I’ve been studying and pursuing solar energy advantages for more than a year now.

I am happy, no, thrilled with the obvious pursuit of renewable energy sources by federal and local governments as well as everyday citizens.

But I want information I can act on.

For the past year, August 2008 to August 2009, we have taken every actionable idea our home budget allowed.

This action steps centered on energy conservation measures. Indeed, energy conservation is the place to start.

The good news is that we reduced our home energy bill by 22.7 percent, a savings of almost $500 over the course of the year by practicing energy conservation measures only.

Really, if each of us practiced energy conservation only, a huge difference would be evident on our collective carbon footprint!

With all the conservation measures in place, the next steps are energy efficiency measures. These are the measures that cost a little bit of money—energy efficient windows, more home insulation, energy efficient heating/cooling systems, energy efficient appliances.

However, right now, I have no funds to take action on these efficiency items.

Sigh.

What’s a person on a tight budget to do?

Energy Efficiency

Our plan to go solar and make our home a net ZEH variety home began nine (9) months ago with the implementation of energy conservation measures. Conservation meaning, daily choices that conserve energy and eliminate wasteful practices.

We’ve done all of the small, inexpensive, easily fixed steps to conserve energy and reduce our monthly kilowatt-hour usage.

For the past nine months, we’ve been diligently tracking our kilowatt-hour usages. Comparing our monthly energy use to the same month a year ago, we can see remarkable changes.

Over the past nine months, compared to the same nine months the year before, we’ve reduced our energy consumption by 26.8 percent. And this from energy conservation measures only that require little more that a decision to make a different choice.

Our next phase is energy efficiency.

Efficiency involves technological choices that save energy, such as energy efficient windows and energy saving appliances, just to name a few.

These things require a greater outlay of money, which makes this a more challenging step for us in these economic times.

So I’ll soon begin researching and documenting here in these pages our energy efficiency struggles and choices.

Weather Stripping Wears Out

Note to self: Weather stripping does not last forever.

Early this morning I walked past my front door and had a shock.

I could see daylight coming through the gap between the front door and the doorjamb. Funny, I didn’t remember the gap there being so huge. I looked closer to find worn out weather-stripping.

I tried to post some pics here of my weather stipping but I’m having technical issues. I’ll try posting them later.

So in the interest of energy conservation—not to mention my electric bill (!)—this little job must be taken care of promptly!

I foresee handy-husband and I enjoying a date-night at our local Home Depot store.

So take note, and check out your weather-stripping. You just might reduce your electric bill.

Before you purchase that solar power system, you need to know how many panels you need to support your home energy use.

Soon after you begin the energy discovery process you learn about invisible critters called “phantom loads”  that haunt your home.

It’s hard to see evidence of these little devils but here’s a way to get visual evidence.

Make sure all the heavy electric energy users are off, like your heater or air conditioner and hot water heater and all your lights. Then go take a look at your electric meter.

I did this the other day while enjoying some free weather. The windows were open, our hot water heater was off, and I didn’t hear the refrigerator running. The house had this moment of unusual quietness.

So I went outside to take a look at the electric meter. And it was spinning! While it seemed all was off inside the house, the electric meter still indicated the house was using energy!

It was a visual reminder that those little phantoms were alive and well inside even though I couldn’t hear them.

The computer, (even when switched off), the microwave, the coffee pot (with its digital clock), all the digital clocks in the house, my sewing machine, etc, were all running as quietly as ever.

If you need evidence, watch your own electric meter.

Then go get yourself a few power strips!

Make Solar Energy More Efficient and Less Expensive

No matter how you look at it, solar energy carries a huge initial price tag.

Even with state and federal tax incentives and municipal solar financing, it’s a major home improvement project.

The economy being what it is these days, none of us really wants to take out another loan, at least not a big one.

The best way to make solar more affordable is to:

•    Practice energy conservation
•    Implement as many efficiency measures as applicable to your home

These steps make sense for two (2) reasons:

1.    The less energy you use, the less your solar system will cost
2.    It’s irresponsible to use waste energy, even if it’s a renewable energy.

Jessop Petroski does a great job of explaining why you should go the energy efficiency route first, BEFORE going solar.

Read his excellent article for yourself.

Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Ready to start conserving energy? Join the Home Energy Conservation Challenge now.

There are two (2) separate costs to home electrical appliances.

1.    The purchase price
2.    The daily operating costs

Connect your appliances to the Kill A Watt P3 and find how efficient they really are. The appliance’s energy use is measured in kilowatt-hours, which is the measurement used by the utility company.

Appliances you can measure with the Kill A Watt P3 are:
•    Stereos and TVs
•    Room Air Conditioners and Fans
•    Toaster ovens, microwaves, and refrigerators
•    Computers and electronic games
•    Washing machines

With this information, you can determine:
•    Your appliances electrical cost by hour, day, week, month, or even a year
•    How efficient those appliances are
•    Which appliances are worth keeping
•    Which appliances need replacing

Here are the features of the Kill A Watt P3:
•    Enables cost forecasting
•    Accurate to within 0.2%
•    Cumulative killowatt-hour monitor
•    Displays Volts, Amps, Watts, Hz, VA, KWH, Power Factor
•    Operating voltage: 115 VAC
•    Max current: 15 A
•    Max power: 1875 VA
•    Dimensions: 5 1/8″ X 1 5/8″ X 2 3/8″

You can download the manual here.

Order your Kill A Watt P3 now.

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My Home’s Carbon Footprint

I really want to know what my contribution to the illusive “carbon footprint” amounts to. Using multiply on-line carbon footprint calculators left me worse than frustrated.

According to some calculations, I’m super wasteful. According to other calculations, I’m well below average. Is below average really good?

How do I really know?

But I do want to know my carbon footprint!

More precisely, I want to know if the way I live on this planet is as bad as all that.

So I called my local energy provider and talked to one of the folks in the conservation department. I told them I just wanted to know how to determine my home’s carbon footprint.

Even the knowledgeable, helpful man in conservation had to do some checking and call me back.

Not because he did not know what he was doing. He answers these type questions every day.

But because calculating a carbon footprint is COMPLICATED! There are MANY factors to take into consideration. There is no “one-size-fits-all” calculator!

I had him consider only my electrical use because our house uses electricity most. Everything is electric except my stove, which uses propane.

Verdict: In 2008, my home electrical use provided our planet with 23,700 pounds of CO2.

The average for a home in my area is 41,500 pounds of CO2 per house. While I am well under the local average, I still want to do better.

And here’s the important point. The ONLY way to reduce your home’s carbon footprint is to use less energy.

It’s not as complicated as it sounds. There are actually only a few simple phases to implement.

1.    Conservation
2.    Efficiency
3.    Renewable Energy Source (I want to use solar energy)

The Energy Conservation Challenge begins during in February. Final details will be posted here very soon. I hope you will join us!

What Size Carbon Footprint Does Your Home Leave?

Determining your carbon footprint can be a nightmare. The other day I posted about a couple carbon footprint calculators I played around with, trying to determine how much, if any, damage my presence on the planet causes.

Well, it depends on which calculator I use.

I found the size of my footprint differs with each calculator. Try this experiment yourself and see how your carbon footprint fluctuates between calculators.

Here’s a list offered and tried by Claire Trageser in her research.
American Forests, nonprofit forest conservation organization – americanforests.org/resources/ccc
BeGreen, from Green Mountain Energy Co., which sells environmentally friendly energy products and carbon offsets — begreennow.com/calculator
Bonneville Environmental Foundation, nonprofit that markets renewable energy products — greentagsusa.org/greentags/calculator
CarbonCounter, from The Climate Trust, an environmental nonprofit — carboncounter.org
Chuck Wright Consulting, sustainable energy consulting firm — chuck-wright.com/calculators/
Clear Water, environmental advocacy group for the Hudson River — clearwater.org/carbon.html
The Conservation Fund, environmental nonprofit — gozero.conservationfund.org/calc/calculate
Environmental Protection Agency — epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ind_calculator.html
SafeClimate, from World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank — safeclimate.net
TerraPass, social enterprise that sells carbon offsets — terrapass.com/carbon-footprint-calculator

In defense of calculators, at least they make us take notice of how we use energy. And we can certainly learn what our high-energy use activities are.

On the other hand, trusting solely to these calculators gives rise to guilt, fear, and panic. And panic mode serves no good purpose.

So here’s a vote for pausing and taking a long, deep, breath.

More later…

Reducing Your Carbon Footprint

Did you know you can calculate your home energy carbon footprint? There’s a nifty carbon footprint calculator at BeGreenNow.com. All you have to do is enter your kilowatt-hour usage and/or your natural gas usage for the month (or year).

Using the BeGreenNow calculator, I calculated my home’s carbon footprint based on my kilowatt-hour usage alone. My home’s carbon footprint measured in CO2 emissions from electrical use for 2008 was10.79 tons.

Is that good or bad?

The Nature Conservancy also has a free carbon footprint calculator. Their calculator, based on averages, has no input for kilowatt-hours used. After answering a series of questions, they totaled my CO2 emissions per year at 23 tons.

While the Nature Conservancy site calculator teaches lots about how daily habits affect energy use, the BeGreenNow calculator felt more realistic since they use my actual kilowatt-hour usages.

Reducing your home energy consumption begins with knowing what you are using today. Then you can consider and make changes to reduce your energy consumption (and your energy bill!)

Go ahead. Try one of these carbon footprint calculators to get an idea of your home’s energy use.

BeGreenNow

The Nature Conservancy

Programmable Thermostats for Home Energy Conservation

On this solar energy journey, one of the most helpful gadgets to help reduce home energy consumption and thereby reducing the size of the solar energy system required, is a programmable thermostat.

The Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) estimates a programmable thermostat can save the average American household up to $170 just over the course of this winter alone.

The ASE explains how these thermostats work to save your money without sacrificing comfort in Save Energy 101.

If you haven’t switched to a programmable thermostat yet, install one now and start saving energy dollars now.