Reuse, Renew, Rethink the Future of Energy
- lewisburgcommunity
- Apr 23, 2013
- 5 min read
Many major cities in the United Stated are approaching a new age of relatively more environmentally-friendly energy, such as wind, solar, and hydro-electric power. One issue with the change into renewable energy is deciding which resource would allow the maximum amount of energy to be produced. Location, and the environment around it, is key in deciding which resource would benefit the user the most and for how long the energy source would continue to do so.
So let’s run through 5 basic ideas to consider when deciding which renewable energy to use in your home.
1) LOCATION!
The location is the basis for your strive to renewable energy! Is there Sun? Wind? Water? Now look at the choices and see which of these your location has the most of. Sun can be your best friend, and solar panels can do wonders on your electrical bill, if you have the sun to support it. For example, California is well suited for solar power, having an average of 168 days a year of sun and 93 partly sunny days (days with less that 80% cloud coverage) totaling to about 83% solar gain a year. These conditions can assure the customer a sufficient amount of energy that can add up to the total installation cost, achieving ‘payoff’. Conversely, in Vermont there is only 49% sun which is around 58 days of clear weather out of the year [1]. Pennsylvania falls between these two extremes but solar is certainly something to consider, especially as a way to more efficiently use roof-space. Likewise, even off-setting a fraction of your annual consumption can potentially alleviate bills and offset your carbon footprint and can also serve as a reserve during power outages. Finally, solar and other renewable energy sources might be a good idea if you simply live in too remote an area for grid-energy to be practical.
2) Zoning (residential or commercial)?
What is your neighborhood like? Do you live in a town, a city, or out in the country-side? These are things you want to consider, especially when it comes to the amount of noise the system may generate. For example, wind turbines are capable of producing significant power in some regions, but the noise they create can be an issue for residential areas in crowded neighborhoods [2]. This noise is a constant hum but can grow to a screech for high winds depending on the size of the turbine. However, There have recently been strides in micro-wind power, using 10-15 foot turbines on relatively small towers. These tend to create far less noise, cost, and damage to birds and bats than larger industrial turbines. Moreover, there are less restrictions on using these with regard to distance from residences. Smaller home-size turbines are actually very well suited to many parts of our river-valley region, particularly along the top of the many ridges and foot-hills that characterize our landscape.
3) How much can you really afford?
Having an understanding that some of these systems can be somewhat pricey for installation and maintenance is important. Though it all depends on your needs, location, and resources. For solar panels, costs can range widely, depending on your orientation, climate, your electrical offset preference, the amount of panels needed to fulfill that need, and the brand you invest into. BUT don’t let this discourage you. Look into your state polices and see how much they will potentially subsidize you for making this long-term environmentally friendly choice. Likewise, micro-turbines for wind energy usually cost between $1,000-$5,000 per unit and, with the right siting, even a single unit can potentially provide enough energy for the average American family (900-1,200Kwh annually).
4) Will the cost have a payoff period that is before the end of the warranty?
Let’s face it, though renewable energy resources are preferable to fossil fuels in terms of environmental costs, if they’re prohibitively expensive, it is understandable that people will be slow to adopt them, particularly in the current economy. However, renewable energy can be economical for many given certain site pre-conditions. This is where research and your handy-dandy calculator will help you in ascertaining an accurate cost-benefit analysis. For example, in some areas, solar panels can have a 10-year payoff period, after which point, any excess energy produced (beyond that required to power your home) can be sold back to electrical companies (assuming you are connected to the grid). Assuming you have a warranty longer than 10 years, this can significantly reduce your energy costs over the long-term, offsetting much if not all of the cost of installation and maintenance.
5) Why does this matter and are you ready to work for it?
Many of these systems are perhaps best viewed as transitional or stop-gap measures as we start to collectively deescalate our global energy use. Currently, the United States utilizes fully a a quarter of the world’s energy, by comparison, we account for only 5% of the world’s population. If our model of development is followed (as it currently is) by developing nations with significantly higher populations, such as China and India, the results would be (and are already) catastrophic. Fossil fuels are unsustainable and there is much evidence that humanity’s ability extract and utilize them efficiently is already beginning to wane. Processes such as tar-sand extraction, mountain-top removal coal mining, fracking, and deep-water drilling tend to go after difficult to access and/or difficult to refine reserves, which would seem to indicate much of the readily available fossil fuels have either already have been or are imminently about to be extracted. Moreover, because of the difficulty in extracting these resources, the profit-margin for their extraction necessarily decreases unless short-cuts are taken. These short-cuts are often heralded as ‘state-of-the-art’ or ‘best available technology’ but can and have resulted in the catastrophic pollution and destruction of the land-base in and around Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Whether it be the 500+ mountains leveled in Appalachia, extensive gas flaring and water pollution in PA, loss of public lands, millions of gallons of oil spilled from pipelines and offshore drilling, explosions of tar-sand laden trains, or more social abuses, such as withholding compensation from families negatively affected by these processes, the abuse of eminent domain in deference to industry, medical costs being absorbed by local communities over the long-term, and the boom-bust ‘job creation’ model these finite resources inhere, there are myriad reasons for us to try to find alternatives to fossil fuels, and that’s without even mentioning anthropogenic climate change. In light of this, there is a certain amount of maintenance required for renewable system, being as they are, on-site. For wind turbines, they must be periodically cleaned and kept up-to-date, for solar panels, you have to make sure they are not damaged by the natural elements or animals and that persistent shade from trees and the like do not diminish their utility; hydro-power is in need of relatively constant supervision for the underwater habitat and environment to cause the least damage. Through this (relatively minor) work there are great benefits for not only yourself, but your community (human and otherwise). If you take on this work, you can show your community the future through the care and the love you have for this world, which we all share. If you are ready for that, then reuse, renew, rethink about the energy future of this world.
Commentaires