Energy has become an ever-more central part of my life - personal, intellectual, and professional. This ranges from working with the
EnergizeAmerica team, to advising other environments on energy, to efforts to foster local initiatives re renewables and energy efficiency patterned on
San Francisco's vote solar to turning off lights and computers in many offices at the end of the work day, to trying to change the energy patterns in my home.
RE the home ... a recent question from a Congressional staffer helped me realize something about the implications of these efforts ...
RE the last (and, perhaps, the first) - the home - these efforts have been building over the years. For example, all long have used a programmable thermostat to reduce heating loads at night and when no one is in the house. The water heater is turned down and all major appliances unplugged during travel. All `major' appliance replacements have moved from `standard' to Energy Star products. Virtually all the light bulbs were once incandescent and are now compact fluorescent. Do-it-yourself (actually, Do-It-Myself) leak sealing and insulation began several months ago with new direction via a recent home energy audit. (While I have read/consulted over 30 books re home energy issues in the past six months [excellent one:
Home Energy Diet] and am far from `ignorant', the home energy audit was quite useful. Most homeowners and businesses could profit from one ... thus, consider a home energy audit ... or at least do the
online one ... to gain knowledge about your home's performance and help prioritize your efficiency investments. And, don't forget that the (atrocious) Energy Bill did include [limited]
tax incentives for making these investments.) And, many weekend and evening hours are spent working through crevices trying to cut down on those leaks ...
But, all of these have been going on without any clear personal understanding of the fiscal implications for my household ... they are being done because they are `right' to do ... that somehow they would end up saving money but - at the same time - would be helping to cut overall societal energy use and reduce pollution loads going into the future. Also, because of all my other energy-related activities, this has been serving as a form of education, helping to provide a perspective on policy implications of various options. (The difficulties of my efforts to `learn' and get things done - when being so impassioned about the subject - has highlighted the value of creating incentives for `top down' energy efficiency efforts through, for example, changes in building code and utility profit decoupling, rather than relying on `education' as a path toward changing the nation's energy picture.)
But, again, the fiscal implications issue. I recently sent the following note to some people interested in energy issues ...
The simplest ideas can sometimes take hold and make a real difference ... According to the calculation below, a CFL going home with every child from school could mean $2.3 billion in energy savings ... Wow ...
And, how much would the education associated with those CFLs lead to in increased efficiency and conservation? What would be the multiplier effect?
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A Bright Idea| Sarah Rich
Triggers for Innovation - New Models for Change and Social Entrepreneurship see all posts in this category An 8th grade science teacher in Long Island has a simple idea for making a big dent in energy consumption. Kenny Luna wants to give one compact fluorescent light bulb to every child in the U.S., grades preK-12. To do this, he and his students are asking Oprah for help. On the class blog, Mr. Luna has invited people far and wide to join the effort, and posted instructions for sending a personal email to Oprah suggesting that she help make this happen. According to their calculations, if 50 million kids put a CFL in a lamp at home, we'd achieve $2.3 billion in energy savings. Seems like a wish worth granting.
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Personal note: 90% of my non-dimmer lights in my home are CFL and all of my lights that are on regularly for extended periods are CFLs ...
The question back from that Congressional staffer: "CFLs - what's the impact on your personal budget?"
And, my response ...
I do not fully know ... But ... An example ...
My kitchen has 7 lights in it. Most days these are on for 5+ hours. Previously, they had 100 watt bulbs, or a total of 3500 watts per evening for about 28 cents. They all CFL, at a cost of 35 dollars. The CFL are 23 watts or 161 watts total. Evening is about .8 kwh or about 6.5 cents. Let us say this is 300 days / year. My annual savings is about 64.5 dollars or an annual savings rate of almost 200 percent of my original investment.
To be honest, impact on household finances - perhaps minimal. But, my total savings through CFLs might total over 200 dollars / year when my total investment in buying CFLs over the past 3 years might not top $200.
To be honest, this is the first time that I have tried to calculate this ... I like the result ...
Let us go back to that idea of a single CFL ... A single 100 watt-equivalent CFL lightbulb might cost $5-7 at a local hardware store. And, each year, the energy savings would likely total easily over $8 per year. And, not unimportantly, contribute to reducing demands on the electrical grid and reduce greenhouse emissions (and other pollution).
Thus, from the personal to the policy back to the personal. We can all affect change at all of these levels ... and, together, perhaps we can help to create an environment of change that will change tomorrow's environment (fiscal, societal, environmental (e.g., global warming) for the better.