Renewable Faith: Affordable, Renewable Energy
(Page 3 of 4)
November/December 2002
By Mike Tidwell
Even after all these purchases, we still had enough money to tackle our last major source of emissions, heating our water. And here we got lucky. Our solar contractor stumbled across a used solar hot-water system and sold it to us installed for $1,000, and we were able to deduct 15 percent of the cost from our state income taxes. Thus, we closed out our expenditures at just over $7,500. The solar system “preheats” the water for our natural gas heater. On sunny days, we get as much help from solar as we can and then the gas burners kick in.
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The bottom line
Except for a little natural gas to cook and heat our water on really cloudy days, plus the small portion of our electricity that still comes from our local utility, we now contribute nothing to global warming through home energy use. Plus, we’ve reduced our estimated CO2 contribution from 19,488 pounds per year to just under 2,010 pounds, a drop of almost 90 percent! If every household in the industrialized world were to make half of these changes, we would be well on our way to solving global warming.
We also do well by doing good. By conserving energy and switching to renewables, we save an estimated $578 each year. That’s $48.17 per month. Our monthly payment for the $7,500 loan is $87. That sum will quickly diminish as energy prices continue to rise. In ten years, when our loan is repaid, savings close to $1,000 per year will go straight into our pockets. For now, our total out-of-pocket expense is less than $39 per month.
You’d think that such an abrupt switch from fossil fuels entails some hidden sacrifices. But, actually, there are none. Yes, several times a week in the winter we have to reload the stove with corn, which takes about five minutes. Every two weeks we have to clean the stove, another fifteen minutes. And because the stove radiates heat, a room can only be warm if its door is left open. Other than this, our lives are essentially unchanged.
Except for one more thing. We now live with greater hope for our son’s future and that of the whole planet. If we can make such big changes so quickly and for so little money, the rest of the world can do the same.
—From Co-op America Quarterly’s “Green Energy Future” issue, (800) 584-7336, www.coopamerica.org