Category Archives: Energy Tough Love Blog

Energy Tough Love Blog – A weblog from Community Energy Systems

Home Energy Usage – Why can’t I get my power from Nebraska

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These guys are so cool. Because they are public, or nonprofit, I could probably put the whole thing up here BUT go see them for yourself.

http://www.nppd.com/My_Home/Product_Brochures/Additional_Files/electric_usage.asp

Electric Usage In Your Home

Energy Efficiency – Information, Calculators, and Recommendations

Pie chart showing how energy is used in an averge home with four family members.There Are Many Ways You Depend On Electricity

As your electric supplier, we’ve developed this brochure to help you determine your electric usage. We hope this will help you use your electricity as efficiently as possible.

This graph shows how energy is used in an average home with four family members. Your use may vary depending on your lifestyle, the size of your family and the size, age and efficiency of your appliances. The amount used also varies with the weather and the amount of insulation in your home’s walls and ceiling.
Appliances that are manufactured today are typically much more efficient. As appliances age, their efficiency decreases. Knowing the age and life expectancy of your electric appliances can help you understand your electrical use.

Average Life Expectancy In Years
Air Conditioner 18
Clothes Washer 8-10
Clothes Dryer 14
Dishwasher 11
Electric Range 12
Electric Water Heater 10-12
Freezer 15-20
Heat Pump 16
Refrigerator 15
Television 11-12

Replacement
If your appliances are at or nearing the end of their expected life, you may plan ahead. When replacing old appliances pay particular attention to energy efficiency. In most cases, the energy-efficient choice will save you money.

Look for the energyguide labelEnergy Guide Label
To promote conservation, the Federal Government requires manufacturers of large appliances to display energy information. The ENERGYGUIDE is designed to assist you in deciding what appliance would be less expensive to operate over the lifetime of the appliance.

Note: These figures are based on an electric price of 8.14¢ per kWh

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More tomorrow.

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Cutting Home Energy Costs – Something that is easy to do

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Save Energy – Save Money. That is the mantra of Communty Energy Systems.

http://www.powerscorecard.org/reduce_energy.cfm
Reduce Your Energy Consumption

Twenty Things You Can Do to Conserve Energy

Conserving energy, by taking actions like insulating/weatherstripping your home and purchasing Energy Star certified (high efficiency) appliances, is usually the smartest, most economical and most potent environmental action you can take. Cleaner, greener energy supplies may provide the cleanest supplies of needed electricity, but minimizing the energy we need is still the first step to take before selecting the cleanest, greenest supplies.

Whenever you save energy, you not only save money, you also reduce the demand for such fossil fuels as coal, oil, and natural gas. Less burning of fossil fuels also means lower emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary contributor to global warming, and other pollutants.

You do not have to do without to achieve these savings. There is now an energy efficient alternative for almost every kind of appliance or light fixture. That means that consumers have a real choice and the power to change their energy use on a revolutionary scale.

The average American produces about 40,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per year. Together, we use nearly a million dollars worth of energy every minute, night and day, every day of the year. By exercising even a few of the following steps, you can cut your annual emissions by thousands of pounds and your energy bills by a significant amount!

Home improvements

Consider some of these energy-saving investments. They save money in the long run, and their CO2 savings can often be measured in tons per year. Energy savings usually have the best payback when made at the same time you are making other major home improvements.

  • Insulate your walls and ceilings. This can save 20 to 30 percent of home heating bills and reduce CO2 emissions by 140 to 2100 pounds per year. If you live in a colder climate, consider superinsulating. That can save 5.5 tons of CO2 per year for gas-heated homes, 8.8 tons per year for oil heat, or 23 tons per year for electric heat. (If you have electric heat, you might also consider switching to more efficient gas or oil.)
  • Modernize your windows. Replacing all your ordinary windows with argon filled, double-glazed windows saves 2.4 tons of CO2 per year for homes with gas heat, 3.9 tons of oil heat, and 9.8 tons for electric heat.
  • Plant shade trees and paint your house a light color if you live in a warm climate, or a dark color if you live in a cold climate. Reductions in energy use resulting from shade trees and appropriate painting can save up to 2.4 tons of CO2 emissions per year. (Each tree also directly absorbs about 25 pounds of CO2 from the air annually.)
  • Weatherize your home or apartment, using caulk and weather stripping to plug air leaks around doors and windows. Caulking costs less than $1 per window, and weather stripping is under $10 per door. These steps can save up to 1100 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home. Ask your utility company for a home energy audit to find out where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. This service may be provided free or at low cost. Make sure it includes a check of your furnace and air conditioning.

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    There are many more tips at that site. Please go there and read more. Get going today. More tomorrow.

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    Mayor Tim Davlin Died Today – He was the greenest Mayor Springfield ever had

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    Mayor Tim Davlin died today. No speculation about why or how here. He was the most green Mayor Springfield has ever known. His accomplishments included expanding recycling in Springfield, the consolidation of green energy services into the CWLP’s Energy Services Department, the building of a new power plant, the signing of a wind power purchasing agreement , signing the Cool Cities Agreement, creating a Cool Cities Advisory Council, creating a Bike Advisory Council and much much more. He will be missed.

    http://www.springfield.il.us/mayor/Bio.htm

    Mayor Timothy J. Davlin

    Mayor Timothy J. Davlin

    Tim Davlin has held the office of Mayor of Springfield since April 2003. Since taking office he has overseen great change in downtown Springfield, including the opening of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Tourism efforts have accelerated to the point that Springfield has hosted nearly a dozen auto shows, the Cadillac of which is the highly successful Route 66 Mother Road Festival.

    Improvements to the city’s infrastructure have been accomplished along with expansion of programs to help small businesses grow and prosper. Mayor Davlin has instituted inner city redevelopment known as the Old South Towne Redevelopment project, revitalizing a neighborhood retail center.

    Mayor Davlin has worked closely with all schools in Springfield by creating the position of Education Liaison. Through it, the city has helped stimulate education programs and worked with community leaders to find solutions to eliminate the learning gap. Davlin regularly spends time in classrooms under his “Talks and Tours” program. It has become a major source of information because it gives students opportunities to ask the mayor questions.

    Mayor Davlin has instituted the mayor’s Book Club, a program which highlights selected books for reading and group discussions. The program, which is gathering sponsorship across the community, is in its second year.

    Recycling efforts have gotten a shot in the arm when Mayor Davlin sponsored a student driven recycling program within the city’s schools. The pilot program kept hundreds of tons of recyclable materials out of area landfills, instead, making them available for reuse through recycling.

    Recognizing the plight of the homeless, Mayor Davlin formed the Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness, which is continuously working on a 10-year plan to assist the homeless and put an end to chronic homelessness. He began a feeding program called “Springfield Restaurants United Against Hunger.”

    One of Mayor Davlin’s most successful programs is “Springfield Green,” a city wide environmental improvement program which not only promotes planting trees, flowers and greenery, but also stimulates cleanliness through an Adopt-a-Street program. When two tornadoes struck Springfield on March 12, 2006, Mayor Davlin marshaled hundreds of workers and thousands of volunteers to get the community back on its feet. Within a week nearly every home and business had power restored, all streets were opened and everyone was nearly back to normal.

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    More tomorrow.

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    Saving Money And Energy In Your Own Home – New site.

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    Here are 10 of the several dozen energy saving tips from this cool new site.

    http://www.fypower.org/res/tools/energy_tips.html

    Free and Low Cost Recommendations

    Replace Light Bulbs

    • Replace standard incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and save 75% off lighting costs.

    Unplug Electronics

    • Unplug electronics, battery chargers and other equipment when not in use. Taken together, these small items can use as much power as your refrigerator.

    Save Water

    • Installing faucet aerators and low-flow shower heads will cut water heating costs by 50% and save up to $300 per year. It will also cut water use by up to 50%. As much as 19% of California electricity is used to pump, transport and treat water.

    Adjust Your Thermostat

    • Setting your air conditioner 5° higher will save up to 20% on cooling costs.

    Buy Energy Efficient Appliances

    • Always buy ENERGY STAR qualified appliances and equipment – they’re up to 40% more efficient. Find rebates and incentives in your area using our rebate finder.

    Adjust Your Water Heater

    • Turn your water heater down to 120° or the “Normal” setting when home, and to the lowest setting when away. Water heating accounts for about 13% of home energy costs.

    Keep Cool With Ceiling Fans

    • Reduce air conditioning costs by using fans, keeping windows and doors shut and closing shades during the day. Most ceiling fans use less energy than a light bulb.

    Be Smart About Lighting

    • Turn off unnecessary lighting and use task or desktop lamps with CFLs instead of overhead lights.

    Power Down Your Computer

    • Enable “power management” on all computers and make sure to turn them off at night. A laptop computer uses up to 90% less energy than bigger desktop models.

    Wash Clothes in Cold Water

    When possible, wash clothes in cold water. About 90% of the energy used in a clothes washer goes to water heating

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    Over the last couple of days these guys asked for complimentary links:

    http://www.fiddlewiddle.com/

    http://www.aessolar.com

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    Cancun And Trains – I keep trying to focus on the residential market

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    But stuff just keeps coming up that is too wild or too woolly to not at least post it.  I mean why in the world would you turn down money for high speed rail? The upgrades and new crossings and crossing guards are worth it.

    http://www.forconstructionpros.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=25&id=18770

    Calif., Fla. Big Winners as U.S. Redistributes Rejected Grants

    Jason Plautz, E&E reporter, E&E News PM

    California and Florida were big winners as the Obama administration announced the redistribution today of more than $1 billion in high-speed rail grants abandoned by incoming governors in Wisconsin and Ohio.

    Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood officially killed projects in those states after a monthlong dispute with the two Republican governors-elect, Wisconsin’s Scott Walker and Ohio’s John Kasich.

    Both Republicans campaigned against the rail projects, saying they would leave their states on the hook for operating costs and take away road-repair money. And both requested permission to redistribute the funds to other transportation projects.

    But the Obama administration insisted the states’ stimulus grants be spent on high-speed rail, sparking protests by Wisconsin manufacturers that had been banking on the rail project and jockeying among states seeking fresh cash.

    The administration has now reshuffled $1.195 billion — $810 million from Wisconsin and $385 million from Ohio — and is sending it to 14 states. The biggest grant, $624 million, will go to California, while $342.3 million will go to Florida and $161.5 million to Washington state.

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    Then there is all the mucking around in an alleged Climate Change Conference. Here is what the Climate Change disbelievers have to say. But really for all they are accomplishing couldn’t they teleconference?

    http://dailycaller.com/2010/12/10/hypocrisy-alive-and-well-at-cancun-climate-conference/

    Hypocrisy alive and well at Cancun climate conference
    By Amanda Carey – The Daily Caller

    From November 29 to December 10, delegates from 194 countries gathered in sunny Cancun, Mexico to “lay the ghost of Copenhagen to rest,” as one dignitary put it. After last year’s chaotic, disastrous and worthless climate change conference in Copenhagen, the goal this year was simple: avoid further embarrassment.

    The focus has been on hashing out details for a global climate fund, extending the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012, and establishing an official agreement among developed countries to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by about 40 percent by 2020.

    But in the middle of all the global-warming demagoguery and calls for developed nations to shell out $100 billion per year by 2020 in climate reparations to help less-developed countries cope with the unfair burden of climate change, one thing has very obviously not changed: the hypocrisy.

    Yes, hypocrisy was present in Cancun just as it was in Copenhagen in 2009, Ponzan in 2008, Bali in 2007, and the many other climate change summit cities before them. As hundreds of officials travel in gas-guzzling jets and carbon-dioxide emitting cars to the conference site and stay in luxurious, high electricity-consuming resorts, the carbon footprint of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is ironic, to say the least.

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    More next week

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    Household Energy Consumption – How much do you use..

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    Here is what the government thinks:

    http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/appliances/index.cfm/mytopic=10040

    Typical Wattages of Various Appliances

    Here are some examples of the range of nameplate wattages for various household appliances:

    • Aquarium = 50–1210 Watts
    • Clock radio = 10
    • Coffee maker = 900–1200
    • Clothes washer = 350–500
    • Clothes dryer = 1800–5000
    • Dishwasher = 1200–2400 (using the drying feature greatly increases energy consumption)
    • Dehumidifier = 785
    • Electric blanket- Single/Double = 60 / 100
    • Fans
      • Ceiling = 65–175
      • Window = 55–250
      • Furnace = 750
      • Whole house = 240–750
    • Hair dryer = 1200–1875
    • Heater (portable) = 750–1500
    • Clothes iron = 1000–1800
    • Microwave oven = 750–1100
    • Personal computer
      • CPU – awake / asleep = 120 / 30 or less
      • Monitor – awake / asleep = 150 / 30 or less
      • Laptop = 50
    • Radio (stereo) = 70–400
    • Refrigerator (frost-free, 16 cubic feet) = 725
    • Televisions (color)
      • 19″ = 65–110
      • 27″ = 113
      • 36″ = 133
      • 53″-61″ Projection = 170
      • Flat screen = 120
    • Toaster = 800–1400
    • Toaster oven = 1225
    • VCR/DVD = 17–21 / 20–25
    • Vacuum cleaner = 1000–1440
    • Water heater (40 gallon) = 4500–5500
    • Water pump (deep well) = 250–1100
    • Water bed (with heater, no cover) = 120–380

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    More tomorrow.

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    This Is Probably A Huge Exaggeration – But

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    But sometimes the Peak Oil people get all wound up and I want to put their stuff up in a timely fashion. So without further adieu (god I have always wanted to say that ) here it is:

    http://phoenixrisingfromthegulf.wordpress.com/

    The Gulf of Mexico is Dying

    A Special Report on the BP Gulf Oil Spill

    It is with deep regret that we publish this report.  We do not take this responsibility lightly, as the consequences of the following observations are of such great import and have such far-reaching ramifications for the entire planet.  Truly, the fate of the oceans of the world hangs in the balance, as does the future of humankind.

    The Gulf of Mexico (GOM) does not exist in isolation and is, in fact, connected to the Seven Seas.  Hence, we publish these findings in order that the world community will come together to further contemplate this dire and demanding predicament.  We also do so with the hope that an appropriate global response will be formulated, and acted upon, for the sake of future generations.  It is the most basic responsibility for every civilization to leave their world in a better condition than that which they inherited from their forbears.

    After conducting the Gulf Oil Spill Remediation Conference for over seven months, we can now disseminate the following information with the authority and confidence of those who have thoroughly investigated a crime scene.  There are many research articles, investigative reports and penetrating exposes archived at the following website.  Particularly those posted from August through November provide a unique body of evidence, many with compelling photo-documentaries, which portray the true state of affairs at the Macondo Prospect in the GOM.

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    dot dot dot as they say
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    As the diagrams clearly indicate, the geology around the well bore has been blown.  This occurred because of drilling contiguous to a salt dome(1), as well as because of the gas explosions which did much damage to the integrity of the well casing, cementing, well bore, well head, and foundation around the well head.  Eighty-seven straight days of gushing hydrocarbon effluent under great pressure only served to further undermine the entire well system.  Finally, when it was capped, putting the system back under pressure forced the upsurging hydrocarbons to find weaknesses throughout the greater system, which revealed all sorts of compromised, fractured and unsettled geology through which the hydrocarbons could travel all the way to the seafloor and into the GOM.

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    This is a really long post and a really long blog space so I can not really do it justice. Please go there and read it all. Is it truth. I don’t know but there is a lot of destruction in the Gulf with or with out some kind of continuing seepage. More tomorrow.

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    Household Energy Consumption – Kerosene, dung and candles

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    Yesterday I put up a pitiful page from wikipedia about household consumption probably in the USA or maybe even for the “Developed World”. They were not real clear about that. But what a diference it makes being in a country that has adequate (though old) eletric and natural gas distribution systems.

    http://iapnews.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/rural-household-energy-consumption-in-bangladesh/

    Rural household energy consumption in Bangladesh

    Md. Danesh Miah, et al.

    , Energy Policy, Volume 38, Issue 2, February 2010, Pages 997-1003, ISSN 0301-4215, DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2009.10.051.

    Energy is one of the most important ingredients required to alleviate poverty and realize socio-economic and human development, which is directly interconnected to the prominence of life in rural areas. An extensive survey on household energy consumption pattern interrelating socio-economic and demographic factors was carried out in the disregarded villages of Bangladesh using stratified random sampling technique of 120 households.

    This paper focuses on household energy consumption, various combinations of fuels and their expenditure in the study area. Biomass, kerosene, electricity, LPG and candle were found as the energy carrier used in the rural households in this study. The study shows that 92% households use biomass, 28% LPG, 89% kerosene, 78% electricity and 27% candle as fuel types. It was found that 56% households collected biomass from their own homesteads and/or agricultural lands. Bamboo, branches, cow dung, firewood, rice husk, leaves & twigs and straw were found as the biomass for household energy use.

    Average monthly household expenditure for total energy was US$ 9.67 (SE, 0.31) per month while the total monthly income of the household was US$ 123 (SE, 2.53). The ratio of the total monthly energy expenditure to the total monthly income was 7.86%. The study will be helpful to understand the energy consumption system and its expenditure in the rural areas of Bangladesh and to the policy formulation for energy production, consumption and utilization

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    More tomorrow.

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    Household Energy Consumption – Wikipedia blows it totally

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    Wikipedia, the fount of all knowledge on Earth, doesn’t do so well with some energy issues.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_energy_consumption

    Domestic energy consumption

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Jump to: navigation, search
    This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.
    • It does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve it by citing reliable sources. Tagged since October 2008.
    • Its introduction provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject. Tagged since February 2009.
    • It may require general cleanup to meet Wikipedia’s quality standards. Tagged since February 2008.

    Domestic energy consumption is the amount of energy that is spent on the different appliances used within housing. The amount of energy used per household varies widely depending on the standard of living of the country, climate, and the age and type of residence. In an average household in a temperate climate the yearly use of household energy can be composed as follows:

    Average domestic energy consumption per household in temperate climates
    Heating 12000 kW·h/yr (1400 watts)
    Hot water 3000 kW·h/yr (340 watts)
    Cooling/refrigeration 1200 kW·h/yr (140 watts)
    Lighting 1200 kW·h/yr (140 watts)
    Washing and drying 1000 kW·h/yr (110 watts)
    Cooking 1000 kW·h/yr (110 watts)
    Miscellaneous electric load 600 kW·h/yr (70 watts)

    Note that for households in the developing world these overview data are incorrect (area heating almost reduced to zero, and less and different consumption of energy).[clarification needed]

    [edit] See also

    [edit] References

    [edit] External links

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    A paragraph and a graph. I am bowled over. More tomorrow.

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