Saving Energy without derision (or divorce)

and having fun doing it

A Neighborhood Effort

Al Zelicoff, MD

505-255-6908

E-mail: zalan8587@qwest.net

OutlineOutline• Embarrassing questions

• The energy picture and the energy problem

• What you control (almost everything) and what you don’t

• Watt to do?

• The simple things first

• The extravagant things last

• Does it work?

• A brief, but not unpleasant diversion into photovoltaics

• Summary: your homework

Embarrassing Questions

1. How many kw-hrs of electricity does your household use?

2. How many therms of natural gas does your household use?

3. What’s your utility bill?4. Do you have a clothes line?5. How many pounds of CO2 are dumped into

the air for each kw-hr or therm that you consume?

Your toni little neighboorhood

20.25 by 16 yards = 75 by 48 feet = 3600 sq. ft.

How much energy do we use in the US?

• 102 Quadrillion BTU in 2007

• About 33% residential

• About 38% commercial

• About 28% industrial/manufacturing

• But all of it is due to YOU!

Direct Energy Use in your home DIRECT

Household Use Units Amounts

Cost per unit Total cost

Pounds of CO2 per

unit

Metric tons of CO2 emitted

Efficiencies in producing

one unitBTUs Per

UnitBTU's

expended

Energy UsesElectricity kw-hrs 12,000 0.09$ 1,080.00$ 1.50 8.182 33% 3.41E+03 1.24E+08

Natural Gas or Propane therms 750 1.10$ 825.00$ 11.64 3.968 50% 1.00E+05 1.50E+08Electricity for Pumping Water kw-hrs 317 0.09$ 28.51$ 1.50 0.216 33% 3.41E+03 3.27E+06Gasoline gallons 1,000 2.50$ 2,500.00$ 20.00 9.091 50% 1.22E+05 2.44E+08

Totals 4,433.51$ 21.46 521,273,266

24%

29%

1%

46%Electricity

Natural Gas or Propane

Electricity for Pumping Water

Gasoline

“Embodied Energy” in your stuffNumber of units

per year Embodied Energy (Joules)Embodied Energy

(BTUs) BTUs per yearHouse Construction 0.020 1.40E+12 1.33E+09 2.92E+07Car 0.33 2.00E+11 1.90E+08 6.32E+07Cotton (kg) in clothing 50.00 3.50E+08 3.32E+05 1.66E+07

PantsDresses

ShirtsFurnishings 3.00 3.00E+09 2.84E+06 8.53E+06

Carpet 50.00 2.03E+09 1.92E+06 9.61E+07Refrigerator 0.10 1.02E+10 9.69E+06 9.69E+05Television 0.20 3.07E+09 2.91E+06 5.81E+05Other appliances 0.30 1.02E+10 9.69E+06 2.91E+06

Total 1.54E+09 2.18E+08

Your share of government infrastructure

Embodied Energy (Joules)

Embodied Energy (BTUs) Comments

Lighting 1.49E+07Roads and Maintenance 1.00E+11 9.48E+07

Safety and Security 1.33E+071% of all energy is used by the US

government

Total 1.23E+08

Summary of your household’s energy useSummary

BTUsEnergy Use in House 2.77E+08Energy Use in Car 2.44E+08Energy Use in Food 4.73E+07Energy Use in Stuff 2.18E+08Your share of community energy resources 1.23E+08Your share of the service Industry ?

Total 9.10E+08

Number of Olympic Swimming Pools you could boil: 1.36

75 million households 6.82E+16102 Quads (estimated in 2007) 1.02E+17 66.89%

We’ve accounted for 2/3 of the nation’s energy use. The rest is in services.

Summary of Energy Use by a typical Household

30%

27%5%

24%

14%

Energy Use in House

Energy Use in Car

Energy Use in Food

Energy Use in Stuff

Your share of community energy resources

Watt to do?

Watt we do in our house

Answering machine 6.5 24 156 4.75 56.98 $4.27 114

Cordless phone 0 7 0 0.00 0.00 $0.00 0

Bedroom clock 4 24 96 2.92 35.06 $2.72 70

VCR 2 1 2 0.06 0.73 $0.06 1

TV 0 24 0 0.00 0.00 $0.00 0

Kitchen clock 2 24 48 1.46 17.53 $1.36 35

Microwave clock 2 24 48 1.46 17.53 $1.36 35

Doorbell 0 24 0 0.00 0.00 $0.00 0

Garage door opener 0 24 0 0.00 0.00 $0.00 0

Alarm system 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 $0.00 0

Computer Sysytem 145 10 1450 44.11 529.60 $41.02 1059

Totals 161.5 1800 54.76 657.43 $50.79 1315

Top Ten No.

Thing to do Time costDollar cost

Savings in kilo-watt hours or electricity per

year

Natural gas and

fuel saved

per year

Cost savings per year

Time to recover

cost (months)

10Cook with a lid on your pots

0$0.00 25 $21 0.0

9

Turn off outside lights (or those ridiculously wasteful gas lanterns) and replace with low voltage solar-powered lights

1 hour

$30.00 292 $23 15.4

8

Buy a clothes line for drying at least your towels and heavy clothes (like jeans)

an hour, maybe

$1.50 300 $24 0.8

7

Clean your refrigerator coils (they are doubtless COVERED with dust which makes it hard to cool the fridge)

10 minutes

$0.00 350 $28 0.0

6Buy and use 4 or 5 compact fluroscent bulbs

an hour

$15.00 500 $40 4.5

5

Unplug vampire loads (the little transformers all around your house that are doing nothing but producing heat: see chapter 2)

15 minutes

$0.00 1200 $96 0.0

4

Get rid of your free-standing freezer (and buy fresh food) or disconnect the ice-maker/cold water dispenser on your refrigerator.

1 hour (to haul it away)

$25.00 1200 $96 3.1

3

Ride a bike, take the bus or walk to work or shopping just once a week.

50 $110 0.0

2

In the summer, turn up the temperature on the thermostat when you leave for the day

0

$0.00 1500 $120 0.0

1

In the winter, turn down heat at night to 60 degrees and when you leave the house

0

$0.00 400 $340 0.0

Savings $899

The Top 10 list:

start with the simple stuff

Avoidable energy waste

Incidents per month Guess at kw-hrs Total per monthTotal per yearClothes Drying 15 4 60 720Turning off lightsCleaning frig coils 30 2 60 720Compact flouresencts 15 180Small TV 30 1 40 480Having good windows 30 2 40 480

Totals 2580

Think it doesn’t work?Gas Use by Month: Alb. Average

vs. Zelicoff's Household

0

50

100

150

200

250

11/5/00 5/5/01 11/5/01 5/5/02 11/5/02 5/5/03 11/5/03 5/5/04 11/5/04 5/5/05 11/5/05 5/5/06 11/5/06

Month

Therms

Zelicoff HouseholdAve. Alb. Household

Electric Use by Month

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

11/5/00 5/5/01 11/5/01 5/5/02 11/5/02 5/5/03 11/5/03 5/5/04 11/5/04 5/5/05 11/5/05 5/5/06 11/5/06

Month

kw-hrs

Zelicoff Household

Ave. Alb. Household

Tons CO2 per month: Albuquerque Household vs. Zelicoff Household

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

9/13/2000 9/13/2001 9/13/2002 9/13/2003 9/12/2004 9/13/2005 9/13/2006

Date

Tons CO2

Zelicoff CO2 household production as a percentage of Avereage Albuquerque CO2 production

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Dec-99 Dec-00 Dec-01 Dec-02 Dec-03 Dec-04 Dec-05 Dec-06 Dec-07

Date

Percentage

Going to Extremes

PV Economics• Net metering• REC Credit (13 cents per kw-hr generated• Federal tax credits (up to $2,000)• State tax credits (up to $7,000)

Total Value of PV Production to date (after taxes)

$-

$5.00

$10.00

$15.00

$20.00

$25.00

$30.00

$35.00

$40.00

$45.00

$50.00

12/31/06 1/7/07 1/14/07

Date

Value (Dollars)

After Tax return on Investment(assuming starting date of

4.0%

5.0%

6.0%

7.0%

8.0%

9.0%

10.0%

1/1/07 1/3/07 1/5/07 1/7/07 1/9/07 1/11/07 1/13/07 1/15/07 1/17/07 1/19/07

Date

After tax return

Estimated annual post-tax return of about 7%

Summary

• Think globally, act locally• Start simple

– Vampire load reduction– Electricity and gas conservation measures– Insulation before generation - “nega-watts”

• Don’t do stupid things– Solar hot water heating makes zero cents

• Consider PV (but do it fast)– Approximately 9.5% pre-tax ROI– Inflation protected!