Energy Independence: Part II

There are more reasons to be energy independent than just to save money or avoid the hassles of what happens when the electricity goes out. The American Energy Independence organization lists some of them on their web page, that every homesteader should read for no other reason than to spur them into immediate planning and action.

As I write this post on the second day of 2008, oil has hit $100 a barrel on the NYMEX [New York Mercantile Exchange] exchange, sparked by concerns about violence in Nigeria. We’ve lost more than 3,000 of our brave young soldiers in Iraq, a war of aggression launched almost entirely over control of the world’s second largest petroleum reserves. Combined with news last week of a looming world-wide food shortage being pinned mostly on the eagerness of bare subsistence farmers to produce more lucrative energy crops (like corn and soy for ethanol and biodiesel), the more that we can do for ourselves, the better we’ll weather the coming storms of necessary change. We can lead instead of follow.

From the Energy Efficient Homes resources page I found a list of the top 10 energy efficiency tips that all of us can put to good use in steadily lowering our energy demands even as we plan for the future of providing our own home-grown energy sources. Those tips are aimed at businesses, but are just as wise for homesteaders. Here are some great hints we can all put into use…

• Turn your computers, printers and other office equipment OFF when they’re not being used. That means at night and all day any days you aren’t actually using them. A household can shave nearly $45 a year off the electric bill just by getting into this habit, and when you’re planning for your kilowatt needs in the future, these not-used kilowatts will count significantly.

• Install an “occupancy sensor” in hallways, bathrooms and other areas of your home where lights don’t need to be on all the time. These sensors can be purchased for about $20, and can save the homeowner $40 or more per year on their electric bill, per sensor! Since it’s notoriously difficult to get children (and others) to be as aware as we’d like them to be of turning out the lights when they’ve left a room, this expense will also factor significantly in kilowatt planning for the future.

• Lower the thermostat on the water heater. Is your water hot enough to scald? Then the thermostat’s set too high. Every 10º lower saves you energy usage and money. If your best temperature for hot baths and dishwashing is, say, 110º, that’s where the thermostat should be set. That way nobody ever gets accidentally scalded, and you can just use the hot water faucet when you’re washing up. You simply don’t need water hotter than that out of the tap.

• Turn off your water heater at night and whenever you’re away from home or the house is empty. If your heater is behind a wall (like mine is), this can easily be accomplished by flipping off the breaker. This should also be done for water pumps on your well or spring. You could install an automatic timer, but that can be rather inconvenient if you need hot water at night or on Sunday. But just by doing these two things a homesteader could shave lots of kilowatts off the usage profile and save more than $100 a year on the bill.

• Set the heating system thermostat low at night and when you’re away. Your house really doesn’t need to be warmer than about 68º even when everyone’s home, since it’s not that difficult to figure out why they make sweatshirts, flannels and sweaters. At night you can turn it down to somewhere around 55º and still sleep quite comfortably - that’s why they make blankets, comforters and quilts! Your pipes won’t freeze and you could save $1500 or more every winter on your electric bill!

• Close your drapes or blinds when it’s either hot or cold outside. If you have no window treatments (I don’t, I’m not that concerned about bears seeing me naked…), think about installing some that offer a measure of control and insulation value. I get a lot of heat energy gain during the winter because I have big windows on the south side of the house and dark wood siding. In summer the sun is high enough overhead not to shine directly in, so this works out fine. If I did have a heat gain problem in the summer it would be worth my while to install a retractable awning for those south-facing windows, or simply roof over the deck on that side of the house.

• Install energy-efficient light bulbs - fluorescent or LED - everywhere they can be used. These do not work outside or on dimmers very well, but efficient light bulbs that do are currently in development. They’re expensive at first, but last much longer than your standard incandescent bulb while producing more light per watt. The investment is well worth it - use the money you’ve saved from some other area of conservation!

• Mind your weatherstripping around doors and windows. Reduce drafts and your home will feel warmer at 68º than it might at 75º when the wind’s blowing through. You’ll also avoid cold spots that make you want to turn up the heat or plug in a space heater.

• Think hard about installing sky lights in outbuildings as well as over your primary living space. This will lead to less use of electricity to light these areas during the day, and can pay for themselves by that savings alone. Sky lights don’t have to be fancy, expensive things that inevitably get installed by someone who insists you’ve got to purchase a whole new roof first. Any handy homesteader should be able to cut a hole in the roof of the shed, barn or bailey with a saws-all and install a safety glass or plexy panel with enough caulking and flashing to keep it from leaking.

When we lived in Florida I discovered a US Navy jet airplane graveyard off the Naval Air Station where you could purchase old canopes for $100 or less. These things are cool to the nth degree! We got one and installed it on the roof of an old city transit bus we’d turned into a motor home, and it impressed people wherever we went in it! I’m quite sure at least one rock band whose members we knew went right out to get one for their tour bus, though I don’t keep up with celebrity gossip enough to know if their bus is famous for it.

Below are some very useful links to information, products and services you may find helpful for your own planning. Get busy, homesteaders!

Links:

Energy Efficient Homes

BHM: Home Energy Information and Resources

EnvironmentalLights: LED, CFL Lighting

Full Spectrum Lighting

Good Shepherd Wool Insulation

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