A Solar Energy Advantage – A Cleaner Earth

A clear advantage to solar energy is reduced environmental pollution.

Solar energy is a clean, renewable energy source. Generating electrical power from solar energy reduces greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel consumption.

In other language, using solar energy reduces your carbon footprint. Electricity is produced by carbon-burning power plants, one of the largest sources of carbon emissions.

Electric power generated from the sun comes without carbon emissions making solar energy use a clear global community advantage.

Think about it.

Potential Stumbling Blocks on a Solar Journey

While on this journey to a solar powered home, I read a lot.

I am a data gatherer by nature. I read books, papers, magazines, blogs, etc. Anything that may provide information regarding practical applications of stewardship of the earth makes its way to my reading list.

Lately I sense certain hysteria in this “green revolution.”

This article makes the case that city living is often more environmentally friendly.

But those who maintain forest land in our nation argue that city folk are living off his oxygen (since his trees produce oxygen).

Then there is the cry to eat local, organic, grass-fed beef. This is the better choice because no long transport is involved.

But then someone else did the math that seems to prove if everyone switched to grass-fed beef, we would leave a greater carbon footprint than eating the grain-fed variety.

Actually, there’s enough data out there, which if chosen selectively, could prove anything a person wants to prove.

The real truth is the best way to reduce your carbon footprint is to make small, personal lifestyle changes. Whether you live in the city or in a rural area, there are ways to be better caretakers of the earth where you are.

What simple steps are you taking? Please leave a comment to share your ideas with us.

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

Another Tutorial on Home Solar Energy

You want energy independence. You want to reduce your carbon footprint. You want lower home energy bills.

Educate yourself about solar energy and other renewable energy sources.

Find out how to incorporate them into your lifestyle.

And then do something.

Alternate Energy Source gives you the basics on solar power.

Check them out.