DID YOU KNOW . . . ?
A NEW ENERGY SERIES BROUGHT TO YOU
BY THE CORNISH & PLAINFIELD ENERGY COMMITTEES
If you have any energy-saving ideas you would like to share, please email Joanna Sharf at josharf@gmail.com.
May 11 Did You Know?.... what Hugelkulture is
I try not to use commercial fertilizer and found manure hard to deal with at my age. So, two years ago I tried to improve three garden beds with really depleted soil, each 8’ x 2’, using the Hugelkultur method. I moved the top soil to the side and dug down a shovel width, filled the trench with leaves and dead branches and old wood lying around, covered it with more leaves and my mcompost then put the top soil back. The top soil wasn’t very good so planted red clover as a cover crop to replenish it with nitrogen. Big mistake, red clover grows over a foot tall. There are many other clovers to choose from so tried white clover early this spring. I’m waiting to see how it works. The result of adding the wood underneath raised the bed in a nice way. It keeps the mulching in the pathways. It also sequesters, for a while, the carbon from the decomposing wood under the soil and has an added benefit of encouraging fungal growth which holds water.
May 18 Did You Know?.... Cornish Elementary has all new LED lighting
Last summer, the Cornish Elementary School replaced ALL of its fluorescent light fixtures with LED's. They also installed occupancy sensor switches in the rooms, so that lights will turn on only when someone is in the room. This project was spearheaded by the newly re-activated School Facilities Committee led by Alexys Wilbur and Bill Knight.
NHEC (the utility) funded the project, so the school didn't have to pay anything up front. The utility paid for 50% of the project outright, and gave the school a 6% loan for the other half. The school will pay off the loan in an amount equal to or less than its normal electric bill each month for about 6-1/2 years (about $5,500 per year), and thereafter the school will benefit directly from much lower electric bills.
Prior to the new LED installation, the school's annual electric usage was approx. 160,000 KWh, costing about $27,000. The new LED lights are projected to save the school between 40,000 and 50,000 KWh per year, a 28% reduction in electricity used, and a net savings in dollars of between $5,500 and $6,500 per year.
On top of this, the school will be saving about $4,000 extra per year on the cost of bulb & ballast replacement (no longer necessary with LED's!).
The new lights are projected to last 50 thousand hours, or more than 25 years in the typical classroom and hallway.
Many thanks to the School Facilities Committee for saving the school money and reducing the school's carbon footprint!!
May 25 Did You Know?.... about Induction Cooktops
Did you know that a new type of electric cooktop has appeared on the scene over the last 5 years? It is called an induction cooktop. They are available as a stand-alone one or two-burner hot plate design ($50 to $150) or as an electric 4-burner range with the normal electric oven below ($900 and up).
They work by a very old principle: an alternating magnetic field below the cooking surface induces eddy currents in the bottom of the pan which generates heat. The bottom of the pan has to be made of a material with magnetic properties such as steel, cast iron, or magnetic stainless. So not all cookware will work but induction ready cookware is cheap to buy if needed.
The cooktop has a smooth top surface like some electric stoves but no heat is generated at the surface -- only in the pot itself. Of course the stove surface can get a little hot from heat radiating down from the pot, but it does not get very hot compared to the very hot coils in a regular electric stove. Because only the pot gets hot, it is very fast acting and efficient. There are very precise power settings and usually a simple timer so you can cook food like rice for an exact length of time.
If you take a pot off, the cooktop will sense that, and the burner will stop automatically. The cooktops run on regular 120 volts and are rated at around 1500 watts, so you may not be able to run something like a toaster at the same time on the same circuit. The induction ranges need a 240V circuit like any electric stove.
I now consider gas a step backwards in control and heating power. Besides, propane and natural gas create CO2 and are not renewable, but our electricity is getting more renewable all the time. If you have the opportunity, consider this option. They are available everywhere, but always do online research before buying.
June 1 Did You Know?.... About HEMPCRETE
Over the past 10 years, a new building product called HEMPCRETE has been introduced for use as insulation and structural support in buildings. It is made from the woody part of the industrial hemp plant (the hurd) that is mixed with lime and water. This forms a slurry that is usually poured into a mold that is cast around a structural frame and left to cure.
Hempcrete is uniquely advantageous because:
1. It has great thermal qualities.
Hempcrete has an R-value of 2 to 3.5 per wall inch. Hemp walls are usually 12" thick, and thus have an R-value of 25. Compared to other masonry construction materials, hempcrete does a better job of storing heat -- it will absorb heat during sunny days and release it into the building when the sun goes down. It can be used as roof, wall, floor and slab insulation. It cannot be used underground, however.
2. It has useful structural qualities.
Once hempcrete is fully cured, it turns into petrified rock, and can last for hundreds of years. At the same time, hempcrete weighs six to eight times less than standard concrete. Hempcrete doesn’t have the structural capacity to fully support roof loads, but cast around conventional wall framing or double-stud framing, it can help restrain the studs from bending or buckling under loads, thereby increasing the load that can be carried by each framing member.
3. It is excellent at absorbing & managing moisture.
The hurd of the hemp plant is highly durable yet porous and comprised of strong cellulose (capable of going from wet to dry and vice versa almost indefinitely without degrading). Hempcrete is therefore breathable -- it can both absorb and release moisture and is thereby great at regulating humidity.
4. Mold resistant.
The advantage of hempcrete over other plant-fibre materials and conventional insulation types is found in the properties of the lime binder. Lime has a high pH and is inherently antimicrobial and antifungal.
5. Fire resistant.
Mixing hemp with lime binder, when done in a consistent manner, creates a non-flammable material, providing flame resistance for up to two hours. It can therefore pass all building fire code regulations. For hempcrete to heat and decompose instantly, it needs very high temperatures of up to 900 degrees.
6. Pest resistant.
Hemp is also an excellent pest deterrent due to its high pH value.
7. It sequesters CO2.
While hemp grows (just like all plants), it absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But what makes the hemp plant stand out is its ability to absorb carbon even after it is harvested and used as a building material through the process of “carbonation”. This is the process where the lime-based binder absorbs carbon from the air continuously over time, petrifying the hemp hurd.
Hempcrete sequesters 110 kilograms of CO2 for every cubic metre of material (taking into account emissions created from producing the lime binder). A ton of hempcrete is estimated to absorb & sequester an additional 25% of its own weight over 100 years.
8. It is non-toxic.
Hempcrete does not off-gas or release any toxins into the indoor environment.
9. It is renewable & rejuvenates the soil.
Industrial hemp plants have very deep roots which naturally aerate the soil and put nutrients into the soil instead of taking them out.
Industrial hemp is also a hardy plant that is unaffected by many insects, and it grows in dense clusters which prevent weeds from growing, so it doesn’t require pesticides or herbicides to grow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d_wsoZS6j0
Building development called The Triangle in U.K. using hempcrete:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R7JJHKnUFo
June 8 Did You Know?.... About the efficiency of Electric Vehicles
A number of factors have been coming together to hasten the widespread use of electric vehicles. Some of them are:
1. Electric motors are more efficient than internal combustion engines (around 90% efficiency, as opposed to around 40% efficiency).
2. Electric vehicles are much easier and cheaper to maintain than gas-powered vehicles. (Drivetrain in a Tesla electric vehicle has 17 moving parts, compared to 200 or so in a typical drivetrain for an internal combustion engine.)
Just as the transition from horse and buggy reached a tipping point in the early 20th century, there is evidence that we are reaching that same tipping point for the transition from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles.
Watch this video with Tony Seba of Stanford University to
learn more!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2b3ttqYDwF0
June 15 Did You Know?… Alternatives for Storing Electricity
One of the major drawbacks to renewable sources of energy is their variability. The wind does not always blow, the sun does not always shine, the water does not always flow, and the tides have times when they are not running. When those systems are generating electricity, there are times when they are generating more than the local system needs. Does the excess get sold for use by others or is it stored for use when it is needed?
The answer, of course, could depend on whether you are an individual homeowner with solar panels on your property or a utility buying renewable power generated on a larger scale and sold to them by the generator. And for the homeowner, the answer will vary depending on your utility and the state in which you live.
In a series of short pieces over several weeks, we will explore some of the alternatives for storing electricity generated by renewable sources.
If a homeowner has solar panels and owns the batteries, the batteries can be charged from the solar panels, not the grid. When the utility power is serving the house, the power generated by the solar panels goes first to charge the batteries, then to power the house. If the panels are generating more than is needed in the house, the excess goes back into the grid as a credit against the homeowner’s electricity usage.
During a power outage, the batteries power just the household circuits connected to them. The switch from the utility to the batteries and back happens so quickly that the homeowner will not even notice that it has happened. During a prolonged utility outage, a home array of panels will recharge the batteries when the sun is out as long as the panels are not covered with snow or ice.
We installed a battery in October 2019 to supply our critical circuits subpanel. Since then, there have been about 20 outages ranging from 5 minutes to just over 10 hours; most of them we never noticed.
July 20 Did You Know?.... About Solar Cookers
You can cook from the sun. If you have an adventurous streak you might want to explore solar cooking. During this period of pandemic caution we are avoiding eating out which likely means more cooking at home. For some of us it also means a lot more time at home to do things. For us, solar cookers might be viewed as a toy or novelty; but in other parts of the world they are very important for cooking without having to burn scarce wood. If you want to do more than sun tea it will require some investment in time and/or money to obtain a cooker. They all use a simple technology of concentrating sunlight by reflection into a smaller area. Buying a solar cooker online can cost anywhere from $50 - $500 but it can also be made at home. In addition to learning a new way of cooking you will also be able to cook without CO2 emissions.
Here is a link for more details from our Energy Committee:
http://www.cornishnh.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/solarcookers-1.pdf
July 27 Did You Know?.... EV Charging Stations
The City of Lebanon, NH is the second municipality in the US to contract with Electrify America to build and run electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. Electrify America’s mission is to build a network of EV charging stations in the US with its focus first to build these stations in cities and second to build EV charging stations on major transportation corridors.
The charging station location proposed by Lebanon, opposite the CCBA and close to the Mascoma Greenway, attracted Electrify America because it is close to a major interstate highway (I-89) and it is in the heart of the city. The site is within easy walking distance of restaurants, bathrooms and local attractions so it provides a pleasant customer experience for people using the charging stations. Also, Electrify America is encouraging local Lebanon artists to create murals on the walls of the charging pad in order to make the pad more attractive.
Initially, Electrify America will build a charging pad containing four DC fast charging stations, providing up to 360 kW of power each, with the option to add two more DC fast charging stations in the future. These charging stations are powerful enough to completely charge a vehicle in 20 minutes, assuming that that the vehicle can accept the high charging input. Most existing electric vehicles do not accept a 360kW feed, for instance the Nissan Leaf accepts a maximum of 100kW, and so will take longer to charge. In order to minimize demand charges the charging station pad incorporates a battery, which will supply needed power without creating a large drain on the power grid, when several vehicles are charging at the same time.
If permitting work can be completed soon, the charging stations should be available for use by the end of 2020, but they will definitely be available by December 2021. Lebanon will benefit from these charging stations both from the rental income that it receives from Electrify America, and by the increased business that will be generated by customers of the charging stations.
Aug 3 Did You Know?... COMMUNITY POWER IS COMING TO NH!! PART I
IT CAN REDUCE ELECTRICITY COSTS & PROMOTE RENEWABLE ENERGY
Did you know that in 2019 Governor Sununu signed into law RSA 53-E which makes it easier for NH towns to purchase electricity at wholesale prices directly for their residents and businesses? Towns, cities and counties can effectively become procurers of electricity and can choose where their electricity comes from, without relying on the utility companies. The law also allows towns to join together to create a broad customer base, thereby enabling bulk purchasing power at lower prices. The utilities would still own, operate and maintain the Grid and enable transmission of electricity through their poles and wires.
Not only would this allow towns to lower electrical costs for consumers, but it would also give towns the ability to promote the purchase of green power, organize the building of local renewable energy, provide incentives for energy efficiency, and take advantage of innovative new technologies.
The Cornish Energy & Plainfield Energy Committees think Community Power would be beneficial to our towns, and help us reach our 100% renewable energy goals. We will be writing more about this next week.
Aug 10 Did You Know?... COMMUNITY POWER IS COMING TO NH!! PART 2
IT CAN DEMOCRATIZE ENERGY PROCUREMENT THROUGH LOCAL CONTROL
Last week we wrote about a new law in NH that allows towns to buy electricity directly for their residents & businesses, bypassing the utilities. A municipality that draws on a broad base of its residents to purchase electricity in bulk is called a Community Power Aggregation or CPA. Many local NH governments—cities, towns, and counties—are eager to create CPAs to achieve local energy goals. Specific goals of CPAs may include:
1. Democratize energy governance through local control and greater choice in energy
procurement;
2. Reduce and control energy costs;
3. Procure renewable energy and develop new local renewable energy
systems;
4. Harness New Hampshire-based energy resources and encourage
innovations;
5. Improve resilience of critical facilities (create micro-grids with
battery back-up power for use in case of emergency).
In order to achieve these goals, and empower all NH communities with the resources to
achieve their own energy goals, a group of cities, towns, and counties are working together to establish Community Power New Hampshire (CPNH). CPNH will be a new locally-governed public power nonprofit that provides services to enable and empower CPAs. The goal of CPNH will be to support communities to develop their own CPAs and to join CPNH, if they choose.
Currently, about 30 communities in NH are interested in harnessing community power, including Hanover, Lebanon, Plainfield, Concord, Keene and Nashua. This number will probably increase to include many more NH towns.
Aug 27 Did You Know?. . . BREAKDOWN OF OUR ELECTRICITY RATES:
[WHAT'S IN OUR ELECTRIC BILLS?]
[WHAT ARE ALL THOSE CHARGES IN OUR ELECTRIC BILLS?]
Retail electricity rates in NH can be as high as 18 cents per kiloWatt hour (kWh), some of the highest in the nation. The cost per kWh is broken down into two parts: Supply & Delivery.
Supply rates are determined by the competitive market (approx. 8 cents/kWh).
Delivery rates are determined by the utility (which has a monopoly) (approx. 8 cents/kWh).
The Supply rate consists of:
· An average of 3.3 cents for actual electricity! (which can fluctuate hourly in the market)
· 2.7 cents for capacity (based on a single hour of annual peak load)
· 0.7 cents for Renewable Portfolio Standard (cost of compliance with state goals)
· 1 to 2 cents for Energy Suppliers (intermediaries between wholesale market & customers)
The Delivery rate consists of:
· 1.7 cents for transmission (based on monthly peak loads)
· 4 cents for Distribution (your local utility; prices set by the Public Utilities Commission)
· 1 cent for stranded costs (bad investments averaged across all rate payers)
· 0.7 cents for System Benefits Charge (funding for NHSaves energy efficiency programs)
Part of the 2.7 cents we pay for capacity (peak power) is used to pay $20-$50 million annually to the Merrimack Coal Station, even though that power plant rarely generates power. We pay it to just be there IN CASE we need it.
NH transmission costs are growing, while the same costs in other New England states are declining. Monthly peak loads drive transmission costs.
Energy efficiency, solar power, batteries and other NH-based technologies can lower capacity and transmission costs.
Sept 5 Did you Know?... Microwave Ovens Save Energy!
Around the turn of the [21st] century I read in some scientific journal that microwave ovens had reduced U.S. Energy consumption by 2%. That's an astounding achievement for a single appliance! I would imagine that number is greater now. The main reason for the five-fold increase in efficiency is that microwaves heat the food, and not the [microwave safe] container.
The average yearly energy cost for running a microwave is about $17. The idle power for the clock, etc. is about one watt (according to new standards), which costs about 44 cents per month, or $5.26 per year. New U.S. energy standards for microwaves will save $4.6 Billion/year, and prevent 38 Million metric tons of CO2 emissions/year, which is equivalent to taking 12 Million cars off the road.
There is perhaps some unfounded concern about radiation from microwave ovens, but there is little evidence of that, and we can consider instead the documented negative effects of, for example, gas, which is poisonous, explosive, and carcinogenic, and is now recognized as a source of indoor pollution due to the combustion products.
Sept 12 Did You Know?... Installing solar pays better interest than the market!
Many people look to the stock market for the best interest rates. But did you know that installing solar will give you a better return on your money than the market?
The average retirement account gets roughly what the market gives. That varies, but over the long term -- if you're lucky -- it sits at about 10%; most people actually get closer to 8 or 9%.
Now, installing solar panels on your house? That’s about a 13% return on investment here in New Hampshire, and closer to 16% on average nationwide. (If the up-front cost is what's scaring you away from solar, you can very easily access low interest energy loans these days that let you do it for no money up front.)
Switching all the lightbulbs in your house from incandescent bulbs to LED? That’s somewhere in the neighborhood of a 31% return on investment here in New Hampshire. Or weatherizing your home? With NHSaves subsidies, that will generate savings in heating costs from the get-go.
The way things have been done for a long long time -- the way we build most houses, for example, or the money spent on most home remodeling projects or on a new gas-powered car -- actually have a negative return on investment.
If we start to think differently about the best way to spend our money, we might recognize that getting rid of fossil fuels and fighting climate change is the best wealth-generating opportunity on the planet.
https://www.nhpr.org/post/ask-sam-whats-inexpensive-way-fight-climate-change#stream/0
https://www.solarpowerrocks.com/new-hampshire/
Dec 7 Did You Know?... Electric Vehicle Charging for Dummies
If you are considering buying a battery electric vehicle you need to understand the range that you can get when you charge your vehicle, and particularly that the range will depend on many factors. To truly understand, you will need to understand the language of electricity.
You may think electricity is just too complicated, and when it comes to electric vehicles, manufacturers and charging station operators try to dumb it down for you. Instead of telling you the actual power rating of a charging station, they’ll tell you how many miles of range you can get per minute or hour of charging. Instead of telling you the size of your car’s battery pack, they’ll tell you how far it goes on a charge.
The problem is that EVs don’t all go the same distance on a given amount of electricity, and the distance you can go will also depend on the weather, your driving habits, how much you’re using the air conditioning or heater, and other factors. There is no correct and consistent way to say how many miles of range a given charger can deliver per hour of charging time.
It’s better to just learn the units. It’s not hard. To that end, the Rocky Mountain Institute has a short introduction that explains:
· Learning the Units - Kw and kWh
· Charging Station Power Rating
· Different Levels of EV Charging Stations
· EV Battery Sizes
· EV Range
You can find this explanation at RMI Electric Vehicle Charging for Dummies. Go ahead and master this language! It’s the future.
Dec 14 Did You Know? … What is a heat pump clothes dryer?
A traditional clothes dryer works by heating air hot enough to evaporate the moisture in the clothes. A fan inside the dryer pulls air from the laundry room, through the dryer, and vents the moist air to the outside. In doing so, it is also removing the home’s conditioned air you are paying to heat in the winter and cool in the summer. As this air escapes to the outside, replacement air infiltrates through gaps and cracks around the building. So, there energy penalties to consider – the electricity or gas used to power the dryer while it operates, and the conditioning of the infiltrating air coming from the outdoors. A heat pump clothes dryer is an improvement in both categories.
Instead of generating heat and exhausting it outside, the heat pump clothes dryer moves heat in a cycle that is completely self-contained within the dryer. There are two sets of coils containing refrigerant within the dryer. Air from the dryer passes over both sets of coils. One set of coils under the dryer cylinder where the clothes are located gets cold enough for moisture in the air leaving the dryer’s cylinder to condense out of the air passing though those coils, so that the water can be collected and drained away. The refrigerant inside the coils is compressed by the compressor as it moves to the second set of coils, making them very hot. Air moves through the hot coils before going back into the dryer’s cylinder to repeat the cycle. This is essentially the process used by refrigerators, air conditioners, and air source heat pumps.
Heat pump clothes dryers usually offer two methods to get rid of the moisture, a drain hose attached to the back of the dryer and run into the clothes washer drain pipe. Alternatively, the dryer can collect the water in a tray within the dryer which can be pulled out like a drawer and emptied with each load.
The heat pump dryer removes the water from the clothes and sends it to a drain. Since it is no longer necessary to blow the moist air to the outdoors the dryer is ventless! This is a great energy-savings benefit as you don’t lose conditioned air in the home to the outdoors.
Heat pump dryers need 40-50% less energy than a standard electric dryer, though the operating time required for the heat pump dryer is slightly longer. They dry at a lower temperature than conventional dryers, so your clothes will last longer.
Key considerations for heat pump clothes dryers:
Pros:
• Very energy efficient, using on average 50% of the energy required for conventional clothes dryers.
• Ventless. No dryer exhaust pipe and termination to maintain, so no risk of dryer fires.
• Runs cooler than a conventional dryer, so clothes will last longer.
Cons:
• The upfront cost is high, about twice the cost of a conventional dryer of the same capacity.
• Slightly longer drying times