Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

The 10% Solution: Your Personal Bali Convention

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I suggest this because I did it in 2007, and found it shockingly easy.  For years, for example, I have driven about 15,000 miles per year.  I set my target at 13,500-a reduction of only 125 miles per month.  A small amount of errand consolidation was all it took to make my goal.  A little more thoughtfulness about driving made it easy to do better than I had planned.  I did manage to cut my electricity usage by 10% as well.   I changed a lot of light bulbs to compact fluorescents.  Some of these bulbs are better than others, in terms of quality of light, but once you find a kind you like, the lights are fine.  I used light timers on other lights (I haven’t yet found a timer that works with CF bulbs).  I tried to remember to turn off lights when I wasn’t in a room.  Oil required a bit more work.  A programmable thermostat was the key, working on a presumption that I could set temps lower, raising them  if I got cold.  I also added insulation in the attic and weatherstripping around doors and windows.  To my surprise, I did manage to reduce my oil usage by 10%.  Moving to Bioheat would also accomplish much of this goal.

I know this is small stuff, but small stuff adds up over time.  Will I buy a more efficient car the next time?  I hope so.  Will I buy a more efficient furnace the next time?  I hope so, too.  But in the meantime, I can make a few changes in habits that are not painful at all, but that reduce my use of fossil fuels in a measurable way.  It’s a small way for me to take some personal responsibility, and a way to help the rest of the world that so desperately needs the help of the US.  If the government won’t help, perhaps the people can.  

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  1. I started many years ago.  When I purchased my house over five years ago, I investigated alternative heating methods.  My house had electric base board heat and I bought it knowing that I wanted to install an alternative heating source.  My choice was an energy efficient heat pump and air handling system that is effective to about 20 degrees.  In addition, for those extremely cold winter nights, I installed a pellet stove.  The heat pump air handler helps to redistribute the heat of the pellet stove throughout the house.  I also installed an on-demand water heating system S.E.T.S., which does not waste energy 24 hours a day heating water to a temperature that must then be cooled with cold water (hot water heaters are a huge waste).  Every light bulb in my house is a CF, and I just purchased a new Prius to replace my older, less efficient hybrid.  The result is that I’ve probably reduced my energy consumption by about 50% (maybe more if I consider how much it would have cost to leave this house electric base board).  I’m still looking for more ways to save.  My computer is set to go into energy saver mode after five minutes if left on.  I always bring a large canvass bag for shopping (I never accept plastic bags).  I recycle every shred of paper, glass, etc.  My thermostat is set at 65 in the winter and 80 in the summer.  I never leave lights on in any room other than the one I am in. There are movement sensors on my outdoor lights, and I do not leave them on when I go out.  I do not put up holiday lights.  

    <

    p>If anyone has any other experiences with good products or other ways to save energy, I’d really like to hear about them.  If you are looking at replacing a water heater, I can vouch for the efficiency and reliablity of the S.E.T.S. system.  I have been using mine for over five years with no problems.

    • Anyone interested in this topic may be interested in this event tonight:

      <

      p>—

      <

      p>Sandy Creighton will be speaking at the Concord Comprehensive Sustainable Energy Committee (CSE) Meeting on Monday, December 17th, at 7:30.  The meeting, open to the public, will be held in the first floor meeting room at 141 Keyes Road.

      <

      p>Mr. Creighton is an Energy Advisor trained and sponsored by Climate Energy of Medfield, MA.  He will discuss Climate Energy’s Freewatt Micro Combined Heating and Power system, other green energy resources for the home, and how he transformed his house in Lincoln into a Green Energy Home.

      <

      p>The purpose of this presentation is to educate Committee members aswell as local residents about sustainable energy practices and technologies.

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      p>Any interested parties from Concord and beyond are invited to attend. For more information, please contact Brian Crounse at (bcrounse at gmail).  

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      p>Climate Energy website: http://www.climate-energy.com/
      CSE website: http://www.concordma.gov/pages…

      <

      p>–

      <

      p>Also, in my house I use 20% biodiesel heating oil via http://www.massenergy.com/MECA…  It’s as easy as a phone call and prices are competitive.

      • for the Climate Energy website.  It’s good to know that there are more options on the market since I installed my system.  When I buy another house, I will be looking for the latest alternatives.  On a side note, one of the things I encountered five years ago was difficulty finding plumbers and electricians who were knowledgeable or willing to install new technology.  My plumber insisted that I wouldn’t be happy with my on demand water heating system and that I should install a conventional water heater.  He was very wrong.  I hope there will be less resistance to change in the future.  

        • I had one electrician tell me, in response to my desire for some CFL recessed lights, “I’ve been installing these [normal recessed fixtures] for 30 years.”  Like some optimal stasis had been reached.

          <

          p>I’ve had mixed results with contractors in general.  A few, like my plumber and the last general contractor we used, were interested and responsive to energy efficiency issues.  And some of the technical sales guys I have dealt with (for radiant heating, in my case) have been excellent.  But others truly did not care.

          <

          p>The bottom line is, these guys don’t have to pay the operating costs for running a house, so unless they have a personal interest, they don’t generally care about efficiency unless they can somehow get a better margin out of it.  They want equipment that they know, can install quickly, and be done with it.

          <

          p>So: many consumers don’t know what their options are.  Their contractors may or may not know, and may or may not care.  It’s market failure due to the lack of diffusion of information.  

          <

          p>In my case, I’ve had a free audit done (via the municipal utility) and am paying a modest amount to get another expert in next month, to develop a coherent plan for my home’s energy systems.  With a tank of oil running nearly 4 figures these days, this will pay for itself quickly.  

          • getting contractors to install the products is the hard part.  If I had relied on contractor recommendations, I would have a hot water tank and a standard gas or oil heating unit.  I make it a point to tell people, especially contractors, how pleased I am with the choices I’ve made.  The only way I learned about alternative products was by googling and talking to people.  I actually found my heat pump at a home show.  The only problem I’ve had so far with it is finding maintenance contractors.  There’s a huge, untapped market waiting out here for people willing to learn about new technology.  

    •  * Put your TV system on a rocker switched power strip, and switch off the whole enchilada when not using it — preventing the slow trickle of power that your electronics will suck on otherwise.

      <

      p> * Unplug chargers [cell phone, etc] when not using them.  Maybe buy a Solio charger (I’ve never used one, so make no promises).

      <

      p> * Buy foodstuffs lower on the food chain, and from farmer’s markets or from other local producers.  Of course, buying in big lots helps reduce the amount of packaging per cheerio/tea bag/chicken breast.  Consider joining a co-op.

      <

      p> * Use the DMA to opt out of many direct mailings.  Don’t pay ’em to do it on the Internet — drop a postcard in the mail.  This had a significant impact on the amount of junk mail I receive.  Do the same to opt out of credit card solicitations.

      <

      p> * Buy used products when possible and sanitary.

      <

      p> * Hang your clothes to dry instead of running the dryer whenever possible.

      <

      p> * Wash your clothes and your dishes on cold, and if your dishwasher has the option, allow the dishes to “drip dry”.

      <

      p> * Every 100 pounds of junk you remove from your car, you get an extra 1% [about 3 cents off per gallon].  If your car tires aren’t properly inflated, that’s another 3% [8 cents per gallon].  Check your air pressure at least once every season and adjust accordingly.

      <

      p> * Eat less meat.  The amount of energy required to create and deliver one pound of meat is far greater than the amount of energy required to create and deliver one pound of fruit, veg, or grain.

      <

      p> * In the winter when you’re done with the oven, leave the oven door open so that the heat enters the living space.  This is only effective if the back of your oven is on an exterior wall where some of the heat would otherwise leave the oven through the back and out the house.  It’s marginal, but it’s easy.

      <

      p> * If you tend to have an under-full refrigerator, fill up some bottles with water and throw ’em in.  Cold air escapes the fridge quickly when the door is opened; more cold water means less cold air and makes it less likely that the fridge will have to cycle immediately after opening the door.  As a side benefit, this will help you drink more water which is good for your health.

      <

      p> * If you have a second fridge in the garage/basement, make a serious effort to get rid of it.  Do you really need that much cold food?

      <

      p> * Unplug appliances that slowly suck electricity in unused rooms, like a clock radio in a guest room.

      <

      p> * Use Great Stuff to seal small holes in the envelope of your home.  For example, on exterior walls you can take off the face plate on outlets and switches, and spray the foam on the outside of the box but around it, to reduce the drafts.  Note: once you start the can, you’ve got to quickly use it or the foam will dry in the hose and render the hose useless.  So, prepare the whole home first and then, once you’re ready, efficiently move from one area to the next spraying.  Also, it expands slightly, so don’t over spray.  If you’re using it around windows and doors, there’s a different formula which dries with some flex so it doesn’t bow your frames.

      <

      p> * Make sure your door sweeps are in good shape, and consider making your own door draft stoppers.

      <

      p> * Use drapes or curtains to control the amount of light and heat that enters your home year round.

      • …several months ago we had an energy audit done (courtesy of the town DeptPubWorks) and the auditor concluded that most of our energy usage was due to (ta da!) lighting.  Even though most of our light bulbs are 15 or 25 watt bulbs (our lamps are ancient reverse-painted, and we don’t want the heat from higher-wattage bulbs to damage them)  Even though we keep the computer on round the clock.  Even with the minor trickle of power used to power the TV remote sensors.  Even with the minor trickle of power used to power our Bose radios.  It was from lighting.

        <

        p>Your suggestion of putting a TV on a rocker switch–it can be accomplished just as well by unplugging the thing–is noted, but it isn’t going to have much of an effect, according to our auditor.

        <

        p>Hang your clothes to dry instead of running the dryer whenever possible

        <

        p>Interesting thought.  We’ve been doing so.  But I’ll let you know, we used to dry our laundry outside.  It got stained from droppings not only by birds, but also from trees.  Which meant that we had to re-wash them–usually at high temperatures–to get rid of the stains.  So we switched to drying in the basement, which, I’m sure you realize, requires use of fans–more electricity.  We actually do have a Miele dryer, which uses low temperature air circulation to dry things that we want to have dried in a dryer.

        <

        p>Wash your clothes and your dishes on cold, and if your dishwasher has the option, allow the dishes to “drip dry”.

        <

        p>Never.  Not only do they not come clean on cold, the “drip dry” feature ensures that they will not be appropriately free of dried-on drips.

        <

        p>Eat less meat

        <

        p>One of the reasons that people eat meat is because meat has an optimal combination of amino acids for the human body.  Vegetarianism does not provide an optimal combination, unless the vegetarians are fairly careful in their consumption.

        <

        p>In the winter when you’re done with the oven, leave the oven door open so that the heat enters the living space….  It’s marginal, but it’s easy.

        <

        p>And it’s also silly.  If you have an oven in a small kitchen, you’ll trip over the open door.

        <

        p>If you tend to have an under-full refrigerator, fill up some bottles with water and throw ’em in.

        <

        p>This actually is a tactic that I’ve been using for over a decade, particularly in a freezer.  Call it for what it is: thermal mass.  The more thermal mass that you have in a refrigerator–particularly in a freezer compartment–the less likely that you are going to increase the  temperature inside the compartment when the door is opened sufficiently to cause the refrigerator to recycle.  

        <

        p>You have to be careful with the freezer compartment, though, since water expands when it freezes.  There are other products that are not water based that would provide similar “thermal mass” for a freezer.  They aren’t as inexpensive as water, but they won’t burst when frozen.

        <

        p>Use Great Stuff to seal small holes in the envelope of your home.

        <

        p>I’m unfamiliar with that stuff, but you should be careful.  Excessive sealing of the “envelope” as you put it can seal in noxious fumes.  That was noted over two decades ago.

        <

        p>…and consider making your own door draft stoppers.

        <

        p>Used them.  They’re called “old, cheap towels” mostly along the bottom of the doors.  No mystery.

        <

        p>Interestingly, the doors in our US house, which was constructed in 1939, have rather sophisticated (for the time) air seals.  Never seen the like anywhere else.

        <

        p>Use drapes or curtains to control the amount of light and heat that enters your home year round.

        <

        p>Ah, the Italian mode of controlling temperature.  We use that in our hovel outside of Munich.  And, quite frankly, it works quite well.  Wake up at 4AM (no joke) open the windows to let in the cool air, go back to bed and seal up everything by 9AM.  It actually works quite well.

        • Pointwise:

          <

          p> * Your suggestion of putting a TV on a rocker switch–it can be accomplished just as well by unplugging the thing–is noted, but it isn’t going to have much of an effect, according to our auditor.

          <

          p>Unplugging is worse because it puts extra wear and tear on the cord, and you might find that you fray/break the plug before the TV goes kaput.  Furthermore, most folks have some combination of VCR, DVD, cable box, video game system, etc.  Putting them all on the same rocker switch is easier.

          <

          p>Sure, it’s low return — but when the high returns are gone, why not go for the low cost/low benefit returns?

          <

          p> * Hanging clothes…

          <

          p>You don’t need to point fans on clothes to get them to dry indoors.  We dry our clothes indoors year round without fans.  We put them on a rack so they don’t wrinkle, and leave ’em for a day or two in the living room, which gets plenty of sunlight, isn’t damp, and stays above 60 degrees.  No prob Bob.

          <

          p> * Never.  Not only do they not come clean on cold, the “drip dry” feature ensures that they will not be appropriately free of dried-on drips.

          <

          p>Mine come out just fine, what can I tell you?  GE dishwasher.

          <

          p> * One of the reasons that people eat meat is because meat has an optimal combination of amino acids for the human body.  Vegetarianism does not provide an optimal combination, unless the vegetarians are fairly careful in their consumption.

          <

          p>Nowhere does “eat less meat” suggest “eat no meat”.  Americans eat substantially more meat than almost every other culture on the planet.  We also have tremendous amounts of obesity and heart disease.  Maybe they’re related, maybe they ain’t — but eating less meat does substantially reduce the amount of energy consumed.

          <

          p> * In the winter when you’re done with the oven, leave the oven door open so that the heat enters the living space….  It’s marginal, but it’s easy.

          <

          p>And it’s also silly.  If you have an oven in a small kitchen, you’ll trip over the open door.

          <

          p>Why be a devil’s advocate for no reason and also refuse to read?  What part of “when you’re done with the oven” did you not get?  When you’re done with the oven, you’re almost always also done with the kitchen for the next while because… you’re eating!  When you re-enter the kitchen, you close the oven.  I have the smallest kitchen of anyone I know, and I’ve never tripped over the oven door.  Maybe I’m more nimble or observant than others.

          <

          p>

          <

          p>This list wasn’t written for you, raj.  Take what you like.  Not every thing works well for every person.  There was a specific request for what to do once the big ones (home heat, water heat, etc) were addressed.  This was an incomplete list that doesn’t apply to each and every person [be they in Germany or the US], but to pick off items and poo-poo them because they don’t fit your life style, as if your Germanic-Welleslish way of doing things is the only way, is just plain obnoxious.

          • Unplugging is worse because it puts extra wear and tear on the cord…

            <

            p>You must have a very old TV complex for this to be a problem.  In point of fact, all of our TV complexes are on “rocker switches.”  Do you know what happens when you turn off the “rocker switches”?  You have to reprogram the VCR to provide the correct time if you want to record programs.  

            <

            p>I’ve had to do that a number of times after the power goes out here in Wellesley.  I’m sure that you are going to tell me how many people are going to put up with that every time they flip the switch.

            <

            p>You don’t need to point fans on clothes to get them to dry indoors.

            <

            p>Fans aren’t required.  In our little hovel in Germany, we have a little room in which we hang clothes, and they dry quite nicely.  The fact is, however, that they will only dry if they are put in front of the Heizkoerper (radiator) in the room.  What powers the radiator?  Oil.

            <

            p>Mine come out just fine, what can I tell you?  GE dishwasher

            <

            p>If you insist.  When we used cold water, the residue was quite obvious.  That’s why we use the highest temperature possible.

            <

            p>Regarding as if your Germanic-Welleslish way of doing things is the only way you might want to take off your blinders.  Believe what you wish, but don’t presume that you have solved problems that have not been addressed by others.  If you do not wish to learn from others, please feel free to so mention.  I would consider such rather insular (aka, dumb), but feel free.

            <

            p>As an aside, when we got our Miele washing machine, the instructions were to initially wash clothing at the highest temperature possible, without detergent.  We did so, and were amazed at the amount of residual detergent that had not been rinsed out by our previous machine. We had thrown away more than a few clothes that were probably merely infested by detergent residue.

            <

            p>Americans eat substantially more meat than almost every other culture on the planet.  We also have tremendous amounts of obesity and heart disease.

            <

            p>I have no idea whether the first is correct, and probably neither do you.  If you go to a Metzgerei in Germany, you would see more than a few people buying not only meat, but also cheese products.  The rather substantial difference between Germany and the US is that Germans walk and bike, and Americans don’t.  That is the reason that Americans are more than a bit overweight.  They don’t walk.

            <

            p>What part of “when you’re done with the oven” did you not get?  When you’re done with the oven, you’re almost always also done with the kitchen for the next while because… you’re eating!

            <

            p>Some of us eat in eat-in kitchens.  Try again.

            <

            p>BTW, our little 65 qm apartment in our hovel outside of Munich has the most elegant 10qm kitchen I’ve ever seen.  Eat-in?  Most definitely yes.

            • you get a fine amino acid profile by eating legumes (beans, peas, lentils, tofu) plus grains (wheat, rice).  supplement this from time to time with nuts, eggs and dairy, and it’s not hard to nourish yourself well if you cook at home.  eating out is another matter…  we’ve been vegetarians for years and are healthy.  you are correct to imply that there is a learning curve to being healthy if going meat-free.  however, it’s a bunny hill, not The Moguls.

            • I made a bunch of suggestions.  Not all suggestions work for everyone.  You went through and addressed which ones don’t work for you, falsely implying that they don’t work in general.

              <

              p>In short: so what?  Which is why I laughed aloud when I read don’t presume that you have solved problems that have not been addressed by others.  You sir are king of applying your unique experiences in this world to every other issue, anytime, anywhere, with one of your 20 stories about the eves over your windows, a phone call from Barney Frank, your ignored committee work in Wellesley, etc.  You made exactly that presumption when you used your unique experiences to express doubt over a number of suggestions that weren’t even aimed at you in the first place, for no other reason than to chime in… even though those very suggestions do work for people, myself included.

              <

              p>

              <

              p>P.S.  As for my claim that Americans eat substantially more meat than almost every other culture on the planet.  We also have tremendous amounts of obesity and heart disease, and your comment

              <

              p>I have no idea whether the first is correct, and probably neither do you.:

              <

              p>You’re probably wrong.  And by probably, I mean you are wrong with 100% probability.  I know I’m right.  Data shows that USians eat 50%-300% more meat than most industrialized nations, and almost twice the industrialized average.  Alternative data is here, but be careful — its broken down into pork, beef and veal, and poultry, so you’ve got to add all three.  Sum ’em up, and you’ll find the US well ahead of nearly every other nation.  More data is here, but the site is a bit klunky.

              <

              p>And while it’s true that Some of us eat in eat-in kitchens, if you might trip on your stove door eating at the table/bar in your eat in kitchen, you’ve got problems my friend.

              • <

                p>More data is here Your chart is cute, but apparently you fail to understand that pork and poultry is, indeed, meat.  The US is, indeed, close to the top of the “beef and veal” chart, but I’ll clue you that the chart is incomplete.  It fails to account for Reh, Goass (sorry, Bavarian; Hochdeutsch is Ziege), Hirsch, and other meat that is consumed in Germany (don’t recall the direct translations, but they are basically deer, goats and elks).

                <

                p>Let’s understand something.  You can cite all of the self-limited studies that you want, but that would be irrelevant.  The main reason that Americans are obese is not that they consume animal flesh.  It’s because they do not exercise.  In our little town in Germany, little old ladies regularly walk their dogs along the path next to the stream.  That’s probably why they are little old ladies and not dead.

                <

                p>BTW, I will presume that you do not have the slightest idea what a quadratmeter is.  Just to let you know, the kitchen is about 10 feet by ten feet.  It would be quite difficult to avoid an open oven door in that amount of space, particularly when the door is right next to my Stuhl.

                <

                p>Let’s put push to shove.  It has become quite clear that you have no interest in what others have divined, so as far as I’m concerned you can complain as much as you wish.

                • …you are unaware of the fact that stomv’s citation was far from complete.  He (or she) made an assertion of fact and was unable to substantiate it for the reasons that I mentioned.  It is up to him or her to substantiate the assertion, not up to me to prove it not to be true.

                • Yes, I noticed that you asserted his data to be insufficient. I also noticed how you answered stomv’s data with anecdote and idle speculation. How do you know that obesity is caused by lack of exercise? Why are you so sure? Are you personally measuring the caloric intake of little old ladies who walk their dogs?

                  <

                  p>”As I presume you are not aware,” incomplete data are much better than unverifiable anecdotes from anonymous authors. I have no way of knowing whether you even exist.

                • that is, elk, deer, snake, beaver, squirrel, mountain lion, llama, camel, and assorted other meat is statistically significant when considering the US consumption of meat vs. other nations, well… you’re entitled to your opinion.

                  <

                  p>I submit to you that beef, poultry, and pork make up more than 90% of meat consumption in damn near every single industrialized nation.  If you disagree, I’d love to see some evidence… or any evidence at all that my claim [Americans eat more meat than most others] is incorrect.  If you do agree with my 90% assertion, then you’ll also agree that the other <10% doesn’t significantly alter the conclusion from the data, that is:

                  <

                  p>1.  Americans eat more meat than most other people in the world
                  2.  I knew that, you didn’t, you didn’t think that I did, and therefore, you were wrong.

                  <

                  p>So, thanks for playing!

                • Non-typical?

                  <

                  p>Non typical for whom?  Meat is meat.  You still haven’t provided any evidence that Americans eat more meat than those in other cultures.

                  <

                  p>But, I’ll put that aside and play along.  What is your real issue?  Is it increases in obesity among Americans?  Or is it the amount of energy required to produce the meat?

                  <

                  p>If it’s obesity, that could be easily dealt with.  Meat equates to calories (not exactly, but close).  Fat accumulation (obesity) is calories consumed minus calories expended.  Americans’ sedentary lifestyle, relative to other cultures, means fewer calories expended.  It really is no mystery.  Hence the increase in obesity among Americans.  BTW, the problem isn’t quite as pressing in Europe–the Europeans walk more–but they are accommodating themselves more to a sedentary lifestyle, and there has been a noted increase in flab.

                  <

                  p>If your issue is the amount of energy required to produce the meat, you really are tilting at windmills.  

                • You still haven’t provided any evidence that Americans eat more meat than those in other cultures.

                  <

                  p>Yes.  I.  Did..  You correctly point out that it only includes beef, veal, pork, and poultry, and I correctly point out that those categories make up the vast majority of meat in any country that comes anywhere near close to the amount of meat that Americans eat.  You ignore that point completely, and certainly don’t provide evidence that all other forms of meat make up more than 10% in any sizable culture.  Hunted meat and other-ranched meat is in the noise, as it contributes a few percent at most.  Therefore, the data I’ve provided still demonstrates that Americans eat far more meat per capita than most other cultures.

                  <

                  p>So, as I wrote above, thanks for playing.

                  <

                  p>Obesity isn’t my issue, it’s energy.  If obesity were my issue, I’d point out that exercise is not America’s problem.  Would we benefit?  Sure.  The reality though is that our caloric intake far exceeds what exercise could do to keep our BMIs healthy.  Fried food, heavily processed foods, and meat all contain lots of calories per ounce.  Fruit and veg don’t.  If Americans wanted to lose weight, cutting calories would be the way to do it.  If America wanted to keep the weight off, exercise would be a key component.  But, you’re the one who keeps hammering on this in an attempt for us all to forget how absolutely asinine your line of commentary has been this entire thread.  Hey!  Look over here!

                • apparently you forget that you were the first to bring up obesity here

                  <

                  p>stomv @ Mon Dec 17, 2007 at 13:43:49 PM EST

                  <

                  p>Americans eat substantially more meat than almost every other culture on the planet.  We also have tremendous amounts of obesity and heart disease.  Maybe they’re related, maybe they ain’t — but eating less meat does substantially reduce the amount of energy consumed.

                  <

                  p>As I’ve told you, and what you apparently do not wish to comprehend, is that it is not the amount of meat that Americans consume that is the cause of the obesity, it is the Americans’ relatively sedentary lifestyle.  (BTW, your chart was cute, but it was hardly persuasive.)

                  <

                  p>The reality though is that our caloric intake far exceeds what exercise could do to keep our BMIs healthy

                  <

                  p>BMI?  Is this a joke, right?  BMI is a guide, not a mandate.  I am quite familiar with BMI (mine is between 21 and 22), but I do know that people with BMIs in excess of 30 can actually have a quite low body fat level.  It depends on their muscularity.  Don’t even pretend to BS me, stomv.

                  <

                  p>Fried food, heavily processed foods, and meat all contain lots of calories per ounce.  Fruit and veg don’t.

                  <

                  p>No, that last is incorrect.  More than a few tropical fruits, such as papayas and mangoes, have lots of calories per ounce.

                  <

                  p>If America wanted to keep the weight off…

                  <

                  p>appears to be little more than the obesity mantra that you began above.  If Americans wanted to keep the weight in check, they’d go for walks.  Apparently they don’t.

                  <

                  p>Now, let’s get down to brass tacks.  I’m not exactly sure what you were referring to by “the amount of energy consumed” (thank you for letting me speculate), but….   The sun is going to continue beating on the earth regardless of whether the fields are used for grain production (some of which is used for the livestock feed) or not.  Where is the difference in energy usage there?

                • The difference in energy usage is the energy used by the animals to live.  That energy never makes it to your body.

                  <

                  p>So, the number of calories that can be generated per acre is much higher for grains than it is for animals.  After all, the animals eat the grain, and some of those calories help the animal grow, but many of those calories help the animal simply stay alive.  Those calories are the differential in energy usage.

                  <

                  p>Meat also requires more processing, thereby requiring more fossil fuel energy and human energy in the form of corralling the livestock, butchering it, slicing and dicing it, and packaging it.  There’s some required to operate a combine, but not as much.  Meat also requires more water — you’ve got to grow the grain, and then water the livestock.  In some places, water is the limited resource, and it often requires energy to get that water there.  Then there’s the energy sunk into veterinary services and carting the livestock around [hogs and broilers are rarely raised in one location; they’re carted around to specialists for the different age groups].

                  <

                  p>So, cut out the middle-meat and you’ll get more calories per acre into humans, and require less use fossil fuels during the process.

      • There were a couple here that I haven’t done.  I didn’t know about Great Stuff (although I’ve used the little insulation things under the electrical outlets and switchplates on the outside walls).  My diswasher is now just a very large drying rack (not because I like doing dishes, but because it was installed improperly and I need to get my plumber out here to fix it).  In the meantime, I believe I’m using much less water by hand washing the dishes.

        <

        p>I like the idea of buying used stuff, and I think that people are going to become more and more likely to do that.  I go to the local Restore when I’m looking for doors, switchplates, doorknobs, etc.  Old stuff can be much nicer than new.  I found a great replacement door for my three season room that was taken out of a church.  It’s beautiful, solid wood and was a fraction of the cost of a new replacement.  

        <

        p>I also hadn’t thought about the door draft stoppers.  Excellent ideas no matter what Raj thinks!

        • Even if you use one tub of warm soapy water to wash and one cold tub of water to dry, washing dishes by hand typically uses 50% or more water than a dishwasher [although no electricity].  If you just let the water run while washing, then hand washing uses even more relative to an electric dishwasher.

          <

          p>As for making improvements, just pick one or two and work at ’em until they become second nature.  Then, go for another one or two.  Incrementally improve.  It’s what you’ve been doing and will continue to do.  Me too.  We all know you can’t get to the destination without taking a single step, and then another.

      • One thing about washing dishes: hot water is used to kill bacteria in addition to cleaning them. Anti-bacterial soap can be used to kill the non-resistant germs, but excessive use of anti-bacterial agents is causing increased resistance.

        <

        p>For light switches and outlets, you can buy foam cutouts that are the right shape to insert them behind the faceplate. They will seal most of the air gaps and are easier to install correctly than great stuff (but probably more expensive too).

        <

        p>Cooling the air that leaks into or out of a refridgerator barely makes a difference. Assuming that you do sometimes need all the space in your fridge, you will have to remove the water jugs from time to time. You will waste more energy cooling water jugs over and over again then you will cooling extra air. If you can leave the water jugs in the fridge all the time, you should get a smaller fridge (when your current one needs to be replaced). The heat capacity by mass of water is 4 times as high as the heat capacity of air. By volume, it is about 4000 times higher. So if you take the water jug out and let it warm to room temperature at least once for every 4000 times you open the door, you are wasting energy. You might benefit by leaving empty sealed containers of air, which would not have such a high heat capacity. Even so, if there is a 50F temperature difference between the inside of the fridge and the outside, you are only saving about 1.5Whr each time you open the door and let all the cold air be replaced by room temperature air (which would require leaving the door open for about a minute). Even if you open your fridge 20 times a day and keep your kitchen at 80F all winter, you can only save about 10kWhr/year. Realistically, you won’t get more than maybe 3kWhr/year even if you displace all the air in your fridge with something that won’t leak out when the door is open. It is possible that putting jugs in the fridge will force you to leave the door open longer, which might lead to more air leaking out. Turning the temperature up 1-2 degrees will make a bigger difference.

        • Make sure your hot water heater and your dishwasher water are 120F.  That’s the kill-bugs level.  My dishwasher has settings hotter than that; I avoid those settings.

          <

          p>As for the face plates — the foam cutouts are easier to install, but more expensive and less effective.  Something’s better than nothing though.

          <

          p>The refridge water argument is an interesting one.  My point was to leave ’em in [not to take up temporary empty space], and since I like cold water, it works for me anyway.

          <

          p>You’re also assuming that cold water from the tap is the same temperature as room temp… I don’t think that’s the case, although admittedly cold water from the tap isn’t as cold as the fridge, so while 4000 might be reduced, it’s still greater than 0.  Where did the 1.5 Whr figure come from?

          <

          p>Agreed that changing the temp will make a bigger difference, as will having a smaller fridge.

          • The density of air is about 1.3kg/m^3. The thermal capacity of air is about 1kJ/kg K. If your fridge is at 40F and your room is at 95F, the temperature difference is about 30K. This means that the energy required to cool 1m^3 of air from room temperature to fridge temperature is about 40kJ/m^3. 3.6kJ=1Whr, so this is about 11Whr/m^3. I think an average fridge has a volume of about 1m^3 (actually more like 0.7-0.8m^3). I seem to have made some mistake in my earlier calculations that caused me to be off by a factor of 10 (this is the problem with doing things in your head and not writing down the intermediate numbers). The corrected later numbers are that completely cycling the air 20 times a day would use about 77kWhr/year. Since most fridges are a little smaller than 1m^3, most people don’t open the fridge anywhere near 20 times a day, and most people don’t hold the fridge open for long enough to completely change the air, the actual energy usage is probably closer to 10-25kWhr/year (depending on how often you open your fridge to see what you have in it). Whatever percentage of the air you displace will be the percentage of that energy you save. Displacing a gallon of air is probably worth less than 1kWhr/year unless you have a large family that opens the fridge to stare at the food all the time (which is actually very common).

            <

            p>Actually, training your family to not open the fridge before they decide what they are getting out of it would be a good way to save energy.

            • Regarding dishwashers, Euro-style dishwashers (which we have in the US) use little water, and the dishwashing detergents use quite a bit of bleach.  It is the bleach that actually gets the dishes, pots and pans clean, not the hot water.

              <

              p>Regarding your refrigerator, pay attention to the air flow patterns within the device.  There is a reason why the freezer compartments are at the top: cold air fllowing down from the freezer compartment helps chill the refrig compartment.  That’s why the freezer is above and the refrig bellow.  That is why the “thermal mass” that I mentioned elsewhere here should be predominantly in the freezer compartment.  Unless, of course, you have a 20 lb turkey there, but that probably should be thawing in your garage. And, unless I’m mistaken, people tend to open the freezer compartment far less frequently than the refrig, which would obviate most of your concerns.

              <

              p>One thing that USians could do is to eschew “frost free” refrigerators, which actually do use more than a bit of power do eliminate the frost from the compartments.  In our hovel over in Germany, we have to defrost (!) the freezer every 4 to 6 weeks.  I learned how to do that from my elderly mother in the US in the 1960s.  It isn’t difficult to do.  Remove the contents and let the thing thaw out.  And it only take a few hours, during most of which I’m twiddling my thumbs, reading a book, taking a walk (no obesity), riding my bike, watching a nature program on TV or whatever.  End, but definitely no TIC.

              <

              p>BTW, I cannot parse your notation.  “1kJ/kg K”?  1 kilojoule per kilogram.  K to me means “degrees Kelvin.”  Is that what you meant?  I understand the other notation. But degrees Kelvin?

            • I have no idea how efficient cooling devices are, but they aren’t 100%.  This could be an error in the margin, or a significant factor… but I suspect that unlike heating, cooling ain’t so easy.

              • A typical heat pump used in a fridge is about 300-400% efficient actually. Meaning that you use about 1kWhr of electricity to move about 3-4kWhr of heat outside the fridge. So the numbers are lower than what I put in those calculations. Cooling requires more complicated devices (heat pumps), but is actually easier (in an efficiency sense) than heating. The theoretical limit for the efficiency of a fridge cooling to 40F in a 95F room is about 930%, but it is rare to find a fridge with an efficiency much over 400%.

                <

                p>This is one of the reasons that air conditioning is so much cheaper than heating (the big one is that heating is done with larger temperature differences). My heater actually uses more electricity for its water and oil pumps than my air conditioner (but the air conditioner only cools one room).

                <

                p>If you can use a heat pump to heat your house, it will use far less energy than electrical resistance heating (but the cost of energy at current prices makes a heat pump only slightly cheaper than gas). However, they don’t work very well when it is below freezing out, which is why people don’t tend to use them very far north of DC. One option is ground-source heat pumps, which take heat out of the ground to heat your house. They are very expensive to retro-fit though, because you have to dig a well. Alternatively, you could use a heat pump for your September-November and March-April heating, which would reduce your heating energy usage. But in New England, there are more cost-effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

                • are much more efficient now than they have been.  Mine alone can be used to heat the house down to 15 degrees comfortably.  As I said in my previous post, I augment with a pellet stove during the coldest weather, and the air handler is effective at recirculating the heat.  There is no reason not to use heat pump this far north.  

                • A typical heat pump used in a fridge is about 300-400% efficient actually

                  <

                  p>sounds like you are describing a perpetual motion machine.  Drop the final zeros in both numbers, and I might believe them.

                  <

                  p>BTW, from what I have read, heat pumps for heating aren’t much good when the outside temperature is less that 45-50F, and require another heat source.  Go to howstuffworks.com

                • The word efficiency doesn’t quite have the same connotation in this context.  I just read a bunch of wikipedia articles on the subject.

                  <

                  p>In any case, go check out heat pump.  It corroborates much of what you wrote about the work necessary to move heat, and it also points out that heat pumps used for home heating have gotten much better in recent years.

                • I have an engineering degree heavily into physics.  It should be clear that I will not give much credence to comments that are sufficiently unclear that (to channel Wolfgang Pauli) that it is not eve wrong.

                  <

                  p>When I was a child, a friend and I designed a perpetual motion machine.  It worked not at all.

                  <

                  p>BTW, I know full well how heat pumps work.  I also know full well that they aren’t going to work at 300-400% efficiency, which was the issue.

      • Just to let you know, before we had AC installed in 1987 we were running fans all night, in the windows, to get the cool air into the house.  Do you know how good a night’s sleep you can get with that?  It’s a trade off.

        <

        p>My parents had AC installed in their house in Cincinnati in 1964.  That’s not Calcutta, either.

      • of air conditioning usually amounts to about two or three days a year, and it is more for my dogs and cats than for me (you know, the furry little critters that can’t take their coats off when it’s over 95 in the shade).  I’d love to be in Calcutta right about now.

  2. So, who’s in these partnerships?  Blue states right?  Right.  But also some purple and so-called red states.  Check the map:

    <

    p>

    <

    p>23 states are full fledged members of RGGI, MRGGRA, or WCI.  Another 9 states [plus DC] are observers — they’re involved, but haven’t committed.

    <

    p>Here’s my thought: if a state has to do it, its US Congressmen have a natural reason to expand the problem nationwide, in an effort to prevent flow of jobs from their home state to states that aren’t in a pact.  So, get 50%+1 of the House and 60% of the Senate [anti-fili], and you’ve got enough support on both sides of the aisle to get federal legislation.  Sure, some GOPers won’t represent their constituents and vote against federal-wide cap and trade even if their state has to play by those rules, but there’ll also be Dem congresscritters in states that haven’t joined a regional initiative, helping to overcome those GOPers who are stuck in the 20th century.

    <

    p>In any case, which would seem to be pickup opportunities?  For RGGI, PA and then maybe VA and NC, as both have been trending blue at the state level.  For MRGGRA, I have no idea if ND, NE, or MO would be the easiest pickup.  For WCI, Hawaii and Nevada seem like the easiest chances for pickups.

    <

    p>There are enough House members, the question is: can we get 30 states to be full fledged members in one of these pacts?  We’re at 23.  Getting to 30 isn’t so easy due to the Dirty South, but if the three regions can pick up a few here and there, we’d at least get the majority of states, which is progress.

  4. I love a lot of the suggestions here, but for the most part, they are either out of reach (money-wise) or already done or not relevant to our house.

    <

    p>I commute very short distances, and the husband takes the train. We use CF bulbs (there’s a couple more places to put some but the majority of our usage in frequented living space uses CF). We wash our cloths in cold, I only usually use “medium” or “low” settings for the dryer, and I NEVER heat-dry dishes, while making sure the dishwasher is chock-full when I run it. We just put up a ton of new insulation in the crawlspaces under all our ceilings. We got programmable thermostats, and even when home keep it at 70F (that’s as low as I can tolerate, even with sweaters…a shame I didn’t get more cold tolerance from my Quebecois heritage!)

    <

    p>We can’t afford new appliances right now (I am DYING to replace the oldish fridge with an energy-efficient one, also the washer/drayer)…that’s on my future list. I also want to eventually get one of those solar water heaters…they are more available than solar panels and more efficient (for now), and could help alleviate some of our heating costs and emissions…but all of those require investment we don’t have money for.

    <

    p>So, is there any secondary “low hanging fruit” that we’re missing?

    • We got programmable thermostats, and even when home keep it at 70F (that’s as low as I can tolerate, even with sweaters…a shame I didn’t get more cold tolerance from my Quebecois heritage!)

      <

      p>We started what I call our “degree a year” process three years ago and we’re currently at 67F. When it’s time to turn on the heat each fall, I set the programmable thermostat temps one degree cooler (both day and night). It’s worked. Maybe it’s the reverse of the “boiling the frog” effect.  It gets kicked up to 68 occasionally, but not that often. We’ll see if we can do 66 next year.

      <

      p>One thing to consider is humidity. 67F w/ 40-50% relative humidity feels much more comfortable than 3% (which is what you’d get with the current outdoor dew-point of 6F). Slant/Fin makes some nice humidifiers that are easy to maintain and do a good job.

      <

      p>

      is there any secondary “low hanging fruit” that we’re missing?

      <

      p>Reduce air travel, if applicable. One long round-trip plane ride can negate a whole year’s worth of Prius driving.

      <

      p>One other low-hanger that’s probably very minor: If I need to boil water for, say, pasta, I fill the pot hours beforehand so the water gets to room temperature before I turn the flame on.

      • …travelling from the US to Germany.

        <

        p>One point about thermostats, our little hovel outside of Munich has a programmed Buderus furnace (which also provides our hot water).  The thermostat is programmed to provide warm air within the hovel at a fairly consistent level.  

        <

        p>We also have a programmable thermostat at our hovel here in Wellesley; it goes up and down, and when we have it up here in Wellesley (as monitored by the same thermometers that we use in Munich), it is cold here.

        • We all have our versions of “it’s difficult to do A when B”, but at some point we’ll all have to face some major questions about how we live our lives. It’s human instinct to get defensive when you are told that things we considered so innocuous just a few years ago are contributing to global warming. We’ve seen this in spades from SUV owners. I suppose we’ll all go through some multi-step mental process to get to the point (if we do) that we actually make the more serious changes.

          <

          p>10% is a good start, gets the ball rolling, gets us talking about it, and raises awareness. Going beyond will be tougher.

      • Humidifiers and dehumidifiers are energy hogs.  I was amazed that half my energy bill this summer was a result of having a dehumidifier going in the basement (I’ve decided to find an alternative for next year).  I save a lot of money in the winter when the pellet stove is going by placing large trays of water all over the house (two go in front of the stove where the hot air blows over them continuously).  It’s amazing how effectively this brings up the humidity level, which may be why I can handle setting the thermostat at 65.  I also have a large sun room full of plants, and there is a lot of moisture in the room from watering.

        <

        p>As for water, I fill my pasta pot with hot water from the on-demand water heater. It makes no sense for me to use cold water and then heat it on the stove.  My mother always taught me to never use hot water for cooking (probably because of potential contaminants from the hot water tank).  With an on-demand system, you’re using fresh water as it comes in the house.  I suppose there might be some savings from filling the pot and letting it reach room temperature in the winter, but I hate cooking and want it over with as fast as possible!

        • Humidifiers and dehumidifiers are energy hogs.

          <

          p>With humidifiers, depends on your heating system.  We have forced air, and air is blown through a drum that picks up water from a reservoir.  Minimial energy usage.

          <

          p>Dehumidifiers are indeed energy hogs, but they are basically refrigerators.  Your only alternative, if you want to minimize  mold, is to open your windows and let the breeze blow through.  But that has its own problems, particularly if you have pollen allergies.

          <

          p>My mother always taught me to never use hot water for cooking (probably because of potential contaminants from the hot water tank).

          <

          p>Your mother was correct.  Contaminants collect in the hot water heater and, unless the hot water heater is drained and cleaned regularly, will get into the food.  We always use water from the cold water tap in cooking.  We also use water from the cold water tap in washing, but our washing machines heat the water themselves.

    • If you’ve done most of what you can do, first, give yourself at least a small pat on the back. Unlike a lot of Americans, you are actually doing something.  Then invite some friends for dinner, so they can see how well the CF lights work, and see that your TV or stereo is on a power strip.  It’s amazing to me that so many people have still not heard of some of the simple things we can do, or carry around misconceptions about the changes that are easy to make. One of the tasks we have is convincing our friends and families that incremental changes are not difficult or painful.

      <

      p>The key probably is incremental change.  I too would love a new energy-efficient fridge, but the old one still works and I have other spending priorities. I try to keep doing the math to figure out the point at which it would make sense to make significant purchases.  I also try to keep doing my research so that when that washing machine or furnace dies, I’m ready to convince the contractor to go green, even when it’s not in his or her comfort zone. I’ve already learned a lot from the comments in this thread.    

  5. I have recently been looking into using the heat put out by compost for hot water (and possibly heat). According to the numbers that I have found, the average household produces enough organic waste to provide all of their hot water from composting the waste if they eat dinner at home most nights. The tricky part is figuring out how to move the heat from the compost pile to your water and what to do when the compost pile can’t keep up with your hot water demand. There is also some trickiness about how to vent the compost properly if it is inside your house and how to move the water to/from the compost pile if it is outside of your house.

    <

    p>Even if you just use a regular compost pile, you still save a lot of energy. When you throw out organic materials, a garbage truck has to haul them to a landfill. I’m not entirely sure what happens to our garbage in Massachusetts, but we almost certainly use some energy to process it. Using a composting toilet makes a bigger difference, because you aren’t forcing the water treatment plant to create clean drinking water for you to piss in, and you aren’t forcing the sewage treatment plant to clean the water after you flush it away.

    • It’s probably a mistake to try to compost inside your house.  Composting not only throws off noxious fumes, but also attracts undesirable insects.

      <

      p>Mother in law in Germany has three compost heaps, and the compost residue (at least that which is not eaten by the crows) is used in her flower garden.  (We even throw out animal waste onto the compost heaps, which the crows particularly like)  Why three?  We have the space, but it also takes at least a year for the compost material to decompose.

  6. if you have a back porch that can keep out the critters, consider placing pots of warm leftovers out there to cool before putting them in the fridge.  not sure how much it saves, but it can’t hurt!

    • There is a range of temperatures within which harmful bacteria are likely to grow. Restaurants are required to limit the amount of time food can fall in that temperature range. For example, it turns out you can have a meltingly wonderful roast beef from a very cheap cut of meat if you roast it at 175 degrees. You can also get quite sick from it. That’s why no one does this.

      <

      p>I’m not sure how much of a problem this might be for one’s gratin of broccoli but it is certainly a consideration for the daube de boeuf.  

      • i’m speaking about this time of year, when the home porch is at least as cold as the fridge.  if the porch is below freezing, this method is only good for stuff destined for your freezer unless you are very attentive.

    • Cooling the food to room temperature is a good chunk of the energy savings — and the warm food then warms the air in your home!  Plus, no worries about critters and you’re less likely to forget about the food.

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