Saving Energy without derision (or divorce)
and having fun doing it
A Neighborhood Effort
Al Zelicoff, MD
505-255-6908
E-mail: [email protected]
OutlineOutline• Embarrassing questions
• The energy picture and the energy problem
• What you control (almost everything) and what you don’t
• Watt to do?
• The simple things first
• The extravagant things last
• Does it work?
• A brief, but not unpleasant diversion into photovoltaics
• Summary: your homework
Embarrassing Questions
1. How many kw-hrs of electricity does your household use?
2. How many therms of natural gas does your household use?
3. What’s your utility bill?4. Do you have a clothes line?5. How many pounds of CO2 are dumped into
the air for each kw-hr or therm that you consume?
Your toni little neighboorhood
20.25 by 16 yards = 75 by 48 feet = 3600 sq. ft.
How much energy do we use in the US?
• 102 Quadrillion BTU in 2007
• About 33% residential
• About 38% commercial
• About 28% industrial/manufacturing
• But all of it is due to YOU!
Direct Energy Use in your home DIRECT
Household Use Units Amounts
Cost per unit Total cost
Pounds of CO2 per
unit
Metric tons of CO2 emitted
Efficiencies in producing
one unitBTUs Per
UnitBTU's
expended
Energy UsesElectricity kw-hrs 12,000 0.09$ 1,080.00$ 1.50 8.182 33% 3.41E+03 1.24E+08
Natural Gas or Propane therms 750 1.10$ 825.00$ 11.64 3.968 50% 1.00E+05 1.50E+08Electricity for Pumping Water kw-hrs 317 0.09$ 28.51$ 1.50 0.216 33% 3.41E+03 3.27E+06Gasoline gallons 1,000 2.50$ 2,500.00$ 20.00 9.091 50% 1.22E+05 2.44E+08
Totals 4,433.51$ 21.46 521,273,266
24%
29%
1%
46%Electricity
Natural Gas or Propane
Electricity for Pumping Water
Gasoline
“Embodied Energy” in your stuffNumber of units
per year Embodied Energy (Joules)Embodied Energy
(BTUs) BTUs per yearHouse Construction 0.020 1.40E+12 1.33E+09 2.92E+07Car 0.33 2.00E+11 1.90E+08 6.32E+07Cotton (kg) in clothing 50.00 3.50E+08 3.32E+05 1.66E+07
PantsDresses
ShirtsFurnishings 3.00 3.00E+09 2.84E+06 8.53E+06
Carpet 50.00 2.03E+09 1.92E+06 9.61E+07Refrigerator 0.10 1.02E+10 9.69E+06 9.69E+05Television 0.20 3.07E+09 2.91E+06 5.81E+05Other appliances 0.30 1.02E+10 9.69E+06 2.91E+06
Total 1.54E+09 2.18E+08
Your share of government infrastructure
Embodied Energy (Joules)
Embodied Energy (BTUs) Comments
Lighting 1.49E+07Roads and Maintenance 1.00E+11 9.48E+07
Safety and Security 1.33E+071% of all energy is used by the US
government
Total 1.23E+08
Summary of your household’s energy useSummary
BTUsEnergy Use in House 2.77E+08Energy Use in Car 2.44E+08Energy Use in Food 4.73E+07Energy Use in Stuff 2.18E+08Your share of community energy resources 1.23E+08Your share of the service Industry ?
Total 9.10E+08
Number of Olympic Swimming Pools you could boil: 1.36
75 million households 6.82E+16102 Quads (estimated in 2007) 1.02E+17 66.89%
We’ve accounted for 2/3 of the nation’s energy use. The rest is in services.
Summary of Energy Use by a typical Household
30%
27%5%
24%
14%
Energy Use in House
Energy Use in Car
Energy Use in Food
Energy Use in Stuff
Your share of community energy resources
Watt to do?
Watt we do in our house
Answering machine 6.5 24 156 4.75 56.98 $4.27 114
Cordless phone 0 7 0 0.00 0.00 $0.00 0
Bedroom clock 4 24 96 2.92 35.06 $2.72 70
VCR 2 1 2 0.06 0.73 $0.06 1
TV 0 24 0 0.00 0.00 $0.00 0
Kitchen clock 2 24 48 1.46 17.53 $1.36 35
Microwave clock 2 24 48 1.46 17.53 $1.36 35
Doorbell 0 24 0 0.00 0.00 $0.00 0
Garage door opener 0 24 0 0.00 0.00 $0.00 0
Alarm system 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 $0.00 0
Computer Sysytem 145 10 1450 44.11 529.60 $41.02 1059
Totals 161.5 1800 54.76 657.43 $50.79 1315
Top Ten No.
Thing to do Time costDollar cost
Savings in kilo-watt hours or electricity per
year
Natural gas and
fuel saved
per year
Cost savings per year
Time to recover
cost (months)
10Cook with a lid on your pots
0$0.00 25 $21 0.0
9
Turn off outside lights (or those ridiculously wasteful gas lanterns) and replace with low voltage solar-powered lights
1 hour
$30.00 292 $23 15.4
8
Buy a clothes line for drying at least your towels and heavy clothes (like jeans)
an hour, maybe
$1.50 300 $24 0.8
7
Clean your refrigerator coils (they are doubtless COVERED with dust which makes it hard to cool the fridge)
10 minutes
$0.00 350 $28 0.0
6Buy and use 4 or 5 compact fluroscent bulbs
an hour
$15.00 500 $40 4.5
5
Unplug vampire loads (the little transformers all around your house that are doing nothing but producing heat: see chapter 2)
15 minutes
$0.00 1200 $96 0.0
4
Get rid of your free-standing freezer (and buy fresh food) or disconnect the ice-maker/cold water dispenser on your refrigerator.
1 hour (to haul it away)
$25.00 1200 $96 3.1
3
Ride a bike, take the bus or walk to work or shopping just once a week.
50 $110 0.0
2
In the summer, turn up the temperature on the thermostat when you leave for the day
0
$0.00 1500 $120 0.0
1
In the winter, turn down heat at night to 60 degrees and when you leave the house
0
$0.00 400 $340 0.0
Savings $899
The Top 10 list:
start with the simple stuff
Avoidable energy waste
Incidents per month Guess at kw-hrs Total per monthTotal per yearClothes Drying 15 4 60 720Turning off lightsCleaning frig coils 30 2 60 720Compact flouresencts 15 180Small TV 30 1 40 480Having good windows 30 2 40 480
Totals 2580
Think it doesn’t work?Gas Use by Month: Alb. Average
vs. Zelicoff's Household
0
50
100
150
200
250
11/5/00 5/5/01 11/5/01 5/5/02 11/5/02 5/5/03 11/5/03 5/5/04 11/5/04 5/5/05 11/5/05 5/5/06 11/5/06
Month
Therms
Zelicoff HouseholdAve. Alb. Household
Electric Use by Month
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
11/5/00 5/5/01 11/5/01 5/5/02 11/5/02 5/5/03 11/5/03 5/5/04 11/5/04 5/5/05 11/5/05 5/5/06 11/5/06
Month
kw-hrs
Zelicoff Household
Ave. Alb. Household
Tons CO2 per month: Albuquerque Household vs. Zelicoff Household
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
9/13/2000 9/13/2001 9/13/2002 9/13/2003 9/12/2004 9/13/2005 9/13/2006
Date
Tons CO2
Zelicoff CO2 household production as a percentage of Avereage Albuquerque CO2 production
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Dec-99 Dec-00 Dec-01 Dec-02 Dec-03 Dec-04 Dec-05 Dec-06 Dec-07
Date
Percentage
Going to Extremes
PV Economics• Net metering• REC Credit (13 cents per kw-hr generated• Federal tax credits (up to $2,000)• State tax credits (up to $7,000)
Total Value of PV Production to date (after taxes)
$-
$5.00
$10.00
$15.00
$20.00
$25.00
$30.00
$35.00
$40.00
$45.00
$50.00
12/31/06 1/7/07 1/14/07
Date
Value (Dollars)
After Tax return on Investment(assuming starting date of
4.0%
5.0%
6.0%
7.0%
8.0%
9.0%
10.0%
1/1/07 1/3/07 1/5/07 1/7/07 1/9/07 1/11/07 1/13/07 1/15/07 1/17/07 1/19/07
Date
After tax return
Estimated annual post-tax return of about 7%
Summary
• Think globally, act locally• Start simple
– Vampire load reduction– Electricity and gas conservation measures– Insulation before generation - “nega-watts”
• Don’t do stupid things– Solar hot water heating makes zero cents
• Consider PV (but do it fast)– Approximately 9.5% pre-tax ROI– Inflation protected!