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Elizabeth Edwards' blog at JohnEdwards.com:
John and I had been married just two years when, in July 1979, President Jimmy Carter gave one of several speeches he delivered on energy. It was a remarkable speech for many reasons, not the least of which was that it wasn't really a speech, it was a conversation, a plea maybe, and a call to action to each American. It was about not just what the government could do for us about the rising cost - in so many ways - of our dependency on fossil fuels; it was also about what WE as citizens could each do. Sound familiar? A national call to action.
I have talked a lot about that speech over the last years, about how President Carter asked each of us to make small sacrifices to improve our energy profile. You remember, if you are old enough, that among other things he asked us to turn our thermostats down and to put on a sweater. We get together to cheer at the Olympics; we get together to grieve and reassert our patriotism after September 11th. Certainly we can, as President Carter said, "get together as a nation to resolve our serious energy problem." It has been almost 28 years since that speech, and it is past time we get together on this.
Here is what our family has done and is doing.
We sold the conventional fuel SUV that we used to carry children, strollers, luggage and toys between Washington, DC and North Carolina, and we bought a hybrid, a Ford Escape.
Since we were building a home in Orange County, we decided to take advantage of some of the technology that President Carter had encouraged.
All the water (all of which comes from wells) in our home and some of the flooring is heated with solar energy.
We built a highly energy efficient house. In fact, our home is Energy-Star rated. Energy Star is an EPA regulated designation for homes that are at least 30 percent more efficient than the national Model Energy Code. In building we made sure we had effective insulation in floors, walls, and attics. We chose efficient heating and cooling equipment and high-performance windows. Our builder paid close attention to making sure the construction was tight to seal out drafts and moisture. The day the independent inspector came to evaluate the house, we were on pins and needles while he tested our home's energy performance. As he packed his equipment, he gave us the good news: we are an Energy-Star home!
We recycle, of course, although just yesterday we got our Orange County recycle bin. Until then we used the recycle facility just down the road. (The trash compactor I debated putting in is really useful for compacting cans and plastic, it turns out.)
And as the incandescent light bulbs the electrician installed in our fixtures burn out, we are replacing them with fluorescent bulbs. If you are thinking that we are living now in harsh light, with buzzing sounds and constant flickers, you are thinking of your grandmother's fluorescent bulbs. There are a wide range of shapes and fittings available now; there are even dimmable fluorescents, and honestly I cannot tell without checking which of our bulbs are still incandescent and which are now - and will continue to be -- fluorescent. Switching is a little bit of a bite, because the bulbs are more expensive (although Costco and eBay have some good prices), but replacing a single 60 watt incandescent with a 15 watt fluorescent you use just six hours a day could see an energy savings of more than $40 over the 4 year (4 year!) life of the bulb. And it is not just energy. A single fluorescent bulb "can prevent more than 450 pounds of emissions from a power plant over its lifetime" according to the Energy-Star website. That same site has these incredible statistics: "If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars." One bulb.
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