A number of years ago I was talking with our neighbor about a growing concern, in the face of a new war in Iraq, that we should begin conserving gas.
“How are you supposed to save gas?” he asked. “If you have to go to the store to get something for dinner or to pick up a prescription there’s not much you can do. It’s not like we drive around just to drive around.”
The fact that he was in the practice of pouring gasoline into the cracks of his driveway to kill weeds spoke to the fact he was not necessarily concerned with environmental issues. This, obviously, would have been a good place to start but one I chose to overlook at the moment.
“Well, I think the point is you try to combine trips whenever you can,” I argued. “If you need to go to the store and you know you’ll be picking up the kids from school later in the afternoon you could wait and do both in one trip. Or if you have to make a separate trip maybe you wait until you need more than just one or two things. I bet we'd both be surprised to see how much this would save.”
“Yeah…,” he said. “I guess that’s true.” Still, he sounded doubtful. I think he saw this as an imposition. He was not alone. Many people see conservation as a hassle or an attack on both their freedom and their lifestyle. Many others see conservation as a political issue.
We've been thinking a lot about conservation and sustainability lately. We're excited to be moving into a house that is 25% smaller than our current house. At 3,000 square feet it is still awfully large but given the fact we have eight people living in our household that puzzles out to only 375 sq ft per person. This is equivalent to a family of four living in a 1,500 sq ft house.
Large houses have become the norm. In 2009 the National Association of Home Builders reported that the average American home was 2,700 sq ft. Considering we average around two children per family that's pretty big. Gone are the 1950s when one bathroom was considered enough and growing boys shared bedrooms. Now days there's an expectation of private bedrooms for the kids and separate bathrooms for everyone - guests included.
I'm in no way arguing for one bathroom. I'm happy our kids have their own bathroom if for no other reason than the fact they are seemingly unable to rinse the sink out after they brush their teeth. But I'm concerned about building bigger houses just because we can. We made this mistake with the house we have now. It was convenient, but not responsible.
So as we prepare for a fresh start in our new house I think about all the shade those trees will provide us in the summer. I think about how nice it will be to sit back off the street, away from the heat absorbing concrete. And I think how great an opportunity this will be to make some changes that will benefit our environment. Changes that require little to no extra money or effort. Here's our plan...
1. Since we will be further from our schools Tricia and I have planned to carpool three times a week. This will save us 3,505 miles of driving over the course of a 36-week school year. We will conserve around 155 gallons of gasoline at a savings of $533 for the year.
2. Since we pass two grocery stores on the way home we'll plan to stop and do our shopping rather than make a separate trip (16 miles round trip) later. This will be 648 fewer miles on our engine during the school year and will conserve another 22 gallons of gas. That's a savings of $75. If we also stop to pick up an extra gallon of milk or loaf of bread on the way home (rather than making an extra trip or two each week) we'll save even more.
3. We're buying our own shower heads for the new house. At a cost of only $12 apiece (Niagara 1.5 GPM Massaging Shower at Amazon.com) we will reduce our water usage in the shower from two gallons per minute to one and a half gallons per minute. Seven of us will use these shower heads and will save a total of 16,125 gallons of water each and every year. At a total cost of $24 they will pay for themselves in just a few months while shaving the amount of water we use, reducing our pull on the hot water heater, and decreasing the amount of waste water going back out.
4. We're installing ceiling fans in each bedroom so we can remain comfortable while keeping the thermostat set at 79 degrees during the summer. We do this already at our current house but this time we're buying fans that have light kits attached. Each light requires three bulbs. Counting the fan we'll have on our screened porch there will six in all. That's 18 light bulbs! We're purchasing compact florescent bulbs for each fan as well as for the five can lights in the kitchen and the two lamps we'll use in the living room. That adds up to 25 energy saving bulbs. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, if every US household replaced just one regular incandescent light bulb with a compact florescent light bulb it would prevent 90 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. That's the equivalent of pulling 7.5 million cars off the road. Replacing light bulbs at this same minimal rate would save enough energy to power 2.5 million homes for an entire year. With our 25 bulbs we'll save the equivalent energy of running ten 100 watt bulbs each day for two hours. Given these bulbs generally cost less than a couple of dollars that's quite an impact.
5. Six percent of our electricity use goes to washing and drying clothes.The number of tumble dryers has doubled every ten years. In 1981 only 13% of homes had a dryer. By 1991 this had increased to 27%, and in 2001 to 56%. Now, in 2011, 79% of homes in the US have a dryer. After refrigerators, dryers are the second most energy-drawing appliance. But unlike most other appliances there is no real difference, energy-wise, between models. The expensive ones use about the same amount as the cheaper ones. Some do have a feature that senses when clothes are dry and automatically shut-off, thus saving energy and costs. We plan to install clotheslines in our backyard (we're only allowed because our house is not within sight from the road). We generally do about ten loads of laundry each week. If we air dry three or four of these loads, thus avoiding the dryer, we'll reduce the energy-use and costs of running the dryer by 30 - 40%.
6. If we were to catch the rain that falls on our new roof each time an inch of rainfall fell from the clouds we would have 17,000 gallons of water. That is far more water than we could possibly use. However, if we add two more 50-gallon rain barrels to the one we already have (and purchase a small water pump to push it through a hose) we could water our lawn, wash our cars, or watch the kids have a water gun fight. All using 150 gallons of free untreated water. There are now even downspout diverters ($30 at Gardener's Supply Company) that route the rainwater into your barrel until it becomes full and then allow the excess water to continue down the downspout and away from the house. If we used these three barrels only 15 times over the course of an entire year we would save another 2,250 gallons of water.
We have other plans. They include...
* Using window fans to push out hot air and draw in the cool night air at the beginning and end of summer
* Buying Smart Power Strips that block power from flowing to electronics that are turned off or "sleeping"
* Making sure the refrigerator is set between 41-50 and the freezer is set between 23-28
* Letting dishes air dry rather than using the heated dry
* Only placing full loads in the dish washer and clothes washer
* Placing an insulated jacket on the hot water heater (or maybe even see about getting a solar water heater)
Most of these are relatively small and easy changes to make. Some we already do but many we don't. All-in-all I hope to see our power bill show a reduction of 25-30% kilowatt hours and our water usage drop by an even greater percentage.
Living in America, our global footprint is never going to be in harmony with that of the rest of the world. For everyone to live as we do we would need a total of 5.3 earths (you can find out your own number by visiting the Footprint Calculator). We could reduce that even more by eating less meat (one of the most significant changes to be made in terms of energy use when you consider the resources that go into producing and transporting it) or avoiding products that use too much packaging. But this will have to be gradual. And everyone will have to make their own choices along the way. We saw an interesting documentary called Radical Simplicity that showed how Jim Merkel, engineer and director of Global Living project, works to minimize our impact on the earth and its millions of non-human inhabitants. What stuck with me most, though, was how careful he was to not judge others or pursue courses of action that would force them to comply with drastic changes. He decided, instead, to educate people and trust that they'll make whatever changes they can. That seems like a great place to start.
***Update***
Just a day after writing this post I opened up the newspaper and saw an article about new light bulb standards being set by the government. The article talked about how traditional incandescent bulbs convert about 90% of the energy they consume into heat and only 10% into light. These new standards would require a higher level of efficiency than the classic bulbs could produce, basically forcing them off the shelves over the next two or three years. This would save nearly $6 billion in 2015 alone and, at the consumer level, would save a homeowner somewhere around $50 a year.
While this seems like a no-brainer, some politicians are quite angry. They see this as government sticking their noses into places where they don't belong. Rep. Joe Burton, of Texas, stated "I'm not opposed to the squiggly tailed CFLs." Burton is a leading force against these new standards. He said that forcing out the old inefficient bulbs "seems to me to be overkill by the federal government." He went on to add "If you are Al Gore and want to spend $10 for a light bulb, more power to you." Just to clarify, these bulbs cost nowhere near $10 and last much longer than the old bulbs.
Representative Michael Burgess, of Texas, said "Now the government wants to tell consumers what type of light bulb they use to read, cook, watch television or light their garage." It seems some, like Burgess, feel it's okay to govern family values but to regulate the efficiency standards of light bulbs is a sign of government going too far.
There are occasionally times when I feel issues are over-simplified by both the media and politicians to create good guys and bad guys in Washington. However, there are many issues such as this that truly baffle and frustrate me.
Large houses have become the norm. In 2009 the National Association of Home Builders reported that the average American home was 2,700 sq ft. Considering we average around two children per family that's pretty big. Gone are the 1950s when one bathroom was considered enough and growing boys shared bedrooms. Now days there's an expectation of private bedrooms for the kids and separate bathrooms for everyone - guests included.
I'm in no way arguing for one bathroom. I'm happy our kids have their own bathroom if for no other reason than the fact they are seemingly unable to rinse the sink out after they brush their teeth. But I'm concerned about building bigger houses just because we can. We made this mistake with the house we have now. It was convenient, but not responsible.
So as we prepare for a fresh start in our new house I think about all the shade those trees will provide us in the summer. I think about how nice it will be to sit back off the street, away from the heat absorbing concrete. And I think how great an opportunity this will be to make some changes that will benefit our environment. Changes that require little to no extra money or effort. Here's our plan...
1. Since we will be further from our schools Tricia and I have planned to carpool three times a week. This will save us 3,505 miles of driving over the course of a 36-week school year. We will conserve around 155 gallons of gasoline at a savings of $533 for the year.
2. Since we pass two grocery stores on the way home we'll plan to stop and do our shopping rather than make a separate trip (16 miles round trip) later. This will be 648 fewer miles on our engine during the school year and will conserve another 22 gallons of gas. That's a savings of $75. If we also stop to pick up an extra gallon of milk or loaf of bread on the way home (rather than making an extra trip or two each week) we'll save even more.
3. We're buying our own shower heads for the new house. At a cost of only $12 apiece (Niagara 1.5 GPM Massaging Shower at Amazon.com) we will reduce our water usage in the shower from two gallons per minute to one and a half gallons per minute. Seven of us will use these shower heads and will save a total of 16,125 gallons of water each and every year. At a total cost of $24 they will pay for themselves in just a few months while shaving the amount of water we use, reducing our pull on the hot water heater, and decreasing the amount of waste water going back out.
4. We're installing ceiling fans in each bedroom so we can remain comfortable while keeping the thermostat set at 79 degrees during the summer. We do this already at our current house but this time we're buying fans that have light kits attached. Each light requires three bulbs. Counting the fan we'll have on our screened porch there will six in all. That's 18 light bulbs! We're purchasing compact florescent bulbs for each fan as well as for the five can lights in the kitchen and the two lamps we'll use in the living room. That adds up to 25 energy saving bulbs. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, if every US household replaced just one regular incandescent light bulb with a compact florescent light bulb it would prevent 90 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. That's the equivalent of pulling 7.5 million cars off the road. Replacing light bulbs at this same minimal rate would save enough energy to power 2.5 million homes for an entire year. With our 25 bulbs we'll save the equivalent energy of running ten 100 watt bulbs each day for two hours. Given these bulbs generally cost less than a couple of dollars that's quite an impact.
5. Six percent of our electricity use goes to washing and drying clothes.The number of tumble dryers has doubled every ten years. In 1981 only 13% of homes had a dryer. By 1991 this had increased to 27%, and in 2001 to 56%. Now, in 2011, 79% of homes in the US have a dryer. After refrigerators, dryers are the second most energy-drawing appliance. But unlike most other appliances there is no real difference, energy-wise, between models. The expensive ones use about the same amount as the cheaper ones. Some do have a feature that senses when clothes are dry and automatically shut-off, thus saving energy and costs. We plan to install clotheslines in our backyard (we're only allowed because our house is not within sight from the road). We generally do about ten loads of laundry each week. If we air dry three or four of these loads, thus avoiding the dryer, we'll reduce the energy-use and costs of running the dryer by 30 - 40%.
6. If we were to catch the rain that falls on our new roof each time an inch of rainfall fell from the clouds we would have 17,000 gallons of water. That is far more water than we could possibly use. However, if we add two more 50-gallon rain barrels to the one we already have (and purchase a small water pump to push it through a hose) we could water our lawn, wash our cars, or watch the kids have a water gun fight. All using 150 gallons of free untreated water. There are now even downspout diverters ($30 at Gardener's Supply Company) that route the rainwater into your barrel until it becomes full and then allow the excess water to continue down the downspout and away from the house. If we used these three barrels only 15 times over the course of an entire year we would save another 2,250 gallons of water.
We have other plans. They include...
* Using window fans to push out hot air and draw in the cool night air at the beginning and end of summer
* Buying Smart Power Strips that block power from flowing to electronics that are turned off or "sleeping"
* Making sure the refrigerator is set between 41-50 and the freezer is set between 23-28
* Letting dishes air dry rather than using the heated dry
* Only placing full loads in the dish washer and clothes washer
* Placing an insulated jacket on the hot water heater (or maybe even see about getting a solar water heater)
Most of these are relatively small and easy changes to make. Some we already do but many we don't. All-in-all I hope to see our power bill show a reduction of 25-30% kilowatt hours and our water usage drop by an even greater percentage.
Living in America, our global footprint is never going to be in harmony with that of the rest of the world. For everyone to live as we do we would need a total of 5.3 earths (you can find out your own number by visiting the Footprint Calculator). We could reduce that even more by eating less meat (one of the most significant changes to be made in terms of energy use when you consider the resources that go into producing and transporting it) or avoiding products that use too much packaging. But this will have to be gradual. And everyone will have to make their own choices along the way. We saw an interesting documentary called Radical Simplicity that showed how Jim Merkel, engineer and director of Global Living project, works to minimize our impact on the earth and its millions of non-human inhabitants. What stuck with me most, though, was how careful he was to not judge others or pursue courses of action that would force them to comply with drastic changes. He decided, instead, to educate people and trust that they'll make whatever changes they can. That seems like a great place to start.
***Update***
Just a day after writing this post I opened up the newspaper and saw an article about new light bulb standards being set by the government. The article talked about how traditional incandescent bulbs convert about 90% of the energy they consume into heat and only 10% into light. These new standards would require a higher level of efficiency than the classic bulbs could produce, basically forcing them off the shelves over the next two or three years. This would save nearly $6 billion in 2015 alone and, at the consumer level, would save a homeowner somewhere around $50 a year.
While this seems like a no-brainer, some politicians are quite angry. They see this as government sticking their noses into places where they don't belong. Rep. Joe Burton, of Texas, stated "I'm not opposed to the squiggly tailed CFLs." Burton is a leading force against these new standards. He said that forcing out the old inefficient bulbs "seems to me to be overkill by the federal government." He went on to add "If you are Al Gore and want to spend $10 for a light bulb, more power to you." Just to clarify, these bulbs cost nowhere near $10 and last much longer than the old bulbs.
Representative Michael Burgess, of Texas, said "Now the government wants to tell consumers what type of light bulb they use to read, cook, watch television or light their garage." It seems some, like Burgess, feel it's okay to govern family values but to regulate the efficiency standards of light bulbs is a sign of government going too far.
There are occasionally times when I feel issues are over-simplified by both the media and politicians to create good guys and bad guys in Washington. However, there are many issues such as this that truly baffle and frustrate me.
Well done. Consider me educated. It baffles me as well that there are some people who will fight over the simplest, most obvious changes in our society. I hadn't heard, but fully expected the backlash about the change over to more energy efficient lightbulbs. There is a knee jerk (special emphasis on the jerk part of that expression) reaction to anything that sounds like regulation - no matter how obvious the benefit. There is a "I'll-give-up-my-incandescents-when-you-pry-my-cold-dead-fingers..." feeling about everything. It happened with seatbelts, bans on smoking in public buildings, etc.
ReplyDeleteWhen is your projected moving date?
Moving date is pretty hairy right now. We have rented out our house and the tenants are slated to move in on August 1st. We later found out that our new house won't be ready until around the 10th. Maybe we'll take a page from Scott's book and see how we fare when living on the streets for a week!
ReplyDeleteOkay, so now we all know a lot about energy conservation. Thank you for sharing it. What I enjoyed most about your post was that you didn't just present a need for energy conservation, you gave specifics about how you will do it. And really...with your basketball team (+3 alternates) of a household, if you guys can do it, the rest of us should try. I am looking forward to hearing about how it's going once you guys are in the new house.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant. I'm reasonably certain that I can justify new hardwood (or laminate or anything-but-all-this-carpet) by calculating how much energy it takes to vacuum up our pet hair/kid messes/people dust and converting that to plain old sweeping... Well, I wish I could. I hate this stupid carpet.
ReplyDeleteWe have a diverter on our rain barrel, but we only use the water for our garden, and most times, not. But we feel pretty progressive just having one. I am notorious for using the dryer as an iron, because I am horrible about taking the clothes out when the beeper beeps. Wish we could have a clothesline - can't understand whay we can't. I almost think this might be reason enough for a few of us to petition our board to allow them in back yards. Really. Our back yard is a wreck. One clothesline would make no difference in its curb appeal.
Anyway, that's all to say that this is brilliant and speaks to your family's commitment to being responsible earthlings. Would love to see you do some actual comparisons between bills once you enact your new policies. I'm thinking I need to teach my Kori to read the gas meter and water meter, as that girl can't understand the concept of showering efficiently. Mercy.