Will Reduce My Carbon Footprint for Cash

Much is being made of "reducing our carbon footprint." I'm in favor of that -– to a point. I look for carbon-reducing steps that also save me money and/or make my life more pleasant! As I see it, if a carbon reducing strategy costs more, then often the wisdom of selecting that option is highly suspect.

For instance, I like using energy-saving florescent bulbs. I've used the big florescent lights in my fully equipped, professional office in the home for about 30 years. I also use the newer compact florescent bulbs whenever they fit with the demand, which fortunately is most of the time.

(BTW, as I see it, the mercury scare concerning florescent bulbs is VASTLY overblown. It takes the mercury in about 350 compact florescent bulbs to equal the amount in one thermometer. Besides, where's the epidemic of mercury poisonings from 50+ years of office florescent bulb usage?)

Another minor energy efficiency/planet saving step -– a step that particularly interests me -– is to turn off your vehicle engine when sitting for awhile in idle. I'm always annoyed to go to (actually BY) the Costco gas station where cars are lined up 6 deep (three gas-up cycles at the two pump stations) and see that probably 80% of the cars are never turned off while they wait.

Automotive studies indicate that modern cars idling as little as 30 seconds or more can save energy if they are shut off while waiting, even counting the restart. 30 seconds is extreme, of course, but I cut my engine if I anticipate a minute or longer wait is expected. I've done this for at least 15 years, and my cars have never shown the slightest degradation from such decisions.

One touted strategy I totally reject is to drive at 55-60 MPH on the freeways. That may or may not save much gas (depending on your car, gear ratio, running the A/C etc.). But it surely gets you where you want to be at a later time. And I value my time. Whatever small extra cost or minuscule environmental damage my more efficient higher speed travel entails is worth it to me.

However I DO drive with a VERY light foot on the gas pedal. I don't jump off the line when accelerating, an obvious gas savings. The best way to think of this is to pretend that you are stepping on an egg which in turn pushes your gas pedal. Not that temptation is absent -– I drive my son's car while he works back east, a Lexus IS 300.

But I also try to anticipate what is coming up (stop lights, brake lights, etc.) and coast whenever appropriate (staying in gear so as to not put unwanted wear on the transmission). Ideally one doesn't stop completely when coming up to a stoplight, so some of the vehicle's kinetic energy is used to resume one's movement when the light changes.

Unsubsidized solar electricity does not yet make economic sense, but it will soon. The current expensive arrays used to collect solar power will surely be replaced by far more cost effective, efficient systems -– perhaps using nano-technology. Solar will make sense sooner if we go to "time of day" pricing to cut back the need for peaker plants. Solar is perfect for peak times of day when A/C demand taxes the power grid. And such time of day pricing is rapidly becoming practical [– even on the residential level.

Here's the one option I particularly recommend: A whole house fan. That's a BIG fan mounted in the ceiling that pulls in air from outside the house (make sure the windows are open!) and blows it into the attic (make sure you've got passive wind turbines or gables, or eves as air exits in the roof) -– cooling both the house and the attic.

Such a fan is not cheap to buy and install, but quickly pays for itself in saved A/C costs. When we moved to San Diego's Scripps Ranch area, we bought a house with quite a good central A/C unit. Nevertheless, we paid about $800 to have an "airplane fan" installed in the second floor ceiling to blow into our attic. It has a low "quiet" speed and a high "hold on to heavy furniture" speed. My guess is that it saves us AT LEAST $300 a year (net of fan operational costs) in A/C costs. Moreover, it makes the house much more comfortable during the warm times that don't quite justify using the A/C.

The trick with this fan is to run it in the late afternoon and evening -– and perhaps all night on low speed. Cool down the house (usually into the 60's) and then in the morning, turn the fan off and seal up the house. In the summer, that coolness lasts until about 2-3 PM when things can start to get uncomfortable, and you may want to park yourself in front of a fan. Then about 4:30-5:30 PM, you open the house and fire up the fan on "high."

We've been in our neighbors' un-air conditioned houses during warm weather, and our house is at least 10-15 degrees cooler without turning on our A/C. We still run our A/C for at least part of the day maybe a week to 10 days a year, when things just get too hot for the house fan to completely solve the discomfort. Even then, the cool morning house means we need less A/C cooling during a hot day.

For more details on this kind of "air conditioning" house fan, read this PDF:
http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/info/documents/pdfs/26291.pdf