"The U.S. has an energy resource that is perfectly clean, remarkably cheap, surprisingly abundant and immediately available."

Bill Decker, SR highly recommends these excerpts from:

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008
Time Magazine - Wasting Our Watts
By Michael Grunwald

The U.S. has an energy resource that is perfectly clean, remarkably cheap, surprisingly abundant and immediately available. It has astounding potential to reduce the carbon emissions that threaten our planet, lesson our dependence on foreign oil that threatens our security and the energy costs that threaten our wallets, and we don't need to import it.

This miracle is energy efficiency, and it's often ignored and it's a simple concept: wasting less energy. Or more precisely, consuming less energy to get the same amount of heat for your shower, light for your office and power for your factory. It turns out to be much less expensive, destructive and time-intensive to reduce demand through efficiency than to increase supply through new drilling or new power plants.

There are two basic ways to save energy without deprivation or daily effort. We can use more efficient machinery, like fuel-efficient cars that guzzle less gas, or those pigtailed compact fluorescent lightbulbs that use 75% less power than traditional bulbs, or state-of-the-art refrigerators that are three times as efficient as 1973 models. We can conserve energy. It is as simple as caulking doors and windows and otherwise weatherizing our homes to avoid heating our attics and the outdoors. And since buildings devour two-thirds of our power, we are talking about tremendous opportunity to save vast amounts of energy.

If the experts consider it such a win-win no-brainer, why don't we already do more of it? Part of the answer involves marketing; even superefficient motors, boilers, routers and compressors lack a wow factor, and politicians don't get to cut ribbons for efficiency tweaks. But most of the answer involves money. We complain about the cost of our energy, but we still waste a lot of it. Most efficiency investments pay for themselves within three years, but all require at least some up-front costs. Even home and business owners who do reap the benefits of efficiency are often reluctant to shell out for top-of-the-line furnaces, energy efficient windows. Those $3 twisty bulbs are a classic example: they last eight times as long as regular bulbs, and their payback period is a few months. Companies like DuPont, Dow, Cisco and Wal-Mart have all saved big bucks by greening buildings, vehicles and operations, and a burgeoning industry of high-tech energy-services companies is helping businesses reduce their energy bills in exchange for a slice of the verifiable savings. At Honeywell, a $36.6 billion company, half its portfolio is now related to efficiency. And even utilities that lack incentives to reduce overall demand are trying to reduce peak demand so that they don't have to turn on costly plants or buy expensive power on the open market." Efficiency is the best cost-effective energy source that addresses global warming, energy dependence and volatile prices.

What is Green Building?
Blog Archive

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Green Building means building our homes and workplaces healthier, more energy efficient, more comfortable, more durable, safer and more afforable to operate. Decker Homes' provide shelter and safety, a social haven for our families. Ourhomes must be built for the present and the future. We have to consider economics, social issues, and the environment.We must look at all the functions of our homes and strive to make themwork more efficiently. Building Green homes forcuses on key areas that influence many differant and interrelated functions of the building, considering the following:Energy conservation, Energy Efficiency, Indoor Air quality, Water conservation,Ventalation & vapor control, Construction material life cycle cost and site integration.Green Building is clearly here to stay increasing our ability to make the future a betterplace for everyone. It is important for us all to know about Green Building for thefollowing reasons:
1) It is the right thing to do to realize financial savings,health benefits and a better quality of life for our families and ourcommunities;
2) Green Building involves including the best innovations being developed to lead our society into the future; Green Building simplymakes homes better. Welcome to the future! Energy is the place to start with Green Building, because it is where youwill save money and energy used to operate your home. Michigan and Ohio import most of the fossil fuel used for producing traditional energy, Oil, Natural gas and Coal. In fact, each state spends about $20 Billion Dollars per year to import these fuels into their state. The energy you save helps keep more money in the local economy. Energy saving improvements also lessen the effects of climate change caused by burning fossil fuels.

What can you do?
If your buying a new home look for a Certified Energy Star Home. http://www.energystar.gov/ Note: the lower the rating the more efficient the home. The rating startsat 100 (code) and goes down to zero, a home must register at least 85 to be approved byEnergy Star. If your upgrading an existing home consider the following conditions: The House Shell (e.g. how much insulation, and places where heat and cool air can leave the house); House Systems (e.g. your heating system, lighting, appliances, etc.);Occupant Behavior (e.g. leaving the TV on when not watching it). Low-cost
1. Improve the house shell - eliminating air leaks in the home is crucial for lowering energy bills.
2. Lighting, fluorescent bulbs are more expensive to buy at $5 each, but will save between $35 - $70 each over the life of the bulb. Also, consider LED bulbs, they last 10 to 20 years and operate at less than half the cost of fluorescentand only 10% of the cost of operating a incandescent bulb.
3. Turn off lights and appliances when not in use - Also turn your heating thermostat down or turn your air conditioning thermostat up when no one is home for a few hours or more. Every 1 degree that you turn down yourthermostat for 8 hours saves approximately 1% off your heating bills.
4. Use free heat and light from the sun - Open curtains and blinds to make use of daylight that your home has available and increase free heat from the sunon south facing windows.
5. Get a Home Energy Rating - If you're planning a major renovation tothe home or buying new, consider getting a Home Energy Rating. This rating will give you important information about the costs and savings associated with different renovation options. It is the smart way to savemoney and spend your renovation dollars wisely.
6. Buy Energy Efficient Equipment - When you buy equipment orappliances for your house, seek energy efficient options by looking for the Energy Star label.
7. Renewable Energy - Geothermal systems can save you up to 50% on the cost of heating, cooling and hot water heating, Wind power is now competitive withtraditional produced electricity, and solar electric systems are competive at peak periods. The cost of renewable energy systems is dropping while your electric company is raising rates.

Additional Energy Resources:DOE Efficiency and Renewable Energy Website: http://www.eere.energy.gov/Alliance to Save Energy: http://www.ase.org/