply by 365 and you have the cost to run that appliance for a year. If you only use that freezer or humidifier for part of the year, adjust your calculations accordingly.

Here’s how to make this easy. Get a calendar that you can write on and hang it in the kitchen. Get a Kill-o-watt Meter and leave it on your kitchen counter. Just leave it there. Then, the next time you head for the refrigerator, before you open the door, unplug the fridge and plug it back in with the Kill-o-watt meter in place. Leave it for a week. (Mark the day and time you set up the meter on your calendar.)In a week pick a new appliance to monitor. Retrieve your meter after recording the kWh used and time elapsed on the previous appliance. Keep going until you have documented energy use on each plug in appliance in your house.

The main point of doing this is to save the planet of course, but the best part of doing this is to save money. Are you freaking out about the world financial turmoil? Are you trying to find that finance vehicle that is secure, gives great returns for your dollars invested and won’t disappear with the latest dip in the DOW? Energy Conservation is it. Money invested in home improvements geared to saving energy shows returns that far exceed anything you can do on Wall Street. If you want a safe place to stick your investment funds, stick them in energy conservation.

DO IT !
What’s stopping you? I know. Just like the anxiety of picking the right stock in today’s market, you’re afraid to make the wrong energy conservation decision. You don’t want to waste money or plunk down big bucks for small savings.

BUILDITSOLAR.COM shows you where to start. While this website sounds like it’s just geared to solar energy enthusiasts, there is a wealth of information about energy conservation. Not only do they cover great ideas on energy conservation, they offer ways to help you pick projects that give the best bang for the buck.

The combination of taking control of your energy use by monitoring and taking action based on a do-able plan for energy conservation will make you feel better about the economy and the environment all at the same time.

Consumerism and Energy Conservation

I had quite a surprise this morning. Actually it was more like an epiphany, really.

For over fifteen years I have struggled with energy conservation in the electric utility industry. I’m a trained energy auditor and was a certified Home Energy Rating System technician. I visited with electric customers to answer the question, “Why is my energy bill so damned high and what can I do about it?”

I did detailed inventories and spit out detailed reports showing the source of the culprits contributing to high energy bills. I offered suggestions for how these customers could save money. Most of the time, I got a polite thank you. Sometimes I got a reference to another customer wanting to know, “Why is my energy bill so damned high and what can I do about it?” But, only a few cases out of hundreds brought any action on the customer’s part. One customer really loves me. He saved over three hundred dollars on propane the first month after he actually performed the measures I recommended, but, that was the exception.

Generally, customers just kept on doing what they had done before, yelling at family members to “turn off those lights” and “close the damned door – what were you – born in a barn”, and; they kept sending their money to the utility companies.

My epiphany was the result of reading a recent report by a group called ECOALIGN. Their mission is to” .. align corporate and consumer behavior with the future of energy and environment via innovative marketing and communications strategies”.

The report titled Project Energy Code, told me exactly why I couldn’t get any traction with most customers to implement the energy conservation measures I recommended. Maybe this explains why you haven’t taken action either.

The “problem” is a combination of three issues, visibility, ambivalence, and trust, as explained in the report prepared by Pippa Chenevix Trench. Here is my take on what they are getting at.

Visibility- Many of us won’t implement energy saving actions because even if we do, no one will know. Appraisers won’t increase the home’s value. Neighbors won’t make encouraging comments and no one will really be able to tell that we’re going green and saving the planet. It’s hard to brag about something you didn’t use –like energy.

Ambivalence- My dictionary defines Ambivalence as the “existence of mutually conflicting feelings or thoughts such as love or hate about some person (maybe energy auditors), object (like set back thermostats) or idea (like energy conservation). Some people might be thinking, “what’s the use, the planets going down the tubes anyway, why bother”. Or maybe they’re faced with the conflicting choice of paying for a great vacation versus installing more attic insulation. If you read the report you might conclude that the problem could even be deeper and more subtle than that. It could be anthropological.

Trust – This one really got me. Although I had a good working relationship with many customers, I was working for the utility. This fact alone made people wonder why I was recommending actions that would cut the profits from my employer. I talked about how we cared about energy conservation as well as the need to reduce the company’s cost to buy power. The report referenced a piece of research from Arizona that showed that when customers got energy saving ideas from a government agency, 17% of the recipients took energy saving actions. While 0% of recipients that got the same advice from a utility took any action. I guess I should be glad I got as many positive results as I did.

Yet, to save the planet, really save customers money and reduce the growing demand for electricity, we are all going to have to get a lot more successful at selling energy conservation.

I hope you will take the time to read the report yourself. It’s free. I didn’t even have to register or give away any personal information. Reading this report showed me that customer choices are complicated and go way beyond the typical environmentalist accusations that we are all just thoughtless consumers. EcoAlign concludes that our “consumption [is] not out of mindless greed but in response to a complex web of culture and belonging” influences. Wow, if I’d only known.

The Project Energy Code concludes with the call to arms for more research into human behavior as it applies to energy conservation. They say, “there are three areas for future research that stems from the hypotheses described in this essay”:

1. Understanding better how energy consumption and environmental issues are “bundled” within the broader context of people’s day to day lives.

2. Understanding the ways in which information surrounding energy use and decisions over consumer practices flows within and between households and social networks.

3. Identifying ways in which energy efficient behavior can be made more visible and the impacts of different media in communicating this information.

I’ll be thinking a lot about this report and its importance to saving money and the planet at the same time. In the mean time, I hope someone gets working on those three additional areas of research. If the experts are right, energy conservation is still the best bang for the buck and “negawatts” are still worth bragging about to your neighbors.

© 2008 Mark R. Daily

Fight High Utility Bills - IT’S WINTER- AGAIN - ARE YOU READY?

Yep, you know. You should have been thinking about this in August. Who wants to think about winter when you could be basking in the August sun on some nice back country trail, or well placed street furniture? Even in the coldest parts of the nation, it won’t get below zero for another thirty days. You still have plenty of time to winterize your house or business. However, for those of you freaking out about the cool October evenings, you’ll find the following check lists an easy way to button-up the cabin before winter gets serious.

Four Things to Remember Winter
1. Heating degree days per year make a difference in the actions you need to take to prepare for winter. A heating degree is any day that the average daily temperature is below 65 degrees. Anchorage, Alaska has an average of 10,130 heating degree days. Boston, Massachusetts has 5,630 heating degree days. The same house, with the same appliances and equipment, the same number of people and pets – doing the same activities, will have an Anchorage heating bill almost twice as high as a Boston family with the same utility rates. Find your heating degree days here.
2. Moisture Problems occur in dry as well as moist climates if you don’t pay attention to gaps in insulation. When warm moist house air meets cold surfaces, the moisture drops out of the air and condenses on that cold surface. This can cause mold and mildew to form. It reduces the insulation ability of many insulation materials. It can also rot wood.
3. Winter energy bills are higher in the winter even if you’re not there. Studies show more winter energy use in vacant homes because no one is cooking, living, caring for pets, turning on lights or doing things that provide “free” secondary heat.
4. Even in winter, sunshine is your friend. Use it wisely, and get free heat. Many people cancel out the benefits of free sunshine by leaving window coverings closed on sunny days.

The Big Four Energy Bill Sources
Target these four areas to save money off your utility bill. Sure turning off the lights is a good idea, because it’s easy, but even if you grope around in the dark all winter long, you won’t save as much on lighting fixes as you will by insulating heating ducts and sealing cold air cracks.
1) Space Heating Systems (60 to 75 percent of the average home energy load);
2) Domestic water heating (25 to 30 percent of the average home energy load);
3) Kitchen and home Appliances (10 to 15 percent of the average home energy load);
4) Lighting (5 to 7 percent of the average home energy load);

Space Heating Check List- Nine steps to lower energy bills
1) Inspect insulation. Repair crawl space insulation that may have fallen down. Replace attic insulation that may have been moved for summer construction projects. Compare your insulation levels to recommended standards for your climate and consider adding insulation if your home doesn’t meet those standards. Insulate heating ducts or hydronic fluid pipes.
2) Plug the crawl space vents that you opened last spring. Fiberglass batt insulation, lightly stuffed in a small trash bag makes a good vent plug that will fit between the floor joists of your crawl space.
3) Check heat tape and replace if there is any sign of damage. UL listed heat tape should be used and installed strictly according to the manufacturer’s directions. Non- UL listed heat tape should not be used at all. Heat tape is much less expensive to use for freeze protection than a space heater. Each foot of heat tape is usually rated at 3 watts per foot. So, for the operating costs of a 1,000 watt space heater you can run 333 feet of heat tape.
4) Clean dust and dirt from all types of heaters, supply vents and air registers. Also be sure to clean return air vents and baseboard heater fins for both gas and electric baseboard heaters. Replace or clean furnace air filters before starting your furnace for the season and do it again every two months during the heating season.
5) Clear the area around heaters and all forced air duct vents. Combustible material within four inches of electric baseboard heaters is a fire hazard. The more clearance you give your heaters and vents the better the air will circulate and the quicker your rooms will warm up, lowering your heating costs.
6) Close and latch windows. Unlatched windows allow windy days to pull heat from your house. Infiltration from building envelope openings can account for as much as 40% of your heating expense.
7) Clean south facing windows and remove screens. This step improves solar gain by as much as 10%. Why pay for heat when you can get it from the sun for free?
8) Install storm windows and repair any broken glass. Add plastic or glass storm windows to any single pane glass. Doing this cuts your heat loss from windows in half.
9) Check the weather-stripping around exterior doors and windows. Repair damage and fill gaps with additional material.

Domestic Water Heating Check List - Six Steps to longer water heater life and lower energy bills
1) Flush sediments from your water heater at least once a year.
2) Check both thermostat settings if you have an electric water heater. I recommend settings of 120 degrees for both thermostats. Always set both thermostats at the same setting.
3) Add an insulating blanket to your water heater unless your water heater has foam insulation or has factory warnings against adding insulation. Shoot for a total R-Value of R-16 or better. Electric water heaters can be insulated on top for additional heat retention. If your water heater lives in the garage, keep that big garage door closed as much as possible.
4) Check hot water pipes in the crawl space or other un-heated areas. Insulate the first three feet of both the cold and hot water pipes that connect to the tank itself. I’ve insulated all of my hot water pipes. Doing that gets hot water to my shower faster, saving water and water heating expense.
5) Adding a timer to your electric water heater can cut unwanted stand by loses when you are away at work or sleeping. This can cut your water heating costs by one third. You’ll probably have to hire an electrician to do this.
6) Check to see that your shower heads and sink fixtures are low flow fixtures rated at 2-3 gallons per minute (gpm).

Appliance Check List - Four Steps to Controlling Unruly Appliances and saving dollars
1) Specialty Appliances like water bed heaters, electric blankets, Jacuzzi’s, steam showers, and engine block heaters can often use more energy than typical home appliances like refrigerators and washing machines. Make a mental note of the wattage of all of your appliances and get a feel for how long they are on. Watts divided by 1000 equals kilowatts (KW); KW times the “time on” equals kilo-Watt hours which are the units you get billed for. Kilo-Watt Hours times your current electric rate equals the amount that you will pay on your bill for that appliance.
2) Keep all appliances clean. Clean around refrigerator and freezer compressors and backs. Clean appliances use less energy.
3) Appliance timers are especially good for reducing energy use on engine block heaters, stock tank heaters, hot tubs and other specialty appliances that don’t really need to be on 24 hours a day.
4) Food freezes at refrigerator temperatures below 30 degrees. There is no need to keep your freezer colder than that unless you are doing cryogenic experiments. Refrigerator compartments only need to be in the 40 degree range to keep most foods fresh. The setting knobs on all refrigerators and freezers are worthless. Use a thermometer to check out your temperature settings.

Lighting Check List- Five Steps to a Brighter and less expensive winter
1. Cleaning lighting fixtures, reflectors and bulbs gets more light output per unit of energy used.
2. Consider replacing incandescent light bulbs that are on for more than four hours per day with compact fluorescent bulbs.
3. Consider replacing exterior incandescent bulbs with halogen bulbs. They work well at cold temperatures and cut energy use.
4. Replace incandescent holiday lights with LED holiday lights.
5. Remember to turn lights off when you leave the room or get timers and motion detectors to do it for you.

Do you have other ideas that have saved you money on your utility bill? If you have and you can prove it, I’d like to hear about your experience.

© Mark Richard Daily, 2008

Save the Planet Save Your money- This book helps you do both

Looking for a great tax free investment? Wishing for an operating manual for your house? Longing to know how to evaluate your energy using appliances and home heating systems? Puzzled why your electric bill was so high? Frustrated trying to learn what to do about it? Now there are solutions to your problems with a new book by Godo Stoyke.

Energy efficiency guru Amory Lovins has said it for decades. When it comes to electricity generation, saving energy equals constructing energy supply. Now we have a tool to help us reduce the need for more power plants and save cash at home, all at the same time. And, the best part is that if you pick the right energy conservation efforts, you’ll have a better return on investment then anything you can do in the stock market even when the stock market was doing well.

The Carbon Buster’s Home Energy Handbook by Godo Stoyke (New Society Publishers) is the next best thing to an owner’s manual for your home. Chapter by chapter, step by step, this easy to read book lays out choices that you can make in your home to live better, reduce your impact on the globe and keep more money in your pocket and out of the utility company’s cash register.

The best part about saving energy with this book is that it’s short. In only 131 pages, LEED accredited graduate of the University of Alberta Master of Science program, lays out a clear picture of concrete steps you can take to identify your home’s energy appetite, search for unwanted energy hogs and quickly learn what can and can’t save you money.

“The purpose of this book is to show you the most effective and most cost effective ways to reduce your carbon emissions and the best ways to reduce your family’s energy bills.” Stoyke goes on to describe products and technologies that do just that. He explains the way of the Carbon Miser, whose only mission is to get the best return on investment (ROI) versus the Carbon Buster whose emphasis is reducing negative environmental consequences.

In nicely designed appendices Stoyke provides tables that list Efficiency measures with their corresponding carbon reductions, cost savings and payback years. He even lists energy conservation steps according to best return on investment.

This should be one book that everyone has in the house.

© Mark Daily, 2008

SHOP FOR ENERGY EFFICIENT APPLIANCES

Shopping for appliances isn’t fun. I usually don’t shop for an appliance until the one I have breaks down. Then, it’s a mad dash to the store to find a quick replacement. When a season’s worth of frozen vegetables is melting in your busted freezer, energy conservation is the last thing on your mind.

Unfortunately a hasty decision in the appliance selection process can cost you extra cash over the next fifteen years, the average life of most home appliances. “When you buy an appliance, you commit to paying both the first cost and the operating cost for as long as you own it. And over the life of an appliance, the energy cost to run it can be many times greater than the first cost. So it pays to buy an energy-efficient appliance,” says the introduction to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy’s Consumer Guide.

A refrigerator or freezer that costs an extra $200 but saves you $100 per year in energy bills, will not be $200 more expensive than the cheaper model. Actually in fifteen years it will have been $1,300 less expensive due to the higher operating costs of the cheaper model. So, if you really want to save money on appliances don’t compare price, compare efficiency ratings instead.

When shopping for appliances there are two stickers that help you compare. One is the Yellow Energy Guide. The other is the Energy Star Label.

The Yellow Energy Guide label shows a comparison of the highest and lowest energy consumption or efficiency estimates of similar appliance models, based on test procedures established by the US Department of Energy. This information lets you compare the features, size and energy usage of different models. From “uses least energy” to “uses most energy,” a scale shows how a model stacks up against the competition. Since 1980, the Federal Trade Commission has required the Energy Guide labels on refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, clothes washers, room air conditioners, water heaters, furnaces, boilers, central air conditioners, heat pumps and pool heaters. Labels are not yet required on clothes dryers, portable space heaters, kitchen ranges, microwave ovens, lights or on-demand tank-less water heaters.

Energy Star labels are not on all appliances, but you should always look for this sticker to get the most efficient appliance possible. To earn the ENERGY STAR, these appliances must meet strict energy efficiency criteria set by the US Environmental Protection Agency or the US Department of Energy. They use less energy and reduce your contribution to green house gas emissions from power plants.

More than 70% of American households recognize the Energy Star label. DOE estimates that $16 billion dollars was saved by consumers on 2007 utility bills.

According to the DOE Energy Star website here is what you can expect in savings by purchasing the following Energy Star appliances.
-Qualified refrigerators are at least 15% more efficient than the minimum federal efficiency standard.
-Qualified TVs consume 3 watts or less when switched off, compared to a standard TV, which consumes almost 6 watts on average.
-Office equipment that qualifies automatically enters a low-power "sleep" mode after a period of inactivity.
-Qualified light bulbs (compact florescent or CFL) use two-thirds less energy than a standard incandescent bulb and must meet additional operating and reliability guidelines.
-Qualified furnaces offer a rating of 90% AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) or greater, which is about 15% more efficient than the minimum federal efficiency standard.

So buying Energy Star appliances ensures that you are buying the most efficient models possible. You also save money by getting appliances with the “least energy used” per model category. Shop now, but don’t buy until you really need a new appliance. After all, these standards may change again and manufacturers are always coming up with more energy efficient models. That shouldn’t keep you being prepared by shopping ahead of time.
© Mark Daily, 2008

Electric Rates- Consumers Must Wade Through the Hype and Speak Up

Writing about energy issues isn’t easy. There are a host of dueling experts that love to aggressively champion their ideas. Some even have secret motives tied to parts of the energy industry. Are these objective writers? It’s hard to say frankly. I once had a person reading my material wonder aloud “which side are you on”? That really is the whole point of my writing. I don’t want to be on a “side” unless it is the side of getting the most accurate and honest information out to the most number of people.

As general consumers I believe we still have a rather naive view of electric energy and electric energy issues. Many people still hold the idea that there are these robber baron capitalists that are cranking out copious amount of “dirty” electricity trying to make the most money for the least investment possible. Of course, this is the American way some would argue.”What’s wrong with that? ”, some might say; Nothing, actually. That may well be the goal of most utility companies and their investors. Yet each state has its own utility commission that reviews utility rate increases and keeps a lid on potential abuses from the private sector. Municipal Utilities have tax payers that theoretically are keeping an eye on things and can vote the scoundrels out if rates climb beyond reasonable expense recovery and, member owned public power districts and member owned rural electric cooperatives also have the “membership vote” regulation in play.

So, if these regulating functions are doing their jobs no one should be paying more than absolutely necessary for electricity and no utility company should be getting windfall profits from the sale of electricity. And, I think that this has largely been the case with the California mess and Enron being the main exceptions to the rule. Fingers pointing in so many directions on those debacles that everyone got a little of the blame there.

In fact with those exceptions, regulators have been doing their jobs so well that in many states prices per kilowatt hour had actually gone down in the 90’s as a result of deals made between regulators and utilities over electric utility de-regulation. Unfortunately increasing fuel costs for all utilities have cancelled out the anticipated price reductions and left many companies in the red begging for rate increases in recent years. Our memories are short when it comes to electricity prices, so the feelings consumers have today are strictly based on recent and nation-wide rate increases and any residual positive perception from the rate decreases of the 90’s has long evaporated in the angry and heated response over the most recent bill.

So, what’s a consumer to do? The main thing a consumer can do is get familiar with their electric bill. How much are you paying per kilowatt hour? What is your monthly kWh use? How much does your monthly use fluctuate with the seasons? What appliances do you have that contribute the most to your electric bill? These questions all go to the heart of the concept – “if it’s not being measured, it’s not being managed”, and if you aren’t trying to manage your electric bill, then you deserve whatever bill you get. And, whatever bill you get is your fault, not your utility’s.

The next best thing you can do is let your elected representative know that you are tired of them spending so much time worrying about what’s going on in public bathrooms and private bedrooms and get back to the job we elected them to do, which is to research, propose and adopt legislation that encourages us all to take a long range view of energy issues.

Climate Change and the Tooth Fairy

Every once in a while I find myself in one of those conversations that begins with someone saying, “I don’t believe in Global Climate Change”. To me, the issue of Global Climate change is not a matter of belief or disbelief. When the world talks about Global Climate change or politicians or scientists talk about global climate change, they are not talking about a belief at all really. I mean not like “do you believe in Big Foot or the Tooth Fairy”.

Here is the difference. So far no one has been able to cite a documented observation, clear photographic record, or reproducible experiment evaluated by confirming peer reviewed data or evidence on either Big Foot or the Tooth Fairy. A peer group of four year olds might all agree that the tooth fairy does exist, but we should expect a higher degree of professionalism from the scientific community about the issue of Global Climate change.

To that end, a group of scientists have in fact gotten together to look at all of the available data, various studies, some modeling scenarios and a host of other scientific documentation relating to global climate and temperature variations. This data not only covers historic records kept by people, it also includes scientific estimates of historic temperatures, snow and ice levels, based on agreed upon methods of ice core sample research etc.; along with current information.

The results of this work was printed recently in a report called,
An Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This report also included a summary of the findings. This summary, approved in detail at Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Plenary XXVII (Valencia, Spain, 12-17 November 2007), “represents the formally agreed upon statement of the IPCC concerning key findings and uncertainties contained in the Working Group contributions to this Fourth Assessment Report” according to their web site introduction.

Everyone that cares about the facts relating to climate change owes it to themselves and the people that may roll their eyes behind their backs when they announce that they do or don’t “believe in global warming”, to read this summary. And, after a winter like we’ve had this year you can just imagine the debate. However, when you look at the numbers and compare studies and ask consistent questions, the facts, according to this Assessment Summary, seem to point to a real change in the temperature of the globe, with shrinking ice and snow fields and rising ocean levels all pointing to unprecedented increases in global temperature.

Then of course the next question would be, “is this a natural change or a man made change?” This same assessment says it is probably a man made change. Now I don’t just mean “probably” like someday I’ll probably have car trouble, I mean that there is a real likely hood based on the evidence that the climate is warming more rapidly now than any natural conditions would predict or explain. The study goes on to say that this trend is consistent with trends in the production of green house gases created by human activity.

Far from being the “hoax” that some headlines flaunt, the issue of climate change cannot easily be dismissed after reading this summary. If climate change is our fault, then the next question becomes, “what if anything should we or can we do about it”?

The impacts to the world wide human and animal communities predicted in the IPPCC Assessment are not cheerful. Their predictions do not show a happy ending. And, of course, since everyone agrees that no one can really predict the future, until it’s too late to do anything about, this is where any thought of corrective action and who foots the bill will get bogged down. The resulting gridlock debate will make the US Senate look like a decisive action oriented group of rational, objective and logical thinkers

I think we are all too hung up on taking action to stop Global Climate change. There are many compelling reasons to take actions that will help reduce man’s impact to the climate that have nothing to do with helping to reduce man’s impact to the climate.

For example, driving less, or buying a vehicle with better gas mileage ratings, will save you money in the long run. Driving less gives you more time to do other things that might be more fun than driving. Aside from the climate change issue, gas prices will continue to rise, not because burning gasoline is or isn’t changing the climate, but because the more we use the less there will be and when there is less of something that people want, the price goes up. Throw into this discussion the possibility that our purchase of gasoline supports people that are trying to kill us (terrorists, communists and other “ists”) and you have to ask yourself, “geez, why would I want to use gasoline at all”?

Now gasoline conservation by itself will not solve all climate problems, but it keeps your money in your pocket. So if you have no clue about how to reduce your driving, Google “Reduce your driving”. You’ll find all kinds of ideas.

Next time I’ll get into ways you can cut your home heating fuel use and how to evaluate your options. I’m trying as many of these ideas as I can afford. I want to spend my money on fun things, not on gas and utilities.

Make the Global Climate Change Debate Irrelevant

If you are having trouble sleeping, one cure that works for me on those rare occasions is reading dueling opinions about climate change. Try this one from Energy Pulse . It’s a real dozy, not because of the various and conflicting opinions and not because of the demeaning and sarcastic tone of several of the authors.

The discussion is a dozy because most of us really don’t see how we can make sense out of the debate. How many scientists does it take to screw in a light bulb? Just two, but I can’t figure out how they get in there. If higher math skills were the only requirement for solving the world’s problems, I suspect solutions would be in place. There are lots of really smart people in this world. What’s missing is a reasoned and universally agreeable way to talk about these issues.
So, I’ll stop making jokes and offer this prayer for a better world; a world where people that disagree can work together on agreeable facts that make a foundation for future discussions. We should be long past the point of arguing about what makes up green house gases. We should be over the discussion about whether climate change is a natural or manmade phenomenon. Just as we can all agree that two times two equals four there must be a definitive answer to the question, “what causes destructive impacts to our atmosphere”? Just as we can all agree that zero times anything is still zero, there must be an answer about the causes of these impacts that isn’t clouded by suspicious industry related sources.

Refusing to take any action to reduce climate change whether it is real or not is like refusing to buy home owner’s insurance because you don’t know how hot the fire will be if your house burns down. Come on, if we can’t figure out the science and explain it so the public can understand it, the least we can do is buy some insurance.

The only social change that has ever been successful came about from individuals taking individual actions in open environment of honest debate and factual argument. Let’s get back to that.

Most of us are too busy trying to keep up with jobs and family to care about this debate, but all of us care about the financial health of our families. Who doesn’t like to live better for less? If I have extra time or money, I am going to spend it on better appliances, windows, doors, more insulation, and other systems that will help me keep more of the money I earn, rather than giving it to businesses and corporations that use profits to argue about the facts. The beauty of this is that it could make scientific debate about climate change irrelevant while it saves me money all at the same time.

In the next few months, almost every family is going to get a small windfall or tax rebate money. You can do what George asks and spend it on disposable items that will end up in some landfill. You can do what many fear - put it in savings. Or, you can put it to work by improving some part of the building envelope where you live or work. When you do this, you get to keep more of the money you earn in the future.

One person at a time; one house at a time, one energy saving project at a time. The money and time you invest today will save you money tomorrow. Just think what your life would be like today if you had spent another 10% on better windows, or better doors or more insulation ten years ago. Today your family would be spending less for energy to run your homes and businesses. It’s better than the value of compounding interest and you get to feel its warmth and see its benefits every month in lower utility bills.

Why Utility Executives Think Environmentalists are a Pain in the Ass

Utility Executives think environmentalists are a pain in the ass for many reasons, but the main reason is because the language that environmentalists use to talk about utilities and utility executives hurts their feelings. Oh you won’t get them to admit it. Utility executives often have engineering or accounting backgrounds and these professions are not exactly known for their warm and fuzzy emotional types. But, still, environmentalists create immediate walls of distrust and antagonism just by choosing annoying words to frame their points of view.

Think of your own profession or job. Would you like it if people referred to what you were doing with words like “toxic”, “destruction”, “degradation”, “waste”, “monopoly”, “cancer” or my favorite derogatory word “spew”. What have you been spewing today? Did you spew your product on anyone?

How about degradation? Have you degraded anything today?

While most businesses secretly wish they were monopolies, no one likes to be accused of being one. It just isn’t the American way.

So, imagine recent headlines referring to the electric utility industry. Oh, I know, I am going to exaggerate a little for effect, but still you can imagine a headline like this in your local newspaper.
“Electric Monopoly Spews Toxic Destruction Degrading Air quality linked to Cancer”.

It’s like the old conundrum “when did you stop beating your wife”? Environmentalists lead with a verbal left hook. And, it seems like the only reason they would do that is to get headlines or make someone angry. If you had a neighbor with a barking dog or a messy yard, you wouldn’t storm over there demanding and accusing, unless you just like fist fighting. You’d get to know them first and find out if there were extenuating reasons for their behavior. Chances are there is more to the story. You know that. And the Electric Utility industry is in the same spot, there is more to the story. In fact, all of us that love our computers, televisions, cold beer, toast, light after dark, and inexpensive consumer goods, are all – the rest of the story.

Today we are stuck in what peace activist Adam Kahane calls “debating”. We have each side shouting their view of the facts hoping to drown out the other’s argument. One side says, “We can power the economy with a combination of wind, solar and conservation”. The other side shouts back, “No we cannot, the load growth is too large, we must use fossil fuels and expand nuclear power”.

What can we do about all of this? We can and must do two things. Stop wasting electricity and stop wasting words about solving environmental problems. I did not say stop using electricity (we can’t). Nor did I say stop having conversations about environmental problems. I said stop wasting energy and stop wasting words.

Study the work of Adam Kahane and learn how to talk to each other about difficult issues. If Adam can do it with people that have been killing each other for decades, we can do it with the inflammatory dialogue of the environment and electricity generation debate. The so called choice between the economy and the environment is a false choice. The environment is the economy (and I am tempted to violate my own beliefs and add “stupid”, but I won’t).

We must develop a generative dialogue to realize that we all agree that the earth is our only home. We must make collective decisions about how and what we spew. We should decide together when, where and why we degrade. We must face and answer the question about what we do about waste. In the long run we must reduce even the distant potential to harm our health and the health of our children through toxins, climate change and reduced air quality. Our very lives depend on it. It will not serve the future well to stay in divisive arguments. We must come together and agree on mutually understood facts. We must take decisive steps to make this world the kind of earth on which we can all live healthy and productive lives for all eternity. We cannot keep borrowing the future from our children and hope new technology bails us out. We cannot keep ignoring the elephant in the living room without catastrophic impacts to our homes. We cannot keep calling each other names and expect to ever have the kind of world that we know in our hearts is possible.

Please, let’s all do something today to take action on those two things that we can do. Stop wasting energy and stop wasting words. We could call it Vision Power Generation. Make it all count.

Next time in the interests of fair play, I‘ll explain why environmentalists think Utility Executives are a pain in the ass.
©Mark Richard Daily, 2008

The Death of the Electric Utility Industry- Part Two

So, here is the scenario for the demise of central station electricity power grids. Many of the key elements are already visible. First you have climbing electric rates. Today, no one is predicting a decrease in electric rates. In fact no one is predicting stabilization of electric rates in the near future.

Next as central station power production rates climb, costs for alternative power systems keep going down. Innovations in wind turbine design, solar photo-voltaic output and other alternate electricity systems continue to drive down the costs of delivering power to your house from these choices. And, the majority of these systems are designed to work right at your house. No more buried cable or over head power lines for residential development. Bye Bye wires companies. No more distribution meters on homes for local distribution companies, adios distribution companies.

Of course this isn’t going to happen tomorrow, but the trends are there. Today the driving expense for wholesale power costs are power plants and transmission grids. These two features of the electric utility industry are also the most damaging to the environment. Witness the reduction in the number of proposed coal fired power plants as investors and consumer re-evaluate their roles in a climate change environment. Take away the residential load and what happens? Poof, now all that’s left is business and industrial loads.

Here too the trend is moving to disbursed generation facilities. Part of this movement is to improve reliability and part is a direct response to increasing rates and the lack of control that businesses feel over electric utility rate increases. The Y2K scare drove many industries to set up back up power systems that were under their control, just in case. So, many facilities have already done some of the planning to be grid free.

What can you do about all of this. Get informed. Find out how solar and wind might work at your house. Use existing tools to calculate what it would take for you to get off the grid. Even if you choose not to make the plunge, like me, you will at least understand your energy appetite and be able to have some control over your own climate change emissions. Here are some sites to get you started with your quest.

For innovations in wind energy see- http://www.getsmartenergy.com/

For help sizing your photovoltaic system see- http://www.realgoodssolar.com/

For help reducing your home energy use see- http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/reduce.html

I like electric utilities, really I do. I’m not ready to do this stuff by myself. I want a team of lineman ready to help get the lights back on after a storm. I want an office of skilled engineers designing a safe and reliable system to keep my home running. What I don’t want is an industry wide arrogance about individual energy choices that assumes central station power generation is the only economical way to go. That may be true today, but tomorrow will be here sooner than many utility executives can imagine.

The Death of the Electric Utility Industry

"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated"- Mark Twain.

Like Mark Twain, the US electric utility industry will no doubt be surprised by my predictions that their death is coming soon. This is no apocalyptic prediction and certainly no veiled monkey wrench threat; so, DHS don’t get your knickers in a knot.

What I am talking about is the age old cyclical nature of technology and the natural evolution of things from disbursed to central and back to disbursed again. I am sure entropy is at work in this, or chaos theory or at least a corollary version of my mother’s plea to, “put all your toys in one box”. But, I knew that keeping my toys spread out through the house was more efficient. I could get them quicker and if one broke I didn’t have to go all the way back to the toy box to get a new one.

Hang with me just a little longer this is really cool stuff and what you are about to learn will help you for the rest of your life.

The popular press and media hype about renewable energy versus that bad old kind of energy made from coal and hydrocarbon fuels leads many people to believe that if those greedy bastards at the electric utility company would just use wind and solar instead of coal, our electric bills would drop with green house gas emissions. Then Al Gore could retire and quit using all that jet fuel to travel around the world telling everyone about global climate change.

It must be a fossil fuel baron’s conspiracy keeping the world from clean air and cheap power right? After all the sun shines everywhere and that damned spring wind makes everyone insane part of the year and Wyoming residents crazy all year long. You just have to watch our vice president for awhile to see the proof of that, but I digress.

If you want to call yourself an American, or an Environmentalist or an Industrialist or a true blue techie, you have to know the history of electricity generation. I’m not going to launch into the details of the knock down drag out contest between the Alternating Current philosophies of Thomas Edison and the Direct Current philosophies of Nikola Tesla, but read those links and find out what the limitations where of each system because that same argument is coming back to haunt the electric utility industry.

It’s no secret that distributed distribution (e.g. home light plants and individual municipal electric generation) systems generally went the way of the dinosaur. Efficiencies for power production and air quality have long been assumed to be best with a central location for power production. Why else do you think all of those investor owned, cooperative and municipal utilities got together to power the industrial world from central power plants? Check it out yourself. If you live in or near a city that existed before the 1940’s, I’ll bet you that they had their own, light plant or power plant. When large central station transmission lines came to the neighborhood most of these municipalities dropped their power generation facilities and started buying the bulk of their electricity from a wholesale power supplier. Doing this reduced their costs and their headaches. It also made the air in your city cleaner.

Yet as construction costs, electricity demand, and environmental concerns grow, it will be these big central power suppliers that will disappear like an extinct reptile. No- wait; I like electric utilities, really. Without them we would have all been in the dark and powerless. Yet today, their desperate fight for survival is due to the fact that the big money and the big expense, is still in central station electricity generation. And, it’s the “big expense” part of the equation that spells the death knell for electric power generation as we know it.

Of course the electric utilities argue that alternate energy is not capable of powering our society. They are right and they will continue to be right for another 15 to 50 years or until society changes and that is where it gets interesting. Society is changing and the change is accelerating in a way that will make distributed power generation king again, dethroning King Coal and its entire kingdom. Remember, “The stone age did not end because we ran out of stones and the Oil (fossil fuel) Age will not end because we ran out of Oil (fossil fuels). – Don Huberts, Shell Hydrogen.

My next Blog entry will begin to explain how I think this is going to happen.

RESIDENTIAL ENERGY TAX CREDITS HELP YOU SAVE ENERGY

If you make certain types of energy efficient improvements to your primary home in 2007, you may be able to apply for tax credits to lower your income tax requirements or increase your income tax return for 2007.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 and its amendments encourage homeowners and renters to install energy efficient home improvements in three major categories; Residential building envelope improvements; Residential heating system improvements, and; Solar energy system additions.

If you qualify for building envelope improvements, you may be able to take a tax credit of 10% of the cost of your “nonbusiness energy property credit” improvements up to a total of $500. The materials referred to in the IRS general instructions for Form 5695 must be new and permanently installed to last at least five years. These improvements can include insulation materials, exterior windows, exterior doors and storm doors and some metal roofing materials. Labor costs for these improvements eligible for the tax credit.

Heating system improvements or “Residential energy property costs” include certain electric heat pumps, ground source or geothermal heat pumps and other space conditioning equipment. Labor costs are eligible for this tax credit which has the same tax credit eligibility of 10% up to a maximum of $500.

Solar energy tax credits are referred to as the “ Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit”. This credit is limited to 30% of your costs including labor up to a maximum credit of $2,000 for qualifying photovoltaic and solar water heating systems.

This article is not a tax consultant article. To make sure these credits apply to you, talk to your tax consultant, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), or refer to IRS Form 5695. The Energy Star website also has more information.

Eligible improvements must be in place by December 31, 2007 and meet other requirements to qualify, so make sure you check it out before buying your improvements.

© Mark Daily, 2007

Top Ten things you can do to save electricity and lower your bill this summer

1.Set your air conditioning system no lower than 80 degrees. If you aren’t comfortable at this temperature you probably need to loose weight.

2. Loose weight. By keeping your refrigerator door closed you are saving money and losing weight which could reduce your air conditioning costs (see #1).

3. Replace incandescent bulbs with compact florescent bulbs. These bulbs last ten times longer and use a quarter of the power for the same amount of light and they give off less heat so you don’t need so much air conditioning.

4. Use or install a ceiling fan and use it in the mornings or cooler times of day instead of turning on the air conditioning. Ceiling fans use a fraction of the electricity that air conditioning uses.

5. Cook outside on the grill or make more microwave meals. Electric and gas ovens and ranges not only take energy, they heat up the house, requiring more AC. Microwave cooking gives off less heat and uses about two-thirds less energy than electric stove top or oven cooking.

6. Install a programable thermostat for your air conditioning system. Program your new thermostat or find the directions to your old one and set the temperature to 80 degrees when you are in the house and 85 when you are gone. This will save you 5% off the air conditioning part of your electric bill.

7. Dry your laundry outside instead of using the dryer. You can knock off $5 to $15 dollars of ourbill just by getting you and your laundry out of the house for a little.

8. Keep the window blinds or shades down on east, west and south facing windows. These windows pick up a lot of heat from the direct sun pouring in unless your eaves or awnings are designed to keep direct sun off your windows. You will save a lot off your air conditioning bill by doing this one.

9. Put entertainment appliances, Televisions, CD players etc. on a light stick or plug bar and switch everything off when you aren’t right there watching or listening. Some electronic equipment, especially electronic equipment that uses a remote control, is always ON even when you think its off.

10. Get a little Kill-A-Watt meter that you can plug into learn the energy appetite of all your appliances and equipment. The key to reducing summer utility bills is knowledge. Find out what uses what at your house, everyone is different.

The best, cheapest and most renewable electricty around is the electricity that you don't use at all.
© Mark Daily

Supreme Court Message Makes Energy Conservation Hit Home

by Mark Daily

If the recent US Supreme Court decision on CO2 and Greenhouse gas regulation is as serious as everyone says it is, energy conservation just got a huge boost. Sarah Kessinger, writing for the Harris News Service reports that the April 3rd US Supreme Court decision labeling CO2 as an air quality component will have long term planning and financial impacts on the members of the Sunflower Generation and Transmission Cooperative. That could be the understatement of the year. This impact will be felt by all generation and transmission companies as well as distribution utilities across the nation.

While several states including California and Vermont have passed laws regulating CO2 and other green house gaze emissions, the EPA and most states have refused to accept that these gases should be a part of air quality regulation. Now the verdict is in. By a 5-4 vote the US Supreme Court majority opinion from Justice Stevens says, "Under the clear terms of the Clean Air Act, EPA can avoid taking further action only if it determines that greenhouse gases do not contribute to climate change or if it provides some reasonable explanation as to why it cannot or will not exercise its discretion to determine whether they do."

The auto industry tipped the feds hand by challenging several states regulation of automobile emissions and CAFÉ mileage standards. Reminds me of the old saying, “ be careful what you ask for, you might just get it”. While the next move is clearly the EPA’s, executives in the electric utility industry as well as the auto industry are noticeably shaken by the ruling. With over 200 coal fired power plants on the drawing boards or in the regulatory and planning pipeline, the implications are that any company producing CO2 or any of the identified green house gases must now factor in new costs. These costs will certainly expand from energy conservation and demand side management programs to carbon sequestration, carbon taxes and power plant system modifications. For the nation as a whole and for consumers specifically, this means utility bills are going up.

Some expect the increase to hit pocket books gradually as new regulations trickle into efinto effect. Others worry that the 5-4 ruling will have an immediate impact on financing for investments and construction throughout all industries related to fossil fuels. Amory Lovin’s "Negawatt" campaign may finally get that push over the top to make energy conservation and energy management the mainstream tools saving corporate as well as home owner budgets.
So, now, what will you do? Will you get that energy audit now, or wait until your rates climb faster than today. Have your rates gone up? Do you know for sure? Why not? Experts estimate that simply becoming more aware of your home energy use will knock off 4% from your bill. So, you don’t necessarily have to buy anything. All you have to do is read, decide and act. Well, of course its not that easy is it? Otherwise we would have all done it already. The best and cheapest way to reduce greenhouse gas and CO2 production is to avoid energy use. The only way to avoid energy use is to turn whatever it is that is using energy off or find similar equipment that uses less energy. There really are no other answers, no magic boxes or potions. Reducing CO2 and green house gas production requires action. Since we as a nation tend to avoid difficult decisions until failing to act becomes more expensive than acting, this will be a difficult time for everyone.

My advice is to get smart fast. Find out what eats energy at your house. You don’t have to make changes or take action or buy new appliances or burn down your house. Just, start learning about your home’s energy appetite. Find out how many kilowatt hours (kWh) hours per month and per year are used at your house. If you use gas, find out how many gallons of propane or therms or CCF’s of natural gas your house uses. Call your utility company if you don’t keep your own records. Utility companies always keep the last six months of energy use data and many of them keep longer records. Home energy auditors typically check out the last three years of energy use data before they make their report. So, try to find three years worth of data. You look at three years of data to smooth out mistakes in management (e.g. someone left the heater on and the windows open during spring break vacation last year) or unusually cold or hot seasonal temperatures. Convert your three years of data into monthly averages. This then, becomes your performance yard stick.

Now with your total average monthly electricity and gas use numbers in hand find out what appliances and equipment eat that energy. Go room by room and make an energy use inventory. List gas appliances as well as electricity using appliances. Start in the kitchen since that usually makes the longest list of energy using devices. Then hit the laundry or utility room, to get the water and space heating equipment. Then inventory the main living or family room where all of the gadgets and entertainment equipment live. Now you are almost home free. Bedrooms and bathrooms generally don’t have much to list .

Get everything. If you have a six bulb vanity light in the master bathroom check to see if all six bulbs are the same wattage and list the total watts for that appliance. Don’t worry about how much total monthly energy these pieces of equipment use just yet. Simply make a list. Why just the list? Two reasons. Figuring out how much energy things use per month can be a real pain in the neck and you don’t want to give up before you make a list of everything in the house, and you can use the same list for your insurance company if you ever have to prove what was stolen or burned up.

Once you have your list, find a comfortable chair with good lighting, grab a calculator and put on about two hours worth of your favorite music. Hey, if this was easy we would have done it during the last rate increase.

Now you have to figure out how long each piece of equipment is on in a typical month. I actually like to do this on a computer spreadsheet, even though it uses energy, just because I like to play with the numbers. I like to see what might happen if I changed every 100 watt incandescent bulb in the house to a comparable light output 25 watt compact fluorescent bulb. Or, check to see how much difference it makes if the kids watch one hour of TV instead of twenty - things like that.

Lots of equipment goes on and off without you doing anything. It is hard to estimate costs for some of these appliances. Web sites offer handy averages for a family of four or "typical" energy use figures for many of these standard appliances. Refrigeration, water wells, computer equipment, heating systems, and water heaters are just some of the more challenging appliances to quantify.

So, now add them up. If your total electricity or gas use is more than ten percent off your totals, look at your list again and see if you made any obvious mistakes, like forgetting to convert watts to kilowatts or minutes to hours. If you used a spreadsheet, you can sort by your estimated kWh, gallons, or CCF to get the big users at the head of the list. See if you agree. If that closet light bulb that is never on, ends up at the top of the list, see what you did wrong, fix it and re-sort. Keep going like this until you are in that 10 percent range. If you still aren’t there, look at those appliance for which you used national averages. If those averages are for a family of four and its just you and your cat, cut those numbers down by three quarters. If you used average family of four numbers and you live with all of your relatives in the same house, do a head count and adjust the family of four numbers to make sense to your situation. Now, look at the total again. You should be close.

I have been in hundreds of homes and always came up with an inventory number that fits the energy bill records in a way agreeable to the home owner. So, keep trying.

The reward is that you now have a feel for what you really pay for in energy use. Now you can start making informed management decisions about your house and how you use energy.

Maybe you can quit yelling at the kids to turn the lights off and start yelling at your spouse to quit turning up the heat. Or, maybe you don’t really need to keep your Arc Welder on stand buy to make that quick repair. Do you have something like a hot tub or a engine block heater or a stock tank heater that could be put on a timer? Now you can estimate your savings for every hour that you keep something off.

Don’t forget to check out your building's insulation package. Insulation levels, window and door quality and weatherstripping all determine how many hours your heater runs. The DOE recently announced grants available for weatherizing your home.

If you can’t stand the thought of your neighbors accusing you of being green or a liberal, you can defend your actions under recent homeland security issues. Or, maybe you can say you are supporting the troops by trying to avoid foreign wars over energy. It really doesn’t matter what your political or religious convictions are, the money you save could go towards anything you like, you get to chose. But, if you don’t do anything, the US Supreme Court decision means that more and more of your hard earned money is going to utility companies.