Some thoughts on light bulbs and electricity

The papers have reported this week Wal-Mart's struggles to sell compact fluorescent light bulbs. Wal-Mart is hard to love, but the true-believer campaign to make Americans switch bulbs impresses me. It impresses me because, like the Wal-Mart execs, I can't understand why everybody hasn't switched. It isn't logical. They save money, electricity, and they last longer. When I started writing my book in 2005, a compact fluorescent bulb cost about $11 and still saved money over using incandescents. Today you can get them for about a dollar through online suppliers and at Wal-Mart. What's the deal? People think they look funny. They think their light isn't warm and steady. Those things used to be true, but now they aren't. The flicker is not noticeable and the light is yellow and warm. I am using one right now in my office lamp. I used to hate the look of the bulbs and would not make that change. No more. We switched all of the bulbs in our house and noticed a dip in our electricity use. The only down side for a consumer is that throwing away compact fluorescents isn't as easy. They contain mercury, which pollutes air and water. In Connecticut, where I live, they incinerate the regular trash. I don't want to contribute to more mercury going into the air. So you have to look to the manufacturers to tell you how to dispose of these. Most people are pretty smart: they can drive cars, read, feed themselves, and hold down a job. It's not that hard to hold back the bulbs from the trash until you find out where to recycle them. If Wal-Mart succeeds in making the compact fluorescent as ubiquitous as the incandescent used to be, that will be a big change. It will mean that American light companies will have to start making compact fluorescents. It will mean all of us use less electricity, most of which is produced with fossil fuels. You can't ignore the logic of this.

Energy Expo in Iowa, September 27

An expo with speeches should interest anyone who pays for electricity and fuel and finds himself be in Iowa City on Wednesday. The University of Iowa Presents: Energy Expo 2006, September 27, 2006 - 9:00am-6:00pm The University of Iowa Campus, Downtown Iowa City, and Sheraton Iowa City Convention Center. I heard about this today in Iowa City, when I was getting ready to leave. The facilities management department at the university is trying to save energy and money. One of the speakers is Jeff Barrie, creator of the documentary film, "Kilowatt Ours," on the consequences of depending on coal for the amount of electricity we use. For information, see http://energy.uiowa.edu/2006/

Solar electricity, into the mainstream...

Thomas Surek, Ph.D., has been working on solar photovoltaic technology for three decades. the program manager in photovoltaics for the National Renewable Energy Lab told me on September 18, 2006: "This is by far the most exciting time for photovoltaics." Why is that? Because some of the work he and colleagues have done for 33 years is starting to interest elected officials, like the president of the United States. Because California has initiated so many policies and programs to use solar PV on ordinary houses. Because Germany has passed a law requiring utilities to buy solar electricity, providing a huge boost to the manufacturing of panels. Because the photovoltaics industry will break the 2,000 megawatt generating point this year. PV installations are reaching the point of making as much power, worldwide, as about two coal-burning electric power plants. The United States has led the way in some ways, like research, but it can't say it has led in the growth of the solar electricity market in recent years. In 2003, the United States's share in the world PV market fell to 14 percent during a time when shipments of PV equipment from Europe grew dramatically. The U.S. won't be able to say it has led the way to this point, although it has initiated much research. Dr. Surek obtained one of the first National Science Foundation grants for solar energy research in 1973. I spent over an hour talking with him. Some new methods the National Renewable Energy Lab is perfecting with several manufacturers include panels that use semiconductors other than silicon and panels so flexible they look more like rolls of fabric will change life as our children now know it. Not so sound fanciful, since I've been listening to fanciful talk about alternative energy since I was in junior high school. Today, politics and energy could be joining with private enterprise to begin on this. Dr. Surek believes that we are moving closer.

In Denver: Everything gets me thinking

I am in Denver as I write this, getting ready to go over to the Tattered Cover bookstore for a talk about my book, "The Homeowner's Guide to Energy Independence." As an ordinary American traveling in a somewhat ordinary way, I have noticed many things that could change for travelers, and which could make a difference. Rental car companies could offer energy-efficient cars. It is completely incongruous and ironic that I have driven into town in a sub-SUV to talk about how individuals can save energy. That was the only choice at the rental car counter at Denver International Airport. I tried to get into the whole thing, sitting back and appreciating the comfort, etc. A Starbucks out here has a drive-through window. Should I pull up? I just couldn't do it. I couldn't go into that six-car-long line. I just had to park with the three other cars and go inside. Here at the 16th Street "mall," which reminds me of many closed-street malls dating to the 70s in several American cities such as Philadelphia (but which now have opened), Denver operates hybrid/alternative fuel buses (as the signs on the sides say) for people to navigate. That's an interesting approach. Denver is a city that was built around the car. It reminds me a little bit of Phoenix, but it's got more street life and more street art. It reminds me a little bit of Tucson with its river-side running/biking path, but of course it has water in its river. But everything gets me thinking. To save money, I stayed last night at the Motel 6 out of town. It is sort of midway between the downtown and the incredibly-far-off airport. In order to get some exercise, I hopped into my sub-SUV and drove into town to use the river-side path. Then I drove back to the motel. Hmmm. But if you could see the roads with nowhere to walk out by the motel, you would understand my desire not to be run over on my trip. On Monday... it's on to the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, which is just outside the city limits of Denver. The federal government cut millions to this lab only a few weeks after the President's State of the Union address last January. That is a bit of an odd thing. They have invited me to give a Power Point talk with some images from the book. I'm excited and pleased. For more about the book, see www.globepequot.com and put the title in the search line. Or check out amazon or any on-line bookseller. Or read earlier posts of this blog.

Summertime: Air conditioning fever, and my travel plans

I rolled down the windows in my car as I drove around my Connecticut town today. It reminded me of my New Jersey childhood. All Americans born in the 1950s spent the kid years riding in the backs of cars with the wind crazily whipping through their hair. Cars didn't have air conditioning in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Neither did most houses. Air conditioning has taken over the indoor world since the 1970s. Now the summertime is the time of electrical overload. I don't preach to people to try to live without A.C., but I do say that everyone should remember all of the stay-cool tricks from the past. These tactics help save energy whether you have A.C. or not. Shade the windows when you go out for the day. Always shade windows on the sunny side of the house. Avoid turning on a lot of lights when you aren't in the room. Turn off the TV unless you're actively watching. Don't cook heat-intensive meals; the A.C. will have to work harder to cool your hot kitchen. And if you have A.C., turn the temperature up when you go away. MY TRAVEL PLANS I will deliver the keynote speech at a colloquium in Raleigh, North Carolina, in September: "Energy Independence: What You Can Do Now." Monday, September 11 from 2-3:30 p.m. Fall Open House & Kick Off Colloquium presented by: The Encore Center for Lifelong Enrichment at NC State University. My talk is sponsored by NC Greenpower. Location: McKimmon Center, 1101 Gorman Street, Raleigh, NC For more information, call 515-5782 I will speak on how every individual can contribute to Energy Independence. Then I will moderate a panel discussion with North Carolina experts from the NC SolarCenter, NC Greenpower, and the NC Energy Office. I'll also be selling my book. I will speak about my book, The Homeowner's Guide to Energy Independence, on September 16 at The Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver.

Efficient Refrigerators and the Paradox of Consumption

When U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett spoke last year to Congress about the world oil supply, he mentioned the Jevons Paradox. William Stanley Jevons theorized that when technology becomes more energy efficient, total consumption of the energy source goes up. The Jevons Paradox could explain many situations in which efficiency leads to increased consumption. I have a friend who is seeing it play out in his science research lab. People who buy food in bulk at big-box stores, according to some studies, eat more of the food than if they'd bought less of it. You can apply the Jevons Paradox to Americans and their houses or apartments. By law, most appliances use much less energy today than they did five, ten, and more years ago. And yet American households continue to use ever more energy every year. Consumers Energy, in Michigan, one of the largest utility companies in the nation, found that over the last 20 years the average power use per household has increased 1 percent each year. Aside from washers, dryers (and hot tubs or heated pools), no appliance uses more energy at home than the refrigerator. But refrigerators are so efficient today that they use a third to half of the energy a 10-year-old model uses. It should be easy to save power with such great savings. But it isn't. We have a big old electric hot water heater in the basement, a computer system, a television, a washer and dryer. Many houses have larger refrigerators than they would have a decade ago. Or they keep the old one for beer. It's normal these days to own two or three televisions, a hot tub, numerous appliances and systems, and central air conditioning. It's a paradox. The more efficient we become, the more energy we use. But wait -- there's a way to get away from this and it has to come from us.

Decoding an oil company's big ad

My book has come out and should be available at your favorite bookstore or on the web. Later this week, I'll post some links to help you buy it more easily. The Homeowner's Guide to Energy Independence describes today's dependence on oil and coal and outlines how to get away from these sources, one person at a time. On March 2, I saw an ad on the op-ed page of The New York Times that tries to debunk the peak oil theory. It assures you that oil isn't running out soon and that, actually, there is so much oil that it's really the best choice for heating and transportation right now. And then it ends by reminding people to conserve energy. Let's decode these words. The ad says that peak oil proponents "theorize that, since new discoveries have not kept up with the pace of production in recent years, we will soon reach a point when oil production starts going downhill. So goes the theory." The peak oil theory, which I explain in my book, would define "soon" to mean sometime in the next 40 years or so. Most ordinary people don't mean 40 years from now when they say, "soon." The ad points out that since recorded history, humans has used only a third of all the recoverable oil. It doesn't add that we have used most of that oil in the last 50 years, nor that the per-capita energy use in the biggest energy-gobbling country, the United States, is going up and up. It doesn't point out the problems of burning fossil fuels. Scientists hired by our federal government told the leaders six years ago that global warming is real and that human activity is playing a part in this. It's not as if we're in the middle of a science fiction movie. The changes are gradual. But they're happening. The ad says that oil has no equal as a transportation fuel. That's true, but partly because we remain so committed to oil. No one who is concerned about oil supplies in the future is claiming that it will all run out tomorrow. The "peak oil" theory does not say it will run out tomorrow. Oil companies need not try to discredit those who worry about the next half century.

Should I buy a hybrid car just for the tax break?

Well, maybe. If you were going to buy a new car anyway, you might benefit, perhaps significantly. The government is offering income tax credits of between $250 and $3,400 -- depending, as it says, on the fuel economy and weight of the car. The New York Times reporter Tim Gray wrote in last Sunday's edition, "Your Taxes," that the tax credit amounts ride on how many hybrids an automaker sells in that quarter. Those who pay the alternative minimum tax, as Gray reported, might not get the hybrid tax break (it's not clear yet). Visit the Web site of the non-profit American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy for some estimated credits people might receive for various cars: Keep in mind that hybrids are all about saving gas. You can save gas by driving a small car that gets better gas mileage than some of the hybrids available. Some of the hybrids are efficient, and it's because they use less gas, not because they don't use any. Other tax breaks offered in 2006 and 2007: Energy Efficient products like insulation and roofs Tax credit of no more than $500 for windows, insulation, doors, roofs, and heating and cooling equipment. Solar photovoltaic panels Tax credit of 30 percent of the qualifying costs – but the credit can’t exceed $2,000 – of solar photovoltaic panels and solar water heating eqiupment – but not for pools and hot tubs. Energy efficient heating and cooling Tax credit of no more than $300 for installation of geothermal heat pumps and air source heat pumps for heating and cooling. Miscellaneous business credits Thirty percent tax credit for fuel cell power plants and solar systems. Tax breaks on petroleum-based energy: Tax credit of 10 percent of the cost of microturbine power systems for businesses. (Gas turbine engine, combustor, and regenerator) Tax credit of $300 for gas, oil, propane, or electric heat pump water heaters. My book, The Homeowner's Guide to Energy Independence, will be out within the week from Lyons Press/Globe Pequot Press.

What the 'State of the Union' said about energy

President Bush devoted four paragraphs of his speech to the need for America to become energy independent. This probably is the first time he has talked about energy without immediately mentioning drilling for more oil in North America. (But he hasn't changed his mind about drilling for more oil in North America.) Let's look at what he said. "Our third goal is to promote energy independence for our country," he said, "while dramatically improving the environment. I have sent you a comprehensive energy plan to promote energy efficiency and conservation, to develop cleaner technology, and to produce more energy at home." He referred to energy legislation that has passed the U.S. House but not come to the Senate floor. (In August, Congress passed, and then Bush signed, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which calls for some funding and incentives for alternative energy sources, but much more for oil and gas production in the United States, nuclear power plants, clean coal technology. That act provides $14.5 billion in tax incentives, most of it going to oil and gas companies.) He said, "In this century, the greatest environmental progress will come about not through endless lawsuits or command-and-control regulations, but through technology and innovation. Tonight I'm proposing $1.2 billion in research funding so that America can lead the world in developing clean, hydrogen-powered automobiles." And then, he recounted the intriguing aspect of hydrogen fuel cells without explaining the problems. "A single chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen generates energy, which can be used to power a car -- producing only water, not exhaust fumes," he said. "With a new national commitment, our scientists and engineers will overcome obstacles to taking these cars from laboratory to showroom, so that the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen, and pollution-free. Join me in this important innovation to make our air significantly cleaner, and our country much less dependent on foreign sources of energy." Hydrogen technology requires energy, and so far, fossil fuels have provided the energy to create the "single chemical reaction." Research is good -- fuel cells seem promising -- but there is a lot to do so that these don't further drain fossil fuels. Bush also announced "another great goal, to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025." What he didn't say is that most of our oil imports come from other places. The U.S. uses more than 20 million barrels of oil per day, and we produce less than 8 million barrels here. We import the rest. The top sources of crude oil imports are Canada (first place), Mexico, Saudi Arabia (third place), and, close behind, Venezuela and Nigeria.

To reduce the portion we import from the Middle East by 75 percent isn't quite like reducing all of the imports. What the president means, surely, is that importing oil from the Middle East is the problem. That means something different than if he said that the U.S. should stop using so much oil because it pollutes and because the world will run out of it in a few generations.

Pushing against the tide

When you begin to explore making your own power at home, and especially when you commit to cutting back your energy use at home and on the road, you are pushing against the tide. Every week I hear experts on television, the radio, or in the papers practically laughing off the idea that alternative energy could provide America's needs. Of course it can't, at the escalating rates of per-capita energy consumption in America. Americans are using ever more gas in our cars and ever more electricity at home. The new federal energy bill continues to subsidize fossil-fuel production and makes only a few moves toward helping the alternative technologies. And it fails to address the main challenge: reducing consumption. Jim Jubak, the MSN columnist, writes that the country's new energy bill "keeps us firmly committed to the big-infrastructure model of energy production." (See his column at http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P124407.asp.) Energy comes into our buildings through wires and pipes. It's like magic. It's so easy to waste it, and we do. But when you provide some of your own heat or power, you learn not to waste. You learn how little a household needs to live comfortably. I devote three chapters of my book to energy conservation in the United States. I explain why it hasn't caught on, and recount the few times in modern history when citizens have managed to cut energy use dramatically when faced with a shortage. Those of us who believe that the problem of providing energy throughout our children's and grandchildren's lives should depend partly on our curbing our wasteful habits are not the majority. Not yet.

The book is coming soon

The Homeowner's Guide to Energy Independence is in production now. I have seen the pages and photographs, and it looks good. The official publication date is now March, so the weeks are ticking away. Here is a short version of the Table of Contents: Introduction – Why You Need This Book...Watching the news can leave ordinary people feeling helpless about our dependence on foreign countries for fuel. Chapter 1 – The Situation Today: Oil Rules... and coal is tied with natural gas for second place. Starting roughly 40 years from now, something must take their place. Chapter 2 – Demystifying Solar Energy... Technology has dramatically improved since the 1970s. Chapter 3 – Wind Generators at Home... A primer on wind power and how to erect a turbine on a residential property. Chapter 4 – Other New Technologies: Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Biodiesel Fuel, and Geothermal Heat Pumps... How fuel cells work, and when these might become viable as a major energy source. What is biodiesel fuel? Geothermal heat pumps can heat and cool a house. Chapter 5 – Heating with Wood... The oldest heat source remains a good choice for alternative energy. Chapter 6 – Harnessing a Backyard Stream: Micro-hydroelectric Systems... A return to an ancient method of making power, but today, you must cooperate with the fish. Who can use a micro-hydro system? Chapter 7 – Alternative Cars... A look at hybrid technology, gas mileage, and comparing a standard hybrid to a traditional car. Chapter 8 – Conservation: Not a New Idea... A brief history and why this is a major part of energy independence. Chapter 9 - Conservation Tips... Dozens of actions you can do at home to save power. Chapter 10 - An Appliance Manifesto... A call to discard several energy hogs. Appendix: Where to Learn More. General Information about Energy Consumption and Alternatives Notes Index

Who needs a workout when you're splitting wood?

Henry David Thoreau wrote of heating his cabin with old stumps he'd found in his field, using an axe nobody wanted. "As my driver prophesied when I was plowing, they warmed me twice, once while I was splitting them, and again when they were on the fire, so that no fuel could give out more heat. " It's one thing to say how nice it would be to heat the house with a little wood stove. It's another to do it. That sends the sweat pouring down your face, even when it's 15 degrees outside. This morning I spent two hours sawing some long split logs into the size that fits our small wood stove. We got these logs from a friend who parts with a bit of his giant wood supply in exchange for some bread. Now I'm trying to work with this wood. Here I am, someone who makes a point of "exercising" every morning, walking five miles or up a mountain or going to a class, and I find that sawing logs to the right size for my stove is the hardest thing I've ever done. I don't have a sawhorse. I'm making do with a bit of old rug on top of a scavenged chest sitting outside my husband's shed. The arm trying to steady the piece I'm sawing is trembling. The saw keeps catching. I can't seem to saw in a straight line. The rug slips, and the wood flies off onto the snow. Chapter 5 of my book deals with wood heat. I think that this is one of the most promising heat methods for those who live near trees. This morning I reminded myself that it is not for everyone -- but that it could replace the whole exercise movement. Aren't I a little bit of a rat on a wheel when I go for a jog? But to cut our fuel goes beyond working out the heart. It's not just the warming myself, either. It's knowing the fuel source. I stagger around in holey gloves with a saw I barely can hold, cursing numb fingers -- but finishing the task. I never felt so great as I did watching the saw cut through to the other side and the wood fall away to the ground. For those of us still able to stagger through this task, it's a privilege to have the space (our small woods) and the time (I'm self-employed, so I can decide when I cut wood) to use this fuel. Wood heat is going to come back to a lot of houses, I predict. The new stoves filter out particulates quite well, and there is a lot of surplus wood that can't be made into logs and furniture, foresters tell me. My arms and shoulders ache. It feels great.

Getting Free of the Petroleum Noose

The Homeowner's Guide to Energy Independence I am an ordinary American with a house, an oil furnace, and a high electric bill. I have written a book to help myself, and you, get away from fossil fuels. Guess what? It's not easy -- but it is not as hard as you think. My book will be published in February 2006 by the Lyons Press. To learn more about it, visit amazon.com. Watch for updates, musings, and other helpful hints in the next few months. Contact me by email at: cwoodside@snet.net