Kids, sugar, and energy efficiency
October 7, 2008
Just too funny of a picture not to share – here is how Eileen spent a good chunk of her summer, forever cementing the rhetoric of energy efficiency into impressionable young minds.
In other words, she held several Energy Efficiency Block Parties with various neighborhood associations. CFLs were prominently featured. So were ice cream cones.
Yay! Energy efficiency is good! Just like ice cream!
Heat Pump, Part I: The prep work
October 7, 2008
Bruce Robinson of Anchor Refrigeration plans the heat pump installation for the home of CEP's Maril Hazlett and her husband, Brian.
Banks are trembling, markets are falling, and soon the sky probably will, too – but as blog readers know, this summer Maril’s AC/ heater unit completely blew out. And despite the moment’s financial uncertainties, this sort of infrastructure investment can’t really wait.
(Sob.)
Oh well.
As part of CEP’s work in energy efficiency, we figured this would be a great time to bring our readers an up close look at the installation of a heat pump, from the financing (or lack thereof) to the installation.
What is a heat pump? A heat pump is one of the most energy-efficient heating and cooling decisions you can make. The technology is generally considered to be a form of geothermal heat, which can be ground source or air source. (Since my husband and I live on a rocky hill where trenching would be horribly expensive, we went with air source.)
According to EnergyStar, an air source heat pump “uses the difference between outdoor air temperatures and indoor air temperatures to cool and heat your home.”
Why a heat pump? This decision will vary by homeowner, but a heat pump was especially a good idea for us because our regular heater ran on propane. We usually just depended on our wood stove, since propane was so expensive.
There are those who would say that when your electric provider is a rural electric cooperative with some of the highest rates in the state, moving to an all-electric heat pump is iffy. I say right back – then you pay for the propane.
Actually, this wasn’t just knee-jerk. The switch-over also penciled out for us. We are going with one of the most efficient heat pumps on the market, which means it is also more expensive. However, we are also pretty conservative electricity users. We also keep our thermostat low in the winter and high in the summer. Given these and other factors, this investment should pay off in 5-7 years at the outside, even as electricity price will probably continue to rise.
Also, Maril likes where our electricity comes from. Our co-op is part of KEPCo. Compared to other Kansas rural co-ops and utilities, KEPCo has a much smaller carbon footprint. It gets a large chunk of its electricity from low-carbon emission sources such as nuclear, hydropower, and wind.
Propane is also still right for us, for other types of uses. In the future, if at all financially possible, we’d like to add a propane generator, and possibly a heater for Brian’s woodshop (aka, the garage). When it comes to more limited, targeted uses (versus heating and cooling a 2100 square foot home), we will be more able to afford it.
Getting the Groundwork Set
Rebates from utility. Luckily for us, Leavenworth-Jefferson County Electric Cooperative (LJEC) does offer a rebate for installing heat pumps. The amount you receive depends on the level of efficiency you choose to install. Also, they’re very nice when you call up to talk to them.
Financing. First, we looked into the KEEP program, administered by Kansas Housing Resources Corporation in partnership with Sunflower Bank or other financing interests. This is a low-interest loan plan for Kansas citizens to carry out energy efficiency improvements, and it is available to all Kansans, regardless of income.
Brian, late at night, doing the demo for the ductwork
Summary of the Google energy plan – sent out by Jim Mason over at KNRC. Along with the comment: “The boyz are thinking big.”
Summary: Reductions in Energy Use and Emissions
Our proposal will allow us to reduce from the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) current baseline for energy use:
- Fossil fuel-based electricity generation by 88%
- Vehicle oil consumption by 38%
- Dependence on imported oil (currently 10 million barrels per day) by 33%
- Electricity-sector CO2 emissions by 95%
- Personal vehicle sector CO2 emissions by 38%
- US CO2 emissions overall by 48% (40% from today’s CO2 emission level)
We can achieve these results in 2030 by:
- Deploying aggressive end-use electrical energy efficiency measures to reduce demand 33%.
- Baseline EIA demand is projected to increase 25% by 2030. In addition, the increase in plug-in vehicles (see below) increases electricity demand another 8%. Thus, our efficiency reductions keep demand flat at the 2008 level.
- Replacing all coal and oil electricity generation, and about half of that from natural gas, with renewable electricity:
- 380 gigawatts (GW) wind: 300 GW onshore + 80 GW offshore
- 250 GW solar: 170 GW photovoltaic (PV) + 80 GW concentrating solar power (CSP)
- 80 GW geothermal: 15 GW conventional + 65 GW enhanced geothermal systems (EGS)
- Increasing plug-in vehicles (hybrids & pure electrics) to 90% of new car sales in 2030, reaching 42% of the total US fleet that year
- Increasing new conventional vehicle fuel efficiency from 31 to 45 mpg in 2030
- Accelerating the turnover of the vehicle fleet from 19 to 13 years (resulting in 25 million new vehicle sales per year in 2030, a 31% increase over the baseline)
How the passage of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) will affect the wind industry in Kansas (Harris News). Say what you will about the bailout, it did get the PTC passed. Talk about mixed feelings for many people, if my correspondence is any indication.
At any rate. It’s done. A selection of the reactions from KS, as per Chris Green’s story, linked above:
Rep. Nancy Boyda: “Boyda said she’s ‘praying to God’ the bailout actually helps save the nation’s economy even though she opposed it. But she said even the wind energy tax breaks, likely to benefit Kansas, were themselves problematic because they would help grow the nation’s ballooning federal deficit. She noted that House members had previously favored paying for the wind production tax credit by rolling back tax breaks for big oil companies. ‘We would have been better off if we would have voted for them when they were paid for,’ Boyda said in a telephone interview.”
Rep. Jerry Moran: “A spokeswoman for 1st District Congressman Jerry Moran, a Hays Republican, said the bill retained the same problems it had when he voted against it Monday and it failed to pass to the House. As a result, he couldn’t support the overall measure despite previous support for extending the wind production tax credit. ‘It was something on principle that he could not support,’ Moran spokeswoman Brecke Latham said of the bailout package.”
Gov. Sebelius: “Nicole Corcoran, a spokeswoman for Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, said the governor believes the tax break is critical for spurring clean energy investments in Kansas that can help make the nation more energy independent. “Governor Sebelius has been calling on Congress to extend the wind energy production tax credit and is pleased action has finally been taken on this issue,’ Corcoran said in an e-mail.”
Rob Freeman, chief executive officer of TradeWind Energy: “He said the credit is particularly valuable to developers in Kansas because the Sunflower State hasn’t joined about two dozen other states in requiring utilities to produce certain percentages of their power from renewable energy. ‘It’s great news,’ said Freeman, whose company developed the Smoky Hills Wind Project near Lincoln. ‘There are probably going to be a lot of jobs and business established as a result of this getting extended for a year.’”
Nancy Jackson, Exec. Director, CEP: “‘Everyone who would like to see the wind industry expand in the state of Kansas would like to see the next Congress extend the (production tax credit) by, say, at least four years to give this expanding industry the certainty it craves.’”
Powerful support for Missouri mandatory Renewable Energy Standard (KCStar). In no small part because no investor-owned utility is opposing it – and in fact, KCPL supports it. From my memory of reading the ballot initiative, it doesn’t affect rural electric cooperatives.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
