Money from the Sun?
We have solar panels on our barn. When the sun is out the panels make electricity - kilowatt-hours (kWh). Our home either uses the kWhs or puts them into the electricity grid, banking them for later. Over the course of a year the sun meets about 70% of our electricity needs. The 25-year warranty on the panels plus a continuing effort at energy conservation (more efficient appliances, lighting, and computers/electronics, etc.) means our energy usage could still decrease over the next 30+ years!
When my wife and I moved into our current home we averaged about 1,100 kWhs/month for the first year, right in line with the Idaho residential average of 1,078 kWhs/month. (Check here for a wealth of energy statistics: http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/state/index.cfm. We then focused on conservation measures. We changed light bulbs, replaced an ageing refrigerator, spray-foam insulated the crawl space, plugged holes, and went down the list of normal energy efficiency improvements. We were also more conscious about turning off lights, using our wood stove and keeping our baseboard electric heat turned off. All of the little measures led to a 40% energy use reduction! We used 660 kWhs/month that year. (Which is below the Wyoming average of 871 kWhs/month, and less than half of the Jackson average of 1,500 kWhs/month!)
Our next step was to install a 2kW solar electric system. It makes just less than 300 kWhs/month, which leaves our current energy purchase at around 400 kWhs/month. (Note: we actually have two houses on the property, both on the same meter - I figure the smaller rental home uses around 250 of those kWhs a month at least.)
So in the end, we took 60% off our energy use from the time we moved into the home. First we did normal improvements, and then we installed a solar electric system. If we keep working at it, we should be able to reduce even more. The rental home needs some energy efficient improvements – which is our next target.
We have fixed most of our electricity costs for the long term, become less dependent on others, and reduced our impact on the world (0.8 lbs of CO2 per local kWh = 100 tons of CO2 saved!). We have also saved money. Using 8,400 kWhs less per year for the next 30 years is $18,000 at current electricity prices! That’s $600 a year! If the cost of electricity goes up in the future, we save even more.
Green = Green.