Greening the Real World. Is your power bill 41 cents a day?

[The Straight Story]

Greening the Real World
Is your power bill 41 cents a day? It might be, if you live in Lenoir City, Tennessee

Children play in a Tennessee neighborhood where homes feature energy efficient technologies, resulting in some electric bills reaching less than 50 cents per day. The community was built in a partnership between Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Lab and Habitat for Humanity.Most days, Lenoir City, Tenn. resident Kim Charles doesn’t even notice the solar panels on her roof, the hum of her SEER 17 heat pump water heater, or the integrated design that places most of her home’s plumbing within one wall, saving precious energy.

What she does notice is an electricity bill that averages about 41 cents per day and includes a 15 cent-per-kilowatt-hour credit from the Tennessee Valley Authority for sending electricity from her home back to the power grid.

Charles's home is among five in a local Habitat for Humanity community here fitted with the latest in energy-saving technologies as part of a research project by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Department of Energy Oak Ridge National Laboratory Researcher Jeff Christian led the effort to build low-energy homes with Habitat for Humanity. The community is a "living laboratory" for researchers to study the impact of energy efficient building practices and technologies."Creating more energy-efficient buildings is not only part of the overall solution but is the number one most cost-effective opportunity to reduce the nation's energy consumption and affect climate change," said Jeff Christian, a buildings technology researcher at ORNL and coordinator of the Habitat for Humanity project.

In the United States, buildings command 40% of the nation's overall energy use, ranking above both industry, at 32%, and transportation, at 28%. Buildings also produce 43% of U.S. carbon emissions, using 38.8 quadrillion BTUs of energy each year, for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, water heating, refrigeration, and other energy demands.

Christian said residential energy consumption, unless aggressively addressed, is expected to grow 1% per year until 2025. On the commercial side, energy use is projected to increase an average annual rate of 2% between now and 2025, he said.

http://www.energy.gov/news_section/6194.htm

[Oregone]

1. Mine is around that.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. That's really the dirty little secret about energy consumption.

Everyone focuses on the cars, but it's the homes that are gulping most of the oil. And most homes are old and feature woefully inefficient energy systems. If we want to get serious, we need to start getting people where they live - literally.

[WriteDown]

3. My house was built in 43.

Leaks air like a sieve too. I've tried to insulate as best I can, but I'd really need to tear down the house to get it to be efficient.

[taterguy]

4. Let me guess. You have a long commute

:hide:

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

8. Public transport, but thanks for playing.

Didn't even own a car for the last three years until September.

[SmileyRose]

5. This supports that regarding energy - I'm not sure about OIL

The chart is a little complicated for me, but it looks like power companies use up 38% of the energy in this country and transportation uses 26% of the energy in this country.

[WePurrsevere]

7. This is true but many people would need help to..

get homes insulated better and more get efficient energy systems purchased and installed.

We live in Northern NY where very high electric costs per kwh and oil usuage is what we the majority of us have to deal with. Most folks I know are like my DH and I and would love to insulate our older homes better and get a newer more efficient furnace put in but simply don't have the money.

Although DH and I are not able to afford much on our fixed SS income we have done what we can as we are able. We've switched to CFLs, turn energy zapping instant on TVs, etc off and are slowly trying to seal up leaks (we should own stock in Great Stuff) and add more insulation to our old house (1850). We'd LOVE to at least be able to get a new high efficiency furnace since our 40 year old furnace is not very efficient (and is on it's last legs). Since we can't afford one my DH (an engineer) did a lot of research and has not only kept it limping along but lowered how much oil it uses a bit from what it was when we bought it a few years ago. Unfortunately it's still an oil hog.

Part of my fantasy stimulus would be a grant for homeowners (using a sliding scale perhaps) to ideally get and install alt energy (solar, etc) or at least get a new efficient energy system and insulation for their home. This would create a need for jobs to do the work, increase how much money people have to spend (which helps the economy) and cuts back on our oil dependence.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

9. That's exactly what I'm talking about - a home upgrade stimulus

There's a lot we can do to retrofit existing building for energy efficiency. If we put the money into doing that, we'd be in a much, much better place.

[BR_Parkway]

10. Isn't that part of the stimulus package being debated? I know I've heard

it in the speeches. But you're right - those are projects that could start this month because there are plenty of people out there who could use it but can't afford it.

[crimsonblue]

6. Mine's around there

I usually pay $21-25 a month in electricity bills.