First some background, roughly 20 years ago I took a great course in college called "Energy and Environmental Policy". Though I was young, this class raised a lot of questions that have been the backbone of my 20 year quest to be carbon neutral. I'm not claiming to be a saint. In fact, for every sin that I'm accused of I bet that I could name three others. That's not the point. The point is that we must do something-- actually, we must do many things right now to do something about global warming. (Oh yeah, did I mention that this course also made me a huge Al Gore fan.)
Like any other enterprise, my quest starts slow, becomes crazy fast, stops dead, picks up again, and ...You get the picture.
After getting back to Chicago after riding my bicycle to Alaska, I began commuting to work and grad school by bike. I would put in between 120 and 170 miles a week on the bike. After almost a year in Chicago, I moved back to PA settling in Pittsburgh. Here, I continued to bike commute between 18 and 26 miles a day. The reduced miles were due to shorter commutes and hillier terrain. On the weekends, I headed out of town to mountain bike, kayak, or ski.
After I earned my Master's Degree, I took a job in the mountains. Here, for two reasons that both display a lack of creativity, I stopped bike commuting. One, I was in mountain bike heaven. Two, I lived farther than ever from a workplace (~25 miles). Things were pretty bleak from a carbon neutrality quest perspective—I was having a blast otherwise—then, they got worse. I had a chance to buy a house, and the house that jumped at me was 10 miles farther away from my workplace. I bought it anyway.
From here I went to work. The house is heated by two woodburners. I cut (Yes, with a 2-cycle chainsaw. I'm working on that.) and split (No, I do it with regular splitting maul. It's a good way to relieve stress. I'm a special education teacher you know.) firewood that is already dead and laying in the forest near my home.
The first prong of attack was to insulate. The first major home renovation was to put an additional R-30 insulation in the roof to bring my estimated total to the recommended R-49. Next, I put an additional R-19 into the walls for an estimated total of R-29. A couple of years later, I insulated the foundation both above and below ground with an R-10. I did this to coincide with re-installing the French drain around the house which did much to address the dampness problem in the house. Every winter, I use the plastic shrink wrapping to further insulate the windows. I was hoping last year to replace them offsetting the cost with the tax rebates currently available. I didn't because I didn't have the time due to my run for Congress. I know the window tax credits sunset this year, but I don't see having the time or the money to act this year. I would really like to see those credits made permanent. At present, I am planning to have a neighbor install radiant floor heating, an additional R-11 in the basement, and a dual fueled boiler (wood primarily and heating oil for extended absences).
The next prong involves electricity. First, I replaced all the easy incandescent bulbs with CFL's. I have a number of lights on dimmer switches which do not work with traditional CFL's. I have heard, however, that there are newer CFL's that work with dimmer switches. I have not yet found them in the stores by me. If they do exist, eventually I will find them and install them making all lights in my house CFL's. My fridge is the next appliance to be replaced. I know that it uses far too much electricity. Going further, my wife and I have switched from using the big desktop to using laptop computers for most computer work. I am aware of phantom load use, and eventually I want to find a way to cut it out without being a royal pain in the backside. My wife is a good woman, and increasingly she is beginning to understand the connections. But, she is just not as obsessed as I am.
Going back to bicycle commuting, a few years ago I had an Aha! moment. I was lamenting the fact that there is absolutely no public transportation available in my area. I was saying, "If only there was a bus that went down 99...," when it hit me. Drive my car part way to work, get out, get on my bike, and ride the rest of the way to work. Times are different now. I'm a Dad which is a huge responsibility time and otherwise, but I have been riding between 36 and 80 miles per week. I also combine car pooling with my bike commuting a couple of days per week resulting in some weeks where my car is not on the road for 120 miles—I give myself a ½ credit for carpooling miles. This is a 33% reduction. Going further yet, I bought a commuting car this spring. It is a 2004 VW Jetta Diesel. My old truck—I still have it for firewood collecting and trips to the hardware store—got between 14 and 17 mpg. The Jetta is getting between 40 and 45 mpg. I have cut regular fuel use to a third.
Coming back full circle, today, I am running B20 in my Jetta thanks to the folks at West Shore Energy in Marysville—It is right outside Harrisburg, and they are great people. I hope to start making my own biodiesel soon. If my next run for Congress is not successful, I am seriously considering starting a commercial biodiesel business.
Global warming is a real problem with catastrophic implications if we do not move fast. James Hansen, the lead meteorologist for NASA, believes that the IPCC prediction is horribly conservative. He says that the IPCC prediction of a 2 foot (59 cm) rise in seas is woefully inadequate. He predicts a sea level rise of over 75 feet (25 meters). 75 feet! Goodbye Eastern Seaboard! Goodbye Florida! Goodbye Gulf Coast! Goodbye Memphis! My point with this diary is this. I know how hard it is to cut carbon emissions for the individual. We do need to cut carbon emissions individually, but we must also do it on a large systemic scale that can only be organized by the government. If I am this obsessed with my own home, what do you think I am going to do once I get to Congress?
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