Rates are going to continue going up. And, we are responding just like the late comedian Jack Benny in one of his most popular skits. When confronted by a mugger’s demand, "your money or your life". The crowd bursts into laughter when, after a long pause the mugger shoves the gun in Jack’s face, and the notoriously stingy comedian responds, " I’m thinking, I’m thinking".
While each of us as electricity consumers have direct control over our electric bills, as rates continue to rise other choices for how we spend our money become more and more obvious. But, when faced with the choice of spending money on more insulation to cut our air conditioning bills by as much as 10% ; or managing our use of heating and air conditioning energy, we continue to send our money to the utilities instead of taking action. " I’m thinking , I’m thinking". Yet , no one thinks that this is funny. In fact tempers flare as rates climb and consumers almost uniformly blame the utility that supplies their electricity.
Electric Utilities, unlike oil and gas companies, are not making record profits. In fact, some utilities have been brought to the brink of disaster with artificially suppressed rates that came in with state laws adopting deregulation. As these caps come off, its no wonder that rates are climbing. You have to ask yourself, have my fuel costs gone up in the last few years? Of course they have. And, utility fuel costs have also gone up. Electricity as we know it today requires fuel, coal, oil, natural gas, uranium. Increase fuel prices and presto, increased electric rates.
One other factor causing rates to rise is our consumer demand. This demand is outstripping the capacity of existing electricity generation facilities. When this happens, utilities have two choices, turn off the power when demand exceeds supply or make more supply. Making more supply requires new construction and new construction of any kind is expensive. Just ask anyone that has done any major home remodeling lately.
We as consumers have a third choice that puts us in control of our own homes and businesses. We can conserve energy, turn it off, turn it down, get more efficient appliances, get smarter about how and when we use electricity. Of course this is hard work and it is lots easier to repeat, "I’m thinking, I’m thinking".
Many electricity users mistakenly think that if utilities just switched to free power from the sun or wind that their bills would go down. While the US is leading the way in wind power development the magnitude of the demand exceeds what wind and solar power can do to keep up. This has the potential to change, but not without our help. Energy Conservation is the key to reducing demand and the key to making today’s home more able to use the limited amount of power output coming from renewable resources.
So unless you love your electric bill, here’s is what you need to do.
Step One- Find out how much you pay for electricity. What do you pay per kilo-Watt hour
( kWh)? If you don’t know the answer to this question off the top of your head then you are not prepared to deal with the other numbers you need to know to save the world and your money.
2) Get a Kill-a-watt meter or some other device to learn about how much energy your appliances are using. You need to know what contributes to your electric bill. Is it really air-conditioning or is it that old refrigerator? Is it the electric dryer or your stereo system? Some appliance are not easy to sample with a plug I meter and you may have to settle for estimates based on the time it runs and the appliance energy rating. Do your home work and get an answer that you think make sense for every electricity using device in your house that’s lighting, heating, cooling, refrigerating, pumping, entertaining or just sitting there humming.
3) Start shopping around for choices. There are lots of different choices to make so keep going until you are sure you have some reasonably energy efficient choices. You don’t have to rush out and buy them all today, but as they break down, or your needs change, consider energy star and other energy efficiency rated equipment.
Stop thinking, start doing.
"We have meet the enemy, and he is us". Pogo
Friday, July 20, 2007
Monday, July 9, 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
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
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Time to take Action for Renewable Electric Energy Generation
I’ve seen it before. Last week I saw it again. It was a bumper sticker that said, "If you’re not really pissed off, you are just not paying attention".
June 21st must have been the longest day for the US Senate. On solstice day they passed a version of the new national energy policy that will no doubt anger anyone that is paying attention, except those that believe that the American Auto industry is on the right track.
The highlights of this legislation regarding electric energy and electricity generation are, that two key provisions failed to get into the final version. The $32.1 billion alternative energy tax package got the boot and so did nation wide renewable energy portfolio standards.
Mired down in the gasoline controversy of CAFÉ standards and oil industry subsidies, the Senate had no strength to include these progressive and important issues in the final piece of legislation. The only glimmer of hope for reducing the nation’s non-renewable electric energy appetite were the changes proposed in lighting and appliance standards.
The oil and coal industries killed the Alternative Energy tax subsidies because an increase in Alternative Energy subsides was to be funded by reductions in fossil fuel industry subsidies. The electric industry killed the renewable energy portfolio standards for various reasons. Some argued that they did it to avoid a change in their cozy relationship with the fossil fuel industry - coal mining and natural gas development. Others argued that belectric utilities killed it simply because they didn’t want to change they way that they have done things since the 1930's.
Of course they say the electric utility industry killed it because the system is working the way it is and there is no need to change. Utility executives go on to argue that there is no need to change a system that continues to bring relatively cheap and reliable energy to a growing demand for electricity. They claim, I think rightfully so, that consumers do not want to see drastic increases in their electric bills. Yet the rates can’t help but continue to climb as scarcity principles dictate.
Which argument is correct? Frankly, I am so sick of the way business is conducted in this country that I can’t really think objectively about it and there is the real problem. Analysis paralysis has gripped all of us. We can no longer, if we ever could really , trust the accuracy of the information that we get to make our informed opinions...well ...informed. Absent this assurance that we are getting the facts that matter, it is no wonder that most of the population continues to keep living the way they always have; driving more road miles every year regardless of price and environmental damage; using increasing amounts of electricity regardless of price and environmental damage.
So what will this new legislation do to help us be smarter and make better use of the energy that we all agree is disappearing and getting more expensive? Wading through 464 pages of legislation to find out is hard work.
Those of us that can’t stand to read through all of that, should simply contact their elected representatives and tell them you want them to vote to take away the oil and coal industry subsidies that have been in place for decades and give those subsidies to the new guys and the little guys- the solar, wind, and energy conservation industries. It’s the fair thing to do. Don’t give it to the bio-fuels industry. Creating Bio fuels takes more regular fuel to make than the bio-fuel it produces. There is no objective study that says otherwise. Why would we want to support legislation that makes us run out of gasoline faster? I know, Ed Abbey claimed he drove a Cadillac just to hasten the end of the fossil fuel era. So now Governors and the rest think we could be saving the world by driving more metal. Are you paying attention?
If you want more renewable energy used to generate your electricity, if you want the future to harness, clean and renewable technologies instead of replacing one destructive fuel with a different destructive fuel, we must all take action.
Come on, make that call.
June 21st must have been the longest day for the US Senate. On solstice day they passed a version of the new national energy policy that will no doubt anger anyone that is paying attention, except those that believe that the American Auto industry is on the right track.
The highlights of this legislation regarding electric energy and electricity generation are, that two key provisions failed to get into the final version. The $32.1 billion alternative energy tax package got the boot and so did nation wide renewable energy portfolio standards.
Mired down in the gasoline controversy of CAFÉ standards and oil industry subsidies, the Senate had no strength to include these progressive and important issues in the final piece of legislation. The only glimmer of hope for reducing the nation’s non-renewable electric energy appetite were the changes proposed in lighting and appliance standards.
The oil and coal industries killed the Alternative Energy tax subsidies because an increase in Alternative Energy subsides was to be funded by reductions in fossil fuel industry subsidies. The electric industry killed the renewable energy portfolio standards for various reasons. Some argued that they did it to avoid a change in their cozy relationship with the fossil fuel industry - coal mining and natural gas development. Others argued that belectric utilities killed it simply because they didn’t want to change they way that they have done things since the 1930's.
Of course they say the electric utility industry killed it because the system is working the way it is and there is no need to change. Utility executives go on to argue that there is no need to change a system that continues to bring relatively cheap and reliable energy to a growing demand for electricity. They claim, I think rightfully so, that consumers do not want to see drastic increases in their electric bills. Yet the rates can’t help but continue to climb as scarcity principles dictate.
Which argument is correct? Frankly, I am so sick of the way business is conducted in this country that I can’t really think objectively about it and there is the real problem. Analysis paralysis has gripped all of us. We can no longer, if we ever could really , trust the accuracy of the information that we get to make our informed opinions...well ...informed. Absent this assurance that we are getting the facts that matter, it is no wonder that most of the population continues to keep living the way they always have; driving more road miles every year regardless of price and environmental damage; using increasing amounts of electricity regardless of price and environmental damage.
So what will this new legislation do to help us be smarter and make better use of the energy that we all agree is disappearing and getting more expensive? Wading through 464 pages of legislation to find out is hard work.
Those of us that can’t stand to read through all of that, should simply contact their elected representatives and tell them you want them to vote to take away the oil and coal industry subsidies that have been in place for decades and give those subsidies to the new guys and the little guys- the solar, wind, and energy conservation industries. It’s the fair thing to do. Don’t give it to the bio-fuels industry. Creating Bio fuels takes more regular fuel to make than the bio-fuel it produces. There is no objective study that says otherwise. Why would we want to support legislation that makes us run out of gasoline faster? I know, Ed Abbey claimed he drove a Cadillac just to hasten the end of the fossil fuel era. So now Governors and the rest think we could be saving the world by driving more metal. Are you paying attention?
If you want more renewable energy used to generate your electricity, if you want the future to harness, clean and renewable technologies instead of replacing one destructive fuel with a different destructive fuel, we must all take action.
Come on, make that call.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Chicago Green Fest Addresses Electricity Generation
The first ever Spring Green Festival hosted by Co-op America just wrapped up Sunday, April 22. Judging by the elbow to elbow crowds shuffling by the endless rows of green products and the standing room only attendance at most of the presentations by "green" speakers, I’d say the event was a success. Held at the McCormick Place convention center in downtown Chicago, Chicagoans and a few misplaced green people from across the nation turned out to support the event and learn more about green living.
Of course, unless you are a frog, you can’t be green without some consideration to the source of power that runs your home and your computer and lets you keep up with blogs about green things.
Alisa Gravits, executive director for Co-op America talked about their 12 step program. What is it about 12 steps? Can’t we do anything without 12 steps? Gez. Anyway, Alisa laid out the 12 steps that we all need to take according to her, to save the world. Well, now that you put it that way, if we can save the world in just twelve steps , why not give it a try. Alisa’s presentation on April 21st in Chicago had a few changes to the 12 steps posted on their website, but five out of the twelve steps on both lists deal with electric energy production.
Step 6- Increase Solar Energy capacity by 700 times what it is today. Since solar or photovoltaic electricity production is estimated to be less than .05 % of today’s electricity generation mix, this will be a big step. The biggest step here includes changes in lifestyles. As the old saying about successful marriage goes, "low expectations" will be the key here. Business, homeowners and renters will have to build their awareness and skill at reducing energy use. As one speaker gleefully noted in another session, "its like tax free savings".While the Solar cheerleaders brag about the Navajo Nation’s emergence into the 21st century due to solar energy, the difference between a 1,000 square foot hogan and the rest of the housing market is substantial. It’s a good thing that Co-op America plans to take 40 years to get there. One benefit of attending the Green Festival was that solar vendors did a good job demonstrating that solar energy can make a contribution to house hold energy demands in almost every part of the nation. They displayed many examples of homes in the Midwest that where using net metering and going solar, proving that solar energy is not just a sun belt phenomenon.
Step 7 - Increase wind power by 75 times current output. This is also a big one. Questions about interfacing, scheduling and dispatch-ability, still haunt this option. Is the wind blowing hard enough to make money, or just annoy the locals. What fills in the blanks on the quiet days and how will it be scheduled? The utility industry rightfully worries that winds reputation for functioning at a 25% reliability factor does not meet the industry standards for reliability that are now enforced by FERC. Will broad adoption of wind energy even out these load supply problems? Only time will tell, but for now, utilities will still feel that they must meet demand with base load generation that is in the 85 to 95 percent reliability range. So far wind can’t do that. This means that customers maybe paying for duplicate facilities every time new wind generation facilities come on line.
Steps 8 and 9 - Phase out coal fired power plants altogether and Replace 1,400 coal plants with natural gas fired plants. Alisa implied that this option could be done by converting existing plants to natural gas fired facilities. Aside from the engineering issues, I thought we were running out of natural gas. Natural gas price increases have nearly doubled in the last five years and increases are still predicted for the future. During her presentation Alisa was very emphatic about the nation being able to do this for as little as "an extra 1 cent increase" at the retail level. She said we must resist the "scare tactics" and "foot stomping" from the utility industry. She may be right, but expect some foot stomping anyway. Most utilities are predicting annual rate increases in the 4 to 10 percent range all across the nation. A four to ten percent increase on 8 cents/kWh means rates will rise $0.0032 to $0.004. While this sounds easy enough to take, remember that doing this every year for the next ten years means that your rates will be three point two to four cents more per kWh. This sounds like a small price to pay to save the world, yet the electric utility industry will still complain. Why? Because they really believe that all the customer wants is the cheapest electricity possible. And, for most of the nation they will be right, unless we can all change our attitudes about the cost of electricity.
Step 10 - Increase Coal plant Efficiency from 32% to 60 %- Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC)generation maybe able to do just that. Yet the utility industry still worries that this is an unproven technology. Today, they are right. Despite the hype, only three IGCC plants are providing commercial production today. While the environmental advocates decry the utility foot dragging on this issue, the fact is that very few of us drive experimental automobiles and even fewer fly experimental aircraft. There is of course a logical reason for this that has not been lost on utility executives and investors across the nation.
All in all I had a great time at the first Annual Chicago Green Festival and I hope they do it again. Its nice being surrounded by like minded people expressing support for causes that are important to the long term health of the earth and humankind. If my late father in law had witnessed this gathering, he would have said, "Jesus, do all these people vote?". Sadly, I would guess not.
Of course, unless you are a frog, you can’t be green without some consideration to the source of power that runs your home and your computer and lets you keep up with blogs about green things.
Alisa Gravits, executive director for Co-op America talked about their 12 step program. What is it about 12 steps? Can’t we do anything without 12 steps? Gez. Anyway, Alisa laid out the 12 steps that we all need to take according to her, to save the world. Well, now that you put it that way, if we can save the world in just twelve steps , why not give it a try. Alisa’s presentation on April 21st in Chicago had a few changes to the 12 steps posted on their website, but five out of the twelve steps on both lists deal with electric energy production.
Step 6- Increase Solar Energy capacity by 700 times what it is today. Since solar or photovoltaic electricity production is estimated to be less than .05 % of today’s electricity generation mix, this will be a big step. The biggest step here includes changes in lifestyles. As the old saying about successful marriage goes, "low expectations" will be the key here. Business, homeowners and renters will have to build their awareness and skill at reducing energy use. As one speaker gleefully noted in another session, "its like tax free savings".While the Solar cheerleaders brag about the Navajo Nation’s emergence into the 21st century due to solar energy, the difference between a 1,000 square foot hogan and the rest of the housing market is substantial. It’s a good thing that Co-op America plans to take 40 years to get there. One benefit of attending the Green Festival was that solar vendors did a good job demonstrating that solar energy can make a contribution to house hold energy demands in almost every part of the nation. They displayed many examples of homes in the Midwest that where using net metering and going solar, proving that solar energy is not just a sun belt phenomenon.
Step 7 - Increase wind power by 75 times current output. This is also a big one. Questions about interfacing, scheduling and dispatch-ability, still haunt this option. Is the wind blowing hard enough to make money, or just annoy the locals. What fills in the blanks on the quiet days and how will it be scheduled? The utility industry rightfully worries that winds reputation for functioning at a 25% reliability factor does not meet the industry standards for reliability that are now enforced by FERC. Will broad adoption of wind energy even out these load supply problems? Only time will tell, but for now, utilities will still feel that they must meet demand with base load generation that is in the 85 to 95 percent reliability range. So far wind can’t do that. This means that customers maybe paying for duplicate facilities every time new wind generation facilities come on line.
Steps 8 and 9 - Phase out coal fired power plants altogether and Replace 1,400 coal plants with natural gas fired plants. Alisa implied that this option could be done by converting existing plants to natural gas fired facilities. Aside from the engineering issues, I thought we were running out of natural gas. Natural gas price increases have nearly doubled in the last five years and increases are still predicted for the future. During her presentation Alisa was very emphatic about the nation being able to do this for as little as "an extra 1 cent increase" at the retail level. She said we must resist the "scare tactics" and "foot stomping" from the utility industry. She may be right, but expect some foot stomping anyway. Most utilities are predicting annual rate increases in the 4 to 10 percent range all across the nation. A four to ten percent increase on 8 cents/kWh means rates will rise $0.0032 to $0.004. While this sounds easy enough to take, remember that doing this every year for the next ten years means that your rates will be three point two to four cents more per kWh. This sounds like a small price to pay to save the world, yet the electric utility industry will still complain. Why? Because they really believe that all the customer wants is the cheapest electricity possible. And, for most of the nation they will be right, unless we can all change our attitudes about the cost of electricity.
Step 10 - Increase Coal plant Efficiency from 32% to 60 %- Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC)generation maybe able to do just that. Yet the utility industry still worries that this is an unproven technology. Today, they are right. Despite the hype, only three IGCC plants are providing commercial production today. While the environmental advocates decry the utility foot dragging on this issue, the fact is that very few of us drive experimental automobiles and even fewer fly experimental aircraft. There is of course a logical reason for this that has not been lost on utility executives and investors across the nation.
All in all I had a great time at the first Annual Chicago Green Festival and I hope they do it again. Its nice being surrounded by like minded people expressing support for causes that are important to the long term health of the earth and humankind. If my late father in law had witnessed this gathering, he would have said, "Jesus, do all these people vote?". Sadly, I would guess not.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
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.
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.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Electricity Power Generation Is Not Cheaper at Night
Let me say this again. Electricity Generation is NOT cheaper at night. It doesn’t matter who tells you that it is. Let me say it again. Electricity is not cheaper at night. Yet, this lie continues to be passed around as fact. As one current administration has found, the way to make a lie true, is just to keep repeating the lie over and over again. So this lie is now fact.
The March 20th, 2007 "Backstory" of the Christian Science Monitor picked up and repeated this often heard lie as though it were true. You would think that a prestigious newspaper like the Monitor would do some fact checking, but the myth that they repeated has become so prevalent that the true story I am about to relate to you may seem hard to believe. Honest it is true, I was there.
The repeated lie was blurted out in an otherwise inspiring article about electric cars and their ability to reduce harmful emissions as well as reduce owner operating costs by charging batteries at night. Correspondent Frank Kosa wrote, " Cars are usually charged at night when electricity is cheapest". His statement is only true for those customers that sign up for special rates with Southern California Edison which serves the Santa Monica California area.
Here is the true story. It happened when I used to work for an electric utility. One of my customer service representatives buzzed me on the intercom one afternoon saying she had an angry customer on the phone demanding to speak to a manager about their electric bill. Since I was the employee’s supervisor, it was my job to work with the angry customer. I took a deep breath, consulted my handy wallet size helper " How to deal with angry customers" and pushed the phone button. " I am being ripped off by you people and I want you to make an adjustment on my bill", the angry voice shouted through the phone.
Step One, left the customer speak. He continued, "I read in the paper where its cheaper to use electricity at night and exactly thirty days before the end date of this bill, I started making sure that all of my electricity was used during those hours posted in the paper for night time rates". And , the voice said with a quick gasp for air, "my bill was just the same this month as it has always been. You need to do something".
Step Two - Make sure you really understand the details. "So", I said calmly. "I can tell that you are really upset. Just let me ask you a few questions to make sure that I really understand your situation". " For over thirty days you made sure that you used electricity only between the night time hours by turning off your breakers and equipment during the day. After doing this you expected your electric bill to go down, is that correct?" "Your damned right", he jumped back.
"OK. I understand", I assured him. "When our customer service representative told me that you were on the line, I pulled up your billing record and I can see that you are right, your bill really is about the same as it was last month". "I also see that you are on our general service residential rate".
I went on to explain that our general service electric rate, like most every residential rate in the nation, charged the same amount per kilowatt hour (kWh) no matter which time of day he used electricity. I continued to explain that in order to get cheaper rates at night the customer needed to sign up for a special Time of Use or Off Peak Rate and have a special residential meter installed that could keep track of when electricity was being used at his location.
So for all of you that have been watching the clock and maddly flipping power switches on or off at appointed times please stop and make sure that your efforts will be rewarded. It is not and never has been a matter of just using the juice at night. If you are not on a time of use or off peak rate you are wasting your time. Here is how it works, more or less.
Electric Utility Transmission and Generation Companies (G&T’s) or wholesale power suppliers, gain incredible efficiencies and therefore save big bucks when they can keep their power generation plants running at a constant medium speed. If they have to ramp things down for low load periods they loose money. Like wise, when they have to ramp things up or buy spot market generation to meet higher than expected loads they also loose money.
Steady as she goes provides the optimal operating cost environment when it comes to power generation. The problem is, that is not how we use electricity. When you look at your utility’s line graph of power or kilowatt hour (kWh) sales in 24 hour increments, you will always see ups and downs. And, if you compare consecutive 24 hour periods you will see a pattern of energy use that generally repeats itself day after day all year long. There may be some changes seasonally in cold or hot climates but even those peaks and valleys have a pattern. How else do you think the G&T’s know how much coal or gas to buy and when to pour it on the fire? Utility executives call this dispatch-able power.
This is one reason that many utilities seem opposed to Renewable power generation facilities connected to their systems. They are never real sure when the wind will blow. And, they are pretty sure that the solar panels will go down with the sun, just when they need that evening peak power as you get home from work. That’s why they call these two renewable energy sources non-dispatch-able.
G&T’s usually bill their distribution companies, that’s the folks you buy your power from, two ways. They bill on the total kilowatt hours used during the billing period, called total kWh or "energy". And, they bill on the highest peak energy of Kilowatt demand for the month , called Peak KW or "demand". That peak demand almost always occurs during the same time as the daily peaks for energy use that season. So, if your utlitity can shave the size of the KW peak at that time, they save money. As an insentive to get their customers to help them shave that peak, they offer Time of Use or Off peak rates hoping that you will sign up and help them cut their power bill. If it works they can pass the savings on to you.
But, BIG BUT, you have to sign up for the rate. These are special rates and you need to sign up for two reasons. One, you will need a more sophisticated and expensive meter that can document the kWh used during the Off Peak time as well as the kWh used during the On Peak time. Sometimes this means you must pay a higher minimum monthly service charge so don’t forget to factor that into your calculations. Two, you probably need to agree to pay a penalty or higher rate for kWh used during the On peak time. If they don’t offer a real incentive to get you to use your power Off Peak, why bother?
For example in Santa Monica Southern Cal Edison has a Time of Use rate for homes where most electricity is used between 6:00 PM and 10:00 AM. Other utilities may offer two off peak times during the day depending on their daily load profile. Southern Cal Edison also offers a special rate for electric vehicles for homes where qualifying electric vehicles are charged..
Customers that have automated equipment to turn their equipment on and off have lower bills than customers that try to match the Off Peak times on their own manually. People forget or get sick or take holidays. Programmed time clocks and equipment are well worth the expense if your lifestyle can handle the restrictions of your local utility’s special rates. The best thing to do is call and talk to them about your plans ahead of time. Make sure that your hard work and money will be rewarded with real cost savings on your utility bill.
I repeat "electricity is not cheaper at night", unless your utlity has a special rate and you and your house are signed up for it.
The March 20th, 2007 "Backstory" of the Christian Science Monitor picked up and repeated this often heard lie as though it were true. You would think that a prestigious newspaper like the Monitor would do some fact checking, but the myth that they repeated has become so prevalent that the true story I am about to relate to you may seem hard to believe. Honest it is true, I was there.
The repeated lie was blurted out in an otherwise inspiring article about electric cars and their ability to reduce harmful emissions as well as reduce owner operating costs by charging batteries at night. Correspondent Frank Kosa wrote, " Cars are usually charged at night when electricity is cheapest". His statement is only true for those customers that sign up for special rates with Southern California Edison which serves the Santa Monica California area.
Here is the true story. It happened when I used to work for an electric utility. One of my customer service representatives buzzed me on the intercom one afternoon saying she had an angry customer on the phone demanding to speak to a manager about their electric bill. Since I was the employee’s supervisor, it was my job to work with the angry customer. I took a deep breath, consulted my handy wallet size helper " How to deal with angry customers" and pushed the phone button. " I am being ripped off by you people and I want you to make an adjustment on my bill", the angry voice shouted through the phone.
Step One, left the customer speak. He continued, "I read in the paper where its cheaper to use electricity at night and exactly thirty days before the end date of this bill, I started making sure that all of my electricity was used during those hours posted in the paper for night time rates". And , the voice said with a quick gasp for air, "my bill was just the same this month as it has always been. You need to do something".
Step Two - Make sure you really understand the details. "So", I said calmly. "I can tell that you are really upset. Just let me ask you a few questions to make sure that I really understand your situation". " For over thirty days you made sure that you used electricity only between the night time hours by turning off your breakers and equipment during the day. After doing this you expected your electric bill to go down, is that correct?" "Your damned right", he jumped back.
"OK. I understand", I assured him. "When our customer service representative told me that you were on the line, I pulled up your billing record and I can see that you are right, your bill really is about the same as it was last month". "I also see that you are on our general service residential rate".
I went on to explain that our general service electric rate, like most every residential rate in the nation, charged the same amount per kilowatt hour (kWh) no matter which time of day he used electricity. I continued to explain that in order to get cheaper rates at night the customer needed to sign up for a special Time of Use or Off Peak Rate and have a special residential meter installed that could keep track of when electricity was being used at his location.
So for all of you that have been watching the clock and maddly flipping power switches on or off at appointed times please stop and make sure that your efforts will be rewarded. It is not and never has been a matter of just using the juice at night. If you are not on a time of use or off peak rate you are wasting your time. Here is how it works, more or less.
Electric Utility Transmission and Generation Companies (G&T’s) or wholesale power suppliers, gain incredible efficiencies and therefore save big bucks when they can keep their power generation plants running at a constant medium speed. If they have to ramp things down for low load periods they loose money. Like wise, when they have to ramp things up or buy spot market generation to meet higher than expected loads they also loose money.
Steady as she goes provides the optimal operating cost environment when it comes to power generation. The problem is, that is not how we use electricity. When you look at your utility’s line graph of power or kilowatt hour (kWh) sales in 24 hour increments, you will always see ups and downs. And, if you compare consecutive 24 hour periods you will see a pattern of energy use that generally repeats itself day after day all year long. There may be some changes seasonally in cold or hot climates but even those peaks and valleys have a pattern. How else do you think the G&T’s know how much coal or gas to buy and when to pour it on the fire? Utility executives call this dispatch-able power.
This is one reason that many utilities seem opposed to Renewable power generation facilities connected to their systems. They are never real sure when the wind will blow. And, they are pretty sure that the solar panels will go down with the sun, just when they need that evening peak power as you get home from work. That’s why they call these two renewable energy sources non-dispatch-able.
G&T’s usually bill their distribution companies, that’s the folks you buy your power from, two ways. They bill on the total kilowatt hours used during the billing period, called total kWh or "energy". And, they bill on the highest peak energy of Kilowatt demand for the month , called Peak KW or "demand". That peak demand almost always occurs during the same time as the daily peaks for energy use that season. So, if your utlitity can shave the size of the KW peak at that time, they save money. As an insentive to get their customers to help them shave that peak, they offer Time of Use or Off peak rates hoping that you will sign up and help them cut their power bill. If it works they can pass the savings on to you.
But, BIG BUT, you have to sign up for the rate. These are special rates and you need to sign up for two reasons. One, you will need a more sophisticated and expensive meter that can document the kWh used during the Off Peak time as well as the kWh used during the On Peak time. Sometimes this means you must pay a higher minimum monthly service charge so don’t forget to factor that into your calculations. Two, you probably need to agree to pay a penalty or higher rate for kWh used during the On peak time. If they don’t offer a real incentive to get you to use your power Off Peak, why bother?
For example in Santa Monica Southern Cal Edison has a Time of Use rate for homes where most electricity is used between 6:00 PM and 10:00 AM. Other utilities may offer two off peak times during the day depending on their daily load profile. Southern Cal Edison also offers a special rate for electric vehicles for homes where qualifying electric vehicles are charged..
Customers that have automated equipment to turn their equipment on and off have lower bills than customers that try to match the Off Peak times on their own manually. People forget or get sick or take holidays. Programmed time clocks and equipment are well worth the expense if your lifestyle can handle the restrictions of your local utility’s special rates. The best thing to do is call and talk to them about your plans ahead of time. Make sure that your hard work and money will be rewarded with real cost savings on your utility bill.
I repeat "electricity is not cheaper at night", unless your utlity has a special rate and you and your house are signed up for it.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Is Your Electricity Subsidized?
While the term "subsidy" has taken on derogatory implications, the fact is that in spite of our so called free market economy, most of the things we buy, including electricity have some financial help from Uncle Sam. It may be a simple adjustment in federal taxes or tax credits available for certain industries, it may be federal funding of research and development, it maybe discounted loan programs. What ever it is, from automobiles to grapefruit, there is something that someone can call a "Subsidy". Investor owned utilities(IOU’s), municipal owned utilities (MUNI’s), and member owned utilities (COOPS) all get subsidized in some way. So, get over it.
The question you should ask is not who gets a subsidy , but rather who benefits from the subsidy and do those subsidies support industries that are good for the long term health of the nation and the World? In the case of electricity generation, they do, if you believe that price is all that matters. Our electric rates nation wide would be higher, maybe much higher, if it were not for the maze of tax incentives and benefits available to those making electricity.
Our collective sense of things is that the big guys, king coal, nuclear power and natural gas get bigger subsidies then the little guys like wind, solar, energy conservation and bio fuels. And, if you thought that, you, would be right. In a year 2000 Federal Report (Number SR/OIAF/2000-02 http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/subsidy1/index.html ); the numbers show that in 1999 base load generation from fossil fuels was supported 2.2 times more than energy conservation and 15.35 times more than renewable technologies.
According to the executive summary of the 2000 report, "Federal subsidies for transformation and end-use activities are estimated to be $2.2 billion in fiscal year 1999, a decline of about 10 percent in real terms from the total found for similar items in fiscal year 1992 (Table ES1 and Figure ES1).execsummary_fnotes.htmlIt is estimated that direct subsidies--the sum of direct expenditures and tax expenditures--totaled $1.8 billion in fiscal year 1999, of which direct expenditures totaled $1.4 billion. R&D subsidies accounted for the remainder, just over $0.45 billion."
The 2005 Energy Act promises to promote energy conservation and renewables, yet so far the amount of support and subsidy still weighs in heavier for coal(big emphasis on clean coal technologies) and nuclear energy than it does for conservation and renewables.
Meeting the electric energy needs of this nation will require subsidies on a more even playing field that will help fledgling industries compete against the old timers decades of federal support. Clean coal, safe nuclear generation, hydro- electric production, and renewables must all be evaluated for the contribution that they can make to meet the needs without creating long lasting environmental programs. But, this wont be cheap.
Residential electricity rates across the nation have increased faster than the Consumer Price Index for many years.
Consumer Price Index Increase - All Urban Areas
2003 -1.9%
2004 -3.3%
2005 - 3.4%
2006 - 2.5%
Four Year Annual Avg
2.8%
US Department of Labor Statistics ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cpi/cpiai.txt
Average Retail Price of Electricity to Consumer
Year Cents/kWh Percent increase
2003 8.72 3.32%
2004 8.98 2.98%
2005 9.46 5.35%
2006 10.46 10.57%
Four Year Annual Avg.
5.55%
Source: Energy Information Administration http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epat7p4.html#_ftn2
Get used to rising rates. There is no way we can move into an era of less dependence on fossil fuels without paying more at the meter.
Recent claims of victory by environmental groups over the apparent retreat of TXU investors over plans to build 11 new coal generation facilities, could be hollow chest thumping, if other generation sources don’t surface to meet the need. Sure, TXU may have over-estimated load growth, just to look like good guys when they agreed to stop plans for 8 coal plants, but some day load will exceed supply if current trends continue.
Changing the paltry contribution of renewables to the nation’s generation fuel mix will take a lot more than chasing off coal plant investors.
The question you should ask is not who gets a subsidy , but rather who benefits from the subsidy and do those subsidies support industries that are good for the long term health of the nation and the World? In the case of electricity generation, they do, if you believe that price is all that matters. Our electric rates nation wide would be higher, maybe much higher, if it were not for the maze of tax incentives and benefits available to those making electricity.
Our collective sense of things is that the big guys, king coal, nuclear power and natural gas get bigger subsidies then the little guys like wind, solar, energy conservation and bio fuels. And, if you thought that, you, would be right. In a year 2000 Federal Report (Number SR/OIAF/2000-02 http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/subsidy1/index.html ); the numbers show that in 1999 base load generation from fossil fuels was supported 2.2 times more than energy conservation and 15.35 times more than renewable technologies.
According to the executive summary of the 2000 report, "Federal subsidies for transformation and end-use activities are estimated to be $2.2 billion in fiscal year 1999, a decline of about 10 percent in real terms from the total found for similar items in fiscal year 1992 (Table ES1 and Figure ES1).execsummary_fnotes.htmlIt is estimated that direct subsidies--the sum of direct expenditures and tax expenditures--totaled $1.8 billion in fiscal year 1999, of which direct expenditures totaled $1.4 billion. R&D subsidies accounted for the remainder, just over $0.45 billion."
The 2005 Energy Act promises to promote energy conservation and renewables, yet so far the amount of support and subsidy still weighs in heavier for coal(big emphasis on clean coal technologies) and nuclear energy than it does for conservation and renewables.
Meeting the electric energy needs of this nation will require subsidies on a more even playing field that will help fledgling industries compete against the old timers decades of federal support. Clean coal, safe nuclear generation, hydro- electric production, and renewables must all be evaluated for the contribution that they can make to meet the needs without creating long lasting environmental programs. But, this wont be cheap.
Residential electricity rates across the nation have increased faster than the Consumer Price Index for many years.
Consumer Price Index Increase - All Urban Areas
2003 -1.9%
2004 -3.3%
2005 - 3.4%
2006 - 2.5%
Four Year Annual Avg
2.8%
US Department of Labor Statistics ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cpi/cpiai.txt
Average Retail Price of Electricity to Consumer
Year Cents/kWh Percent increase
2003 8.72 3.32%
2004 8.98 2.98%
2005 9.46 5.35%
2006 10.46 10.57%
Four Year Annual Avg.
5.55%
Source: Energy Information Administration http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epat7p4.html#_ftn2
Get used to rising rates. There is no way we can move into an era of less dependence on fossil fuels without paying more at the meter.
Recent claims of victory by environmental groups over the apparent retreat of TXU investors over plans to build 11 new coal generation facilities, could be hollow chest thumping, if other generation sources don’t surface to meet the need. Sure, TXU may have over-estimated load growth, just to look like good guys when they agreed to stop plans for 8 coal plants, but some day load will exceed supply if current trends continue.
Changing the paltry contribution of renewables to the nation’s generation fuel mix will take a lot more than chasing off coal plant investors.
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