Creating an Energy
Independent Home
By Karyn
Black, Central Oregon Environmental Center
As Americans,
we use a significant portion of the planet’s supply of
fossil fuels - petroleum, natural gas and coal - to provide
energy to our homes. In a single year, one American uses
as much of these fossil fuels as one person in a developing
country will use in his or her entire lifetime.
Additionally, Americans waste as much as 75% of the energy we
use through inefficient usage and lack of awareness. In
the following section, you will learn what you can do to save
money and resources while creating your own energy independent
home. At the end of this section is a directory of
utility green power programs and products to help create an
energy independent home.
Phase I:
Energy Consumption and Powering Down
The first step to energy
independence is “powering down” or reducing energy
consumption and deciding to personally make a difference by
becoming aware of your energy usage and setting a goal to use
less. A good place to start is by looking at your energy
bill.
Your energy bills show how
much energy you used over the past 12 months and you can use
this information to set goals and track your success. Pay
special attention to the three biggest energy uses in a home:
space heating (50%) water heating (20%) and lighting
(15%).
The next step is to get a
free energy savings recommendation (also called an
“energy audit”) from your utility. Customers of
PGE, Pacific Power, Northwest Natural, or Cascade Natural Gas
should contact the Energy Trust of Oregon to schedule an energy
audit in your home by calling 1-866-368-7878.
To start you off, here are
some easy ways to use less energy:
- Turn it off when you aren’t using it! This means everything: lights, heaters, air conditioners, televisions and radios, computers, printers, modems, etc.
- Add insulation in your walls, ceilings and crawl spaces.
- Adjust your thermostat. Turn it up in the summer and turn it down in the winter. A difference of 3 degrees can reduce your energy consumption significantly and save you money year round.
- Use ultra-efficient appliances with at least Energy Star standards. The Energy Star label shows how much energy appliances use so you can shop and compare.
- Replace any incandescent light that is on for more than an hour a day with a fluorescent light. Incandescent bulbs may be cheap at the store, but running it just 4 hours a day will cost $22+ per year in electricity, compared to $6 per year with a compact fluorescent light.
- Use cold water for washing clothing. Heating water is very energy intensive.
-
Eliminate
“phantom loads.” Many of our homes’ new
electronic equipment draw small amounts of power day and
night. Cell phone chargers, VCRs, TVs, computers, radios, and
surge protectors sip energy, but all those little power
supplies and LED lights running 24/7 can add up to spending
$100/year. On-off switches or power strips that can be
unplugged from the wall are good options for avoiding phantom
loads.
The simple
truth is that we have more control over our energy costs
through efficiency and conservation than any oil company or
utility does over its energy prices. If everyone invested in
just a few of the low cost energy measures, we would all save
money, improve air quality and increase national energy
security.
Phase 2:
Lighting and Appliances Bring the Energy Savings Home
Increasing whole house
efficiency includes replacing old appliances as they wear out
with more efficient ones and replacing standard lightbulbs with
energy efficient compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) and
fixtures. You may spend a little more up front when you buy,
but you will find that the lower energy costs make up for
it.
When shopping for home
appliances, you can’t go wrong buying products that carry
the ENERGY STAR label. The ENERGY STAR label can be found on
more than 40 categories of products, including appliances,
lighting, home electronics, heating and cooling equipment and
recently, new homes. You can find ENERGY STAR qualified
products at your local independent retailer as well as the
major national chains.
Phase 3:
Greening Your Power
Once you have taken
conservation to the max, the next step toward energy
independence is making sure that the power you do use comes
from sustainable sources. Even if your home or office is
not equipped with a renewable energy system, you can purchase
green power from your utility. Pacific Power, Central
Electric Cooperative and Midstate Electric all provide
renewable energy options. These green power options will
increase electricity bills for an average customer by only a
few dollars per month and the extra dollars go directly into
building new green power facilities and transmission
lines.
Over 55,000 Oregonians are
already participating in green power programs across the state,
and these purchases have a positive environmental impact.
In Bend, over 10% of residents and businesses purchase energy
from renewable sources. The average Northwest household
uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each month.
Switching just 10% of this electricity to renewable power costs
a few dollars a month and has the same environmental benefits
as planting at least 1/3 acres of trees, not driving the
average car 1,800 miles, or displacing 1,680 pounds of carbon
dioxide, the leading global warming gas.
Purchasing green power also
sends a message to utilities, policymakers and energy
developers that clean air, clean water, and a healthy, diverse
economy are important. As utilities become more familiar
with renewable energy through green power programs, they begin
to integrate it into their long term planning processes.
Developers will continue to be drawn to the region as
policymakers look for additional ways to remove barriers to and
create incentives for renewable energy development.
The Solar Option: Solar
energy is viable for home heating, water heating, and for
electricity generation both for homes and entire cities.
Passive solar design, which is simply placing windows properly
to take advantage of the natural path of the sun in different
seasons to both heat and cool a building, and using thermal
mass inside to store solar heat for night time, is a well
proven and understood clean energy technology. Photovoltaic
(PV) systems (or solar panels) provide clean electricity to
buildings and the power grid directly, or can be used to charge
batteries for "off-grid" buildings.
Why Go Solar? You can
reduce pollution, stabilize electric costs, lessen your
dependence on fossil fuels, increase local jobs and economic
development, preserve natural resources, make a long-term
commitment to the planet’s future and strengthen energy
security and long term affordability. If you are considering
utilizing solar technology there are cash and tax incentives to
be aware of. See Phase 5, below.
Phase 4:
Building Green
Green Building is a whole
systems approach to design, construction and operation of
buildings with three converging fundamental objectives:
increase energy efficiency, improve indoor air quality and
conserve natural resources.
At the moment, about 54
percent of energy consumption in the United States is linked to
building construction and operation. Buildings account for at
least 35% of CO2 emissions in the United States, 25% of the
world’s wood harvest and 15% of the world’s
freshwater withdrawals. Up to 30% of North American landfill
space and is taken up by construction and demolition debris.
All of these unsustainable rates of consumption and pollution
can be greatly reduced - as much as 75% - just by building
differently.
Across the country, people
are increasingly demanding these green values in new and
remodeled homes as well as the commercial and public buildings
in which they spend time. For some, the primary driver is
energy savings and lower utility bills. For others it is about
preserving forests by putting the principle of sustainability
into practice, insuring a sustainable supply of beautiful,
highly functional building materials for future
generations. For more information on green building and
remodeling, visit the 3EStrategies website at
www.3estrategies.org.
Phase 5:
Enjoying the Reward – Green Incentives
Central Oregonians have
access to a wide array of tax credit and cash incentives for
utilizing conservation and renewable energy options in their
homes and commercial buildings. Look for cash and/or tax
incentives on a variety of products ranging from high
performance HVAC and heat pumps, to energy efficient
appliances, lighting, weatherization and more.
To find out what’s
currently available to you, as well as how and when to
apply—visit the websites listed below:
Energy Trust of Oregon, Inc,
1-866-368-7878, www.energytrust.org
Oregon Department of Energy,
1-800-221.8035, www.oregon.gov/energy
Midstate Electric Coop,
1.888.582.4937, www.midstateelectric.coop
Central Oregon Electric
Cooperative, 1.800-924-8736, www.cec-co.com
Pacific Power,
1.800.769.3717, www.pacificpower.net
