The efforts of the American people forced the U. S. House of Representatives to look real hard at the administration’s and congressional leadership’s energy bill. Lots of trading went on before the vote, and they tell me that the bill is riddled with pork barrel projects. The biggest good thing is many of the electric coop members have been spared the brunt of the bill by the actions of folks that had you and me in mind. Not entirely, but in northwest Arkansas, southwest Missouri and eastern Oklahoma most of us can breathe some easier. It passed the house by six votes, not much when the majority party exceeds the other one by such a large margin. If we all tell our U.S. Senators to look out for us we should get an even better energy bill in the end.
I have attended meetings from Colorado to South Carolina this summer to get a handle on conserving energy. I have listened to folks who want to be all wind power – no way is that possible unless they like being without electricity on calm days – and I have also seen wind farms plagued with problems.
With all the wind power we have, it is only about three percent of our needs. And remember, that is only when the wind is blowing. That means you must have natural gas backup. The discovery of new natural gas supplies, especially by fragmenting the Fayetteville Shale in north central Arkansas, has really helped. Most generating facilities priced natural gas in their ’09 budget at 14 cents, instead it has been 4 cents on the open market. Some folks even hedged it at 10 and 12 cents to ensure they had a price.
Everyone wants electric power producers to go to natural gas. In the 1960s and 70s the federal government told us we couldn’t use natural gas that industry and home heating needed it too badly. So we built coal-fired generators, the least costing fuel available. We have a 400 year supply. We have gotten all the pollutants out, except CO2, a naturally occurring substance that feeds the plants of this planet.
A cooler, wetter summer so far in this region this year with lots of water power has helped all electric users. People are running around saying you don’t need any more generation. Wrong. If you build a fence around us and keep out all the rest of the population, in ten years we will need more capacity. Under present circumstances it requires three to five years to get a power plant plan approved dealing with state and federal officials. Then seven years to build the coal fired plant – add three to four years more for nuclear and that will be the final and best choice. Ask Japan and France.
What can you do as a home owner to conserve energy? If we all did the following, we could put off building more plants for 15 years. Here’s the things that would do it: Replace all your old light bulbs in your house with those new screw-tail ones. Four of those bulbs use the same electricity as one incandescent 100-watt bulb. Put a fiber glass insulation kit around your electric hot water heater. If you don’t have double pane glass windows, put up storm windows or seal them in poly. (That's cheap enough.) They help in summer if you run the A/C. When you buy a new appliance replace them with new energy saving-rated ones. Don’t save the old one to keep beer in. Many folks find they don’t really use a freezer enough to justify running it. Keep a log on how much you do use or don’t use it. Most could be shut off and the refrigerator can handle the freezing chore.
Close all the foundation vents around the house and make sure they don’t leak. Use spray foam on all the plugs and switch boxes in outside walls. And caulk all around the house to stop any possible leaks.
Replacing furnaces, heat pumps and A/C – when buying new or replacements look for the highest SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) number for the greatest efficiency.
There are tax savings on some of this right now. Check, many electric coops have blowers that can test your house’s air loss. We all can help reach a greater goal if we apply the above.
I got up this morning and saw GM is developing a car called Volt. Guess what? You plug it in. If we get many of them, we sure will need more generation. We all need to conserve.
Western novelist Dusty Richards and his wife Pat live on Beaver Lake in northwest Arkansas. For more information about his books you can email Dusty by visiting www.ozarksfn.com and clicking on 'Contact Us' or call 1-866-532-1960.
