Green News: Solar and Energy Efficiency

Tips for Solar & Energy Efficiency          by F&EG Staff  -8/2010-

According to the ‘Clean Energy Strategies for Local Governments,’ energy costs are the 2nd leading expense for K-12 school operating budgets, totalling about $8 billion dollars annually nationwide. (U.S. EPA, 2008)

They estimate that at least $2 billion of that $8 billion can be saved by improving energy efficiency in K-12 schools and, per the U.S. EPA information, 40 million new text books could be purchased with that $2 billion in energy savings dollars.

Over the last few years results and findings, compiled from the U.S. EPA along with many other government and private agencies, companies etc., show that substantial benefits, including environmental, economic and educational, are gained from implementing and investing in energy efficiency in schools, offices and homes.

Energy Smart Schools

Find out about your state’s solar PV programs, and grants. Many K-12 schools, throughout different states, take advantage of their individual state solar programs and energy efficient programs that offer information, technical assistance and financial incentives to make schools energy efficient, healthier and more productive for students, faculty and administrators.

One example is the Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) Solar School Program. PG&E educates students about energy efficiency and renewable energy, the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), which manages equipment purchase, installation and school selection, and the National Energy Education Project (NEED), which manages curriculum training, provides a teacher blog, and administers the Bright Ideas grants of $2,500 to $5,000 for school solar science projects.

The individual schools own the Renewable Energy Credits (REC) from their solar system. The PG&E’s Corporate Foundation funds the program and contributed about $2.5 million in 2008.

Solar Is Cheaper than not

Before the energy auditor visits your house, make a list of existing problems. Walk through your home with the auditors as they work, and ask questions. Solar is cheaper to get than not. How many times have you driven by a home with solar panels and wondered if they were right for you? Well, they are right for just about everyone.  The amount of energy you will save along with the amount of money you will save will actually make you profitable at the end of the day.

If you look at average residential retail electricity rates and average PV prices, solar is at grid parity now even without incentives. Here’s the math:

Average home burns 900 kWh per month at 11 ckWh means an electric bill of $100 per month.

To offset 900 kWh per month you’d need a PV array of 5.5 kW. At today’s competitive pricing ($5 per watt) that’s $27,500. Straight-line amortization of that over the 25-year life span of the modules and the system costs $92 per month. You’re already making money without accounting for tax credits or utility inflation.

In many places throughout the U.S. today, solar photovoltaics, is already cheaper than their local utility rates for electricity generated from dirty polluting sources.

“It makes sense if you look at it as a [retail] ratepayer,” says Ted Sullivan, senior analyst at Lux Research.

For example, Californian utilities charge up to 40 cents/kwh for retail power users, while an installed solar PV system costs up to 18 cents/kwh.

The cost-benefit analysis depends on local issues, like the rates utilities charge, the extra cost of using energy at peak demand times and the amount of sun in the region.

Most sites in the US can generate a good return on investment for installing PV panels and enjoy cheaper energy for the system’s lifetime, typically guaranteed for 20 years or more.

“As an industry we’ve allowed ourselves to be painted into a corner,” says Doug Payne, executive director of the solar industry trade group SolarTech, about aiming for grid parity while minimizing the industry’s real efforts at saving their customers’ money over retail electricity costs. “We’re at a tipping point on the next 12-to-24 months,” he says.

The coal industry is facing higher commodity prices, greater regulation and mechanical obsolescence. With an average age of over 40 years, coal plants will need replacing soon, and the Environmental Protection Agency will make it more challenging to do so, with good reason.

While the solar sector is still young, the economic viability of solar PV is proving itself, analysts say, and with some government assistance at this crucial stage, it could provide much needed economic and job growth.

“Creating a vibrant solar PV industry in the US can be done but thus far has not been,” says a Deutsche Bank report. “The US can either wait for solar PV electricity costs to decline [further] and then chase an industry established elsewhere, or lead with the development of a [domestic] solar PV industry.”

Concerned about the initial investment? You can use your home equity to invest in the value of your home by installing solar systems.  Many solar installation companies  can help you make the best decision for your environment and your home.

They will show you everything there is to know about what the product does for you, as well as current tax credits, incentives and savings. Now’s the time to learn about something that can save you money! For more information please contact Ecological Systems at 732-681-5296.

Home Energy Audits

A home energy audit is the first step to assess how much you use, and what you can do to make your home more energy efficient. An audit will show you problems that when corrected, could save significant amounts of money over time. During the audit, specialists can pinpoint where your house is losing energy.

Audits also determine the efficiency of your home’s heating and cooling systems. An audit may show you ways to conserve hot water and electricity. You can perform a simple energy audit yourself, or have an energy professional carry out a more thorough one.

Locating Air Leaks

First, make a list of obvious air leaks (drafts). The potential energy savings from reducing drafts in a home may range from 5 to 30% per year, and the home will be much more comfortable afterward. Check for indoor air leaks, such as gaps along the baseboard or edge of the flooring and at junctures of the walls and ceiling.

Check to see if air can flow through these places:

• Electrical outlets
• Switch plates
• Window frames
• Baseboards
• Weather stripping around doors
• Fireplace dampers
• Attic hatches
• Window-mounted air conditioners.

Also look for gaps around pipes and wires, electrical outlets, foundation seals, and mail slots. Check to see if the caulking and weather stripping are applied properly, leaving no gaps or cracks, and are in good condition. Inspect windows and doors for air leaks. If you can see daylight around a door or window frame, then there are leaks.

You can usually seal these leaks by caulking or weather stripping them. Check storm windows to see if they fit and are not broken. Consider replacing old windows and doors with newer, high-performance ones. If new ones are too costly, you can install low-cost plastic sheets over the windows.

On the outside of your house, inspect all areas where different materials meet:

• All exterior corners
• Where siding and chimneys meet
• Areas where the foundation and the bottom of exterior brick or siding meet.

Plug and caulk holes or penetrations for faucets, pipes, electric outlets, and wiring.

Look for cracks and holes in the mortar, foundation, and siding, and seal them with appropriate material. Check the exterior caulking around doors and windows, and see whether exterior storm and primary doors seal tightly.

When sealing any home, you must always be aware of the danger of indoor air pollution and combustion appliance “backdrafts.”

Backdrafting is when the various combustion appliances and exhaust fans in the home compete for air. An exhaust fan may pull the combustion gases back into the living space. This can create a dangerous and unhealthy situation in the home.

In homes where a fuel is burned (i.e., natural gas, fuel oil, propane, or wood) for heating, be certain the appliance has an adequate air supply. Generally, one square inch of vent opening is required for each 1,000 Btu of appliance input heat. When in doubt, contact your utility company, energy professional, or ventilation contractor.

Insulation

The amount of insulation level might be inadequate, especially if you have an older home. If the attic hatch is located above a conditioned space, check to see if it is at least as heavily insulated as the attic, is weather stripped, and closes tightly.

In the attic, determine whether openings for items such as pipes, ductwork and chimneys are sealed. Seal any gaps with an expanding foam caulk or some other permanent sealant.

While you are inspecting the attic, check to see if there is a vapor barrier under the attic insulation. The vapor barrier might be tarpaper, Kraft paper attached to fiberglass batts, or a plastic sheet. If there is no vapor barrier, consider painting interior ceilings with vapor barrier paint. This reduces the amount of water vapor that can pass through the ceiling. Large amounts of moisture can reduce the effectiveness of insulation and promote structural damage.

Make sure attic vents are not blocked by insulation. Seal any electrical boxes in the ceiling with flexible caulk (from the living room side or attic side) and cover the entire attic floor with at least the current recommended amount of insulation.

Checking a wall’s insulation level is more difficult. It’s best to have a thermographic inspection by an energy auditor to determine the level.

If your basement is unheated, check for insulation under the living area flooring. Generally an R-value of 25 is the recommended minimum level of insulation.

If the basement is heated, the foundation walls should be insulated to at least R-19. Your water heater, hot water pipes, and furnace ducts should all be insulated.

Heating/Cooling Equipment

If you have a forced-air furnace, check your filters and replace them, generally, about once every month or two, especially during periods of high usage. Have a professional check and clean your equipment once a year.

If the unit is more than 15 years old, consider replacing it with a newer, energy-efficient unit. A new unit would greatly reduce your energy consumption, especially if the existing equipment is in poor condition.

Check your ductwork for dirt streaks, especially near seams. These indicate air leaks, and should be sealed with a duct mastic. Insulate any ducts or pipes that travel through unheated spaces.   An insulation R-Value of 6 is the recommended minimum.

Lighting

On average, lighting accounts for about 40% of your electric bill, depending on how many various electronic devices you utilize at your location. Examine the wattage size of the light bulbs and use compact fluorescent lamps for areas where lights are on for hours at a time. They use 75% less energy.

There are also energy efficient rebate programs in most states for retrofitting old T12 fixtures and magnetic ballasts with T8 fixtures and new electronic ballasts.

New Study Shows Offshore Wind

Resource far superior for affordable energy and jobs than offshore oil Oceana, a non-profit scientific research and activist group in Washington DC,  recently released its report entitled Untapped Wealth: Offshore Wind Can Deliver Cleaner, More Affordable Energy and More Jobs Than Offshore Oil,. This detailed analysis shows that focusing US investments on clean energy like offshore wind would be more cost-effective than offshore oil and gas development. And it would create more jobs and be far safer for the environment.

This report shows that for the Atlantic coast, an area targeted for expansion of oil and gas activities, offshore wind can generate nearly 30% more electricity than offshore oil and gas resources combined, and would cost about $36 billion less than offshore oil and gas production combined.

The researchers on this report used conservative assumptions for offshore wind and generous assumptions for offshore oil and natural gas and still found that by investing in offshore wind on the East Coast, rather than offshore oil and gas, the US would get more energy for less money while protecting our oceans.

In addition to the environmental benefits over traditional energy sources, like coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power, a significant amount of offshore wind energy potential exists on the Atlantic coast. They found that many of the East Coast states like New Jersey, for example, have enough wind capacity potential to produce the vast majority of its electricity generation.

If developed even modestly, offshore wind energy could supply almost half of the East Coast’s current electricity generation – while creating thousands of jobs, stabilizing electric costs, cutting fossil fuel consumption and reducing harmful air emissions. The cost to the consumer would be significantly less for electricity produced from the wind.

Offshore oil and gas drilling are major risks to industries such as fishing and tourism, as well as to the ocean’s ecosystems as we have seen in the Gulf of Mexico. The benefits of offshore oil and gas are small in comparison to lower risk alternatives such as offshore wind. Investing in offshore wind is therefore a more cost-effective approach to generating energy from the oceans.

Oceana’s report notes that developing “all of the above” only increases the costs and delivery times for both wind and oil and gas, and they strongly recommend that the United States begin the transition away from offshore fossil fuel development by taking the following steps:

• Eliminate federal subsidies for fossil fuels and redirect these funds to renewable energies and energy efficiency programs.
• Stop all new offshore oil and gas drilling to prevent future spills and minimize competition for resources and expertise that will slow the development of offshore wind energy.
• Require leasing of installation vessels for offshore wind turbine construction be given priority so that it is not impeded by offshore oil and natural gas development.

Renewable energy projects and manufacturers are more likely to proceed if there are consistent, predictable signals from governments and private markets to stimulate investments.

Over the past several decades, onshore wind energy in the United States has periodically had access to tax benefits. Unfortunately, these have been short-term commitments, renewed annually, which provide inadequate assurance to those considering long-term investments.

When these renewals end, the industry will likely constrict. As a result, fewer planned projects have been completed than what might otherwise occur with a more consistent signal from the government.

Recommendations to create a consistent and predictable environment for offshore wind energy include:

• Increase and make permanent the tax credit for investment in advanced energy property outlined in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009. This legislation extends the 30 percent credit for investment in qualified property used in a qualified advanced energy manufacturing project, but ends in 2012. And extend these credits to manufacturers of offshore wind turbine components and turbine installation vessels.
• Increase and make permanent the Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program for opening, expanding or modernizing facilities to manufacture offshore wind turbine components and extend this program to turbine installation vessel manufacturing.
• Use policy mechanisms that increase the long-term demand for and supply of renewable energies, such as a robust Renewable Electricity Standard or Feed-in Tariffs, Production and Investment Tax Credits, Loan Guarantee programs for renewable energy projects and technology manufacturers and training programs.
• Accelerate the electrification of the transportation fleet through incentives to automobile manufacturers and purchasers and by building the infrastructure such as charging stations to allow maximal use of this new technology.

Oceana campaigns to protect and restore the world’s oceans are currently in force. Teams of marine scientists, economists, lawyers and advocates are working on specific and concrete policy changes to reduce pollution and to prevent the irreversible collapse of fish populations, marine mammals and other sea life. Global in scope and dedicated to conservation, Oceana has campaigners based in North America, Europe and South and Central America. More than 400,000 members and e-activists in over 150 countries have already joined Oceana. For more information, please visit www.Oceana.org.

Renewable Energy Education

Stay Informed and educate yourself about Energy Efficiency and Solar by attending local workshops including the annual Solar Power International 2010, in Los Angeles, California October 12-14th. This amazing convention gets better every year with new innovative resources and products for (Fund & Edutain Guide staff has attended the last 3 years).

This eye-opening convention is filled with state-of-the-art exhibits and technology including informative workshops, noteable leaders and speakers and JOBS in the energy efficiency and solar arena. This is a great event for a class trip. Find out more: www.solarpowerinternational.com

Author: aleta