Energy Efficiency and the Environment

From: Doug Rye

Dear Friend,

You can do your part to help save the environment by having an energy efficient home.

Energy efficient homes do the following:

• prevent thousands of tons of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere

• require less need for power-generating plants and less need for oil drilling

• require less dependency on foreign energy suppliers; everyone in America is being affected by this dependency today. 

You have two choices: Waste It or Use It Wisely. You can pay a little more each month on your mortgage or pay a lot every month to utility companies.

How is energy wasted?

• The average house has 400 cubic feet per minute (CFM) of leakage in the ductwork alone.  Put this in terms that are easier to understand, most kitchen trash bags are three cubic feet, which means there are about 130 kitchen bags of air leaking out of your house and into your attic or crawl space every MINUTE your unit is running. 

• In one out of three homes, the ductwork is totally disconnected in at least one place, which means the air you paid to heat or cool is being discharged and wasted somewhere instead of heating and cooling your home. 

That's a lot of wasted air! If we fixed all the ductwork in America, we wouldn't have to build another generating plant for years.

Dependency on fossil fuels causes destruction of millions of acres of America's wilderness.  Oil drilling has already made its way into Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, which was once pristine and is now covered with thousands of miles of roads and pipelines. 

Burning fossil fuels from power plants and gas furnaces releases thousands of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas responsible for global warming.  America is the world's largest contributor to global warming emissions. It would be foolish not to implement solutions.

Everyone has heard of global warming and green house gasses (GHG).  GHG's, which are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, have a heat-trapping property that doesn't allow heat to escape through the earth's atmosphere.  Instead, it is trapped in the atmosphere and leads to global warming.

Our inefficient heating and cooling systems by far have the greatest impact on global warming. About 2,700 pounds of carbon per person per year is emitted from burning fossil fuels for electricity in our homes. The average heating/cooling unit emits 4,500 pounds of carbon per year. 

Rising temperatures from global warming are expected to raise sea levels and change weather patterns around the globe. Changing regional climates could alter crop yields, reduce our forests, and challenge our water supplies. It could also affect human health, animals, and many types of ecosystems. Deserts may expand into existing rangelands, and features of some of our national parks may be permanently altered.

Recycle by Using Cellulose Insulation

For economical and ecological reasons, I recommend using cellulose insulation.  Cellulose insulation is nothing more than recycled newsprint.  By using recycled newsprint, we conserve tons of paper that would have gone into landfills, so we save expensive landfill space and help recycling programs.

Cellulose has the highest recycled content of any insulation product.  The cellulose industry averages a minimum of 75% recycled newspaper, and the fiberglass industry averages 35% recycled glass in its insulation.  Using recycled newspaper in cellulose insulation saves millions of trees.

What factors are to blame for increased global warming?  One factor that increases global warming is carbon dioxide (CO2).  When trees (or any other fossil fuels, coal, natural gas, propane, etc.) are burned, carbon dioxide is released.  CO2 traps the heat in the atmosphere, not allowing it to escape.  One step in solving the global warming problem around the world is to build energy-efficient homes and use energy-efficient products, such as cellulose insulation and geothermal heat pumps.

Renewable Energy

Why is geothermal energy renewable?  Geothermal is nothing more than absorbed solar energy, which is a renewable energy source.  The earth absorbs about 50% of the sun's energy that reaches the earth's surface.

In physics, there are two types of energy: potential and kinetic.  Let's think of a loaded spring.  When the spring is stretched, it has potential energy (no movement).  When the spring is released, it has kinetic (moving) energy.  Solar energy in the earth is potential energy waiting to be used.

Efficient and Reliable Energy

A geothermal heat pump is four to five times more efficient in fuel conversion than a gas furnace.  One benefit of the super efficiency is a longer lifespan of the equipment.  The lifespan of geothermal units is estimated to be 22 years by the U.S. Department of Energy.  I have had geothermal in my own home for 17 years.  The most energy-efficient central heat and air and the highest-rated HVAC units are by far geothermal heating and cooling systems. 

Endorsed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DoE), geothermal energy is the most energy efficient and environmentally friendly  heating and cooling option available.  

The Effect of CFC's (ChloroFluoroCarbons) on the Ozone Layer

What products are damaging the ozone layer? Studies have shown that CFC's, which contain chlorine, fluoride, and carbon, are a major contributor to ozone depletion. CFC's were once thought to be a great substance for air conditioning systems in homes, cars, and many other applications.    

How does the ozone layer affect the environment?  The ozone layer protects the earth from ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun.  UV rays break down CFC compounds, releasing the three elements, with chlorine being the most detrimental.  The released chlorine destroys ozone molecules.  One chlorine atom can destroy more than 100,000 ozone molecules.  Chlorine atoms destroy ozone atoms faster than they can be created.

The ozone layer is in danger because CFC's have been used in all air conditioners in homes and automobiles for the past 20 years.  Studies have shown an ozone hole over Antarctica in spring, where ozone levels have fallen by 60%.  Ozone depletion is a worldwide problem.  The ozone layer in America can fall five to ten percent throughout the year.  A reduction of ozone in the atmosphere means an increase in UV radiation.  Excess exposure to UV radiation causes melanoma skin cancer, harms certain crops, and kills marine life.

In 1987, the government mandated a phase out of older systems that used ozone- chlorofluorocarbons).  One of the solutions to ozone layer depletion is the environmentally friendly chemical Puron^TM.  Several models of the new geothermal systems are Puron geothermal units.

More facts on the ozone layer can be found at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Website.