Lighting the Way to Sustainability

Light bulbs. Simple devices to most of us, including myself. That’s why, when I discussed what my semester-long project would be for my Advocacy, Ethics, and the Environment course with Mick, I was surprised at his suggestion of changing light bulbs in the Sustainability House from incandescent to compact fluorescent. Easy A, right?

It turns out there’s a bit more to light bulbs than one would guess. There is a surprising number difference between compact fluorescent bulbs and conventional incandescent, not the least of them being cost. Compact fluorescents typically run about ten dollars. Depending on the bulb one chooses to compare it to, it is either a lot cheaper or more expensive. Most people will go for the low-cost option on incandescent bulbs, typically around one or two dollars, as opposed to the fifteen dollar long life bulbs, so to the great majority of people, a ten dollar bulb is a bit more than they are used to.

The truth to the matter, though, is that it costs money to save money. A CF bulb runs on thirteen watts per hour. Assuming that bulb is in a high-use area of the home, it might see up to six hours of use per day. My personal experience is with a family that is highly conscious about turning off lights when not in use, so this figure might be different for other individuals. Using six hours as a conservative estimate, that one bulb will use 65 watts in one day. That is compared to, say a forty watt incandescent that will use 240 watts in that one day.

A minor saving, at least at first glance. But multiply that out by 365 days of use, assuming that there is a regular pattern of use, and the difference between 240 watts to 65 watts per hour becomes 87600 watts to 23725 watts per year, which at 15 cents a kilowatt is just shy of $10 per bulb per year. In addition to the difference in power use, the climate pollution created by the regular bulb’s use will be 6.92 lbs. of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gasses, as opposed to 1.87 lbs. CO2. The savings, both energy-wise and environmentally, start to rack up, and that’s with only one bulb. In the case of the sustainability house, that difference was multiplied by seventeen. The Excel spreadsheet linked to this article details exactly what was changed and where the locations of the bulbs were. In general, high-use areas such as the kitchen, den, bedrooms, and bathroom were targeted. The spreadsheet also makes plain how much power was saved, and how much less the greenhouse gas emissions will be based on the changes made.

This is good news for the environment and the environmentalist, but what about the everyday renter and homeowner? What do they get out of the deal? Extra cash is the short answer. Case in point is the Sustainability House again. During the light bulb survey, I identified 42 light bulbs. In reality, they all were of different watt usage and were not in use the same amount of time each day. For ease of demonstration, however, we’ll assume that they all were 60 watt bulbs, a good average between all the conventional incandescents in use. Further assume that, taking the high use areas and the low use areas together and averaging them, they collectively run four hours a day. These bulbs, in one day, will use 1.008 kilowatts of power. In one year, they will use 367.92 kilowatts. For 15 cents per kilowatt hour, that is $55.19 to run those bulbs for a year. Now do the same calculation with CF bulbs running at 13 watts per hour replacing all 42 incandescent bulbs. To run these bulbs for a day will use .2184 kilowatts. For an entire year, it will take 79.716 kilowatts and $11.96. Even after a year, there is a $40 difference. And like any good investment, the savings will continue to grow as time goes on.

What, then, is the take-home message? Certainly, compact fluorescent bulbs are efficient alternatives to incandescent. And in the end, they do save a person quite a bit of money. But with the $10 cost of purchase, and the fact that mercury is a primary component of the bulb, some caution needs to be exercised in their use. CF bulbs are ideal in places where they will be out of harm’s way. Ceilings, lamps, and external light fixtures off the ground are prime candidates. Lawn lights and other low-to-the-ground fixtures are probably not the best candidates for CF replacement, as they will probably be replaced quite a bit, and cost the resident extra money and time, as the bulbs cannot be simply thrown away, but must taken to proper recycling locations licensed to handle mercury and other hazardous materials. All things considered, however, the benefits of CF bulbs do outweigh their detriments. The Sustainability House will certainly be seeing those benefits for years to come.

Step 2: Redux: Computerized thermostats and Hallowell heat pump

EPA image of a computerized or programmable thermostat.

Well, already we have a change of plan. Step 2 was supposed to be "install a computerized thermostat" (also known as a programmable thermostat). But an opportunity has come up, so change of plan.

Part of the idea in working on this house project is to showcase the use of different technologies, especially those made in Maine or installed by local and regional companies that other householders in Maine and other cold climate regions can easily copy. The design and manufacture of cold climate heat pumps has improved greatly thanks in part to the efforts of the Hallowell company of Hermon (Bangor) Maine. And Hallowell has agreed to install their flagship Acadia air-to-air cold climate heat pump in the Sustainability House. The pump will come with it's own control system, so that negates the need for a computerized thermostat.

This is very good news indeed. So watch this space for pictures and information related to this installation. While we're waiting for the techs to come over and do the work, we'll move to changing the light bulbs. Clayton, a Unity College senior, is going to do that particular project in the next few weeks and write a nice article for us.

Just to finish up on the question of computerized or programmable thermostats, if you run a regular oil or gas furnace of any kind that operates using a mercury "dial" style thermostat, you should start your household energy-and-emissions saving campaign with this particular "low hanging fruit." You can buy the computerized kind from your hardware store for between $29 and $79, roughly, depending on the quality. The battery-operated kinds are easiest to install. Most kinds just substitute for the original thermostat, and the work can be done by anyone who is capable of wiring a receptacle and programming a VHS or DVR to record. A photo example is above. Installation guides come with the device, or the EPA has a good web-page here. All the tools you need are a screwdriver and possibly a power drill to fit new drywall plugs to screw the new device to the wall.

A computerized thermostat will allow you to set a number of different temperatures for your house at different times in the day and week. So if you go to work at 7.30 am, and no-one is in the house, you can run the heat at 55 degrees F, instead of 68-72. Let the house cool down during the night too -- you may sleep better as a result.

The least you will save will be 5% on fuel, and thus climate emissions. You may save as much as 20%. For some Maine householders with high energy bills, at $3.31/gallon heat oil, 20% might be as much as $1,000. All that for $29 and half an hour of easy work! Most people will save more than the cost of the thermostat in the first month. It's pretty silly not to have one.

Two warnings:
1) To dispose of your mercury thermostats in the trash is illegal in the State of Maine and should be illegal everywhere. Mercury is highly toxic. Contact your Town Office and they will explain what to do with your old one.
2) If you buy a battery-operated thermostat, be sure to use a high quality battery, and to replace it once a year. Even regular batteries too should not go in the trash. Save up your batteries by storing them in a dry safe place, and recycle them every six months or so through your local transfer station.

Let us know how you make out with your thermostat project at the comment line below. Because we are not going actually to do this job at the Sustainability House, if you live in the Unity area and would like a computerized thermostat, contact us. I will come over with a couple of students and do the job for you. We would like to do one or two installations so we can take pictures of the process and publish them here.

Step One: Energy and Climate Emissions Audit

The first step in any rational process of home greening is an energy audit. Home energy use reduction is a problem that can be very satisfying in the sense that it can be tackled using traditional step by step reason: the scientific method. There are firms available who will do this for you, or you can do it yourself. The Lawrence Berkeley Lab has an online calculator called the Home Energy Saver, which is plenty accurate enough for almost all household applications. If you're reading this article in the UK, you can find a similar calculator at this site here.

Unity College has an ongoing energy and climate emissions audit for all forms of energy use, so we already had the basic data for this house. And, although most energy audit firms currently don't go this extra mile, accounting for climate emissions is just one small step beyond those generally taken for an energy audit, so the two operations are best done together.

First, the quantitative data. You get this part by summing the heat and power bills for the last year, together with bills for any other forms of energy purchased for the home. Just find the bills, or ask the energy company to give you an account. Most electrical and fuel suppliers keep computer records and will provide the data on request.

This building, which is listed as the "White House" in this data spreadsheet here, used 622 gallons of #2 heat oil, and 4905 kilowatt hours of electricity from July 1, 2006 to June 30th, 2007. This data was assembled from the bills the company sent, just like any private house would get.

What is really good is to have more than a year of data, so you can track it. In our case, if you download the spreadsheet, there are two years' data, since the college purchased the house in 2005. The second year is the most relevant, since the building was occupied that year, by three students, as their residence hall.

Now for the climate emissions: The electricity was switched to the same 100% renewable power supply used elsewhere on campus, so we don't worry about any climate emissions there. (Step number two on this diary will be an explanation of how to switch to a renewable electricity supply or green tariff.) The heat oil comes from Staples Oil, a local supplier, and was routed through the regular Maine heat oil distribution system using pipelines, tank farms, barges and trucks, to arrive finally by tanker truck and be pumped into the 250 gallon oil tank. In this case, 622 gallons of heat oil equates to 13,961 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases released to the atmosphere.

There is no other source of energy used in this home (no propane, no natural gas, or kerosene), so the CO2E footprint of the house is just under fourteen thousand pounds. This is within the normal range for a North American home and is in fact a little low, due to the home's relatively small size.

In terms of saving energy, how energy is used is perhaps more important than where it came from. In this house, the heat oil is burned in a furnace to produce hot air, which is then pumped with fans through ductwork to heat the house. Forced air heat systems work well in Maine, and certainly heat up a house quickly enough, but they tend to be dusty and noisy. A computerized thermostat with a timer will help reduce the energy use of the furnace. It's also likely that with some extra insulation, this house will be a good candidate for a cold-climate, air-to-air heat pump. One model is now available in Maine, produced by the Hallowell company.

Insulation and cold air leakage into the house from the outside is a major concern for an energy audit. In this case, the house is tight, and pretty well-insulated by the standards of the time it was built. The walls appear to have extra "blue board" insulation added to the outside, which was perhaps done later. The attic crawl space has only a thin layer of insulation, and this could be profitable increased using cellulose, a recycled product. The basement is uninsulated, and probably leaks air in quite a few places, and we can fix this too. A survey with a cheap laser thermometer will help us find air leaks and other cold spots in the basement and throughout the house.

The electricity is used to run lighting and appliances, and to drive the fan for the hot air furnace. The bulbs are all incandescent, which is wasteful. We will attend to lighting right away, replacing almost all of these bulbs with compact florescent bulbs. The refrigerator is large, old, and inefficient. We will calculate how quickly a newer, less wasteful fridge would pay for itself. A similar calculation will be carried out for the electric hot water system, although in this case we will be studying whether or not a solar thermal system, or an on-demand system, or both could be profitably used.

Other small appliances, like televisions and clock radios can also be analyzed for energy consumption. In particular, we will try to eliminate "vampire" and "stand-by" loads. Vampire loads are those small transformers and chargers that power cell phone chargers and small appliances. they run 24/7, and so waste a lot of energy. Stand-by features of certain appliances, such as the stand-by system in your TV, also waste energy. By putting vampire and stand-by loads on timers, or simply switching them off when not in use, you can save a lot of energy. One smart way to do this is to put your entire home entertainment system on a switchable circuit, using a power strip with a switch, or your living room lighting circuit with the switch at the wall, and simply turn it all off when you aren't using it.

So, these are the results of the basic energy audit. The retrofit steps we decided as a result are:

1) (Do this energy audit)
2) Installing a computerized or programmable thermostat
3) Switching out the incandescent light bulbs for energy saving compact florescents or CFLs
4) Insulate the attic to R50
5) Following a laser thermometer survey, insulate the basement
6) Survey the rest of the house for air leaks (and fix them with caulk, insulation, and spray foam)
7) Analyze the energy use and payback period of the fridge and hot water system, and decide if they are to be replaced with more efficient systems
8) Analyze the energy use of all other appliances, and decide if timers, switches and other controls can be profitably used
9) Replace the furnace with a cold climate air-to-air heat pump

This spring we will do all these steps, reporting the results on this web page, for you to follow along, or even to do the same work yourself for your own home. At the end of the process, the house will be climate neutral.

How hard is that?

So watch this space to see us go through the practical steps needed to reduce this house's energy use and climate emissions, starting very shortly with those compact florescent bulbs, and to see the empirical results in terms of next year's energy bills.

Email us if you have any questions, or use the comment feature below.

How do you save the planet from climate change?

One answer is, green your home. Track the process of greening an ordinary American home through this blog. Unity College students, faculty, staff, and supporters, particularly energy and technology corporations, are retrofitting an ordinary American ranch house to be climate neutral, by making it energy and cost-efficient. All financial costs and energy consumption figures will be posted too.

Watch this space to see what happens.