Renewable Energy At Home

Powering a home completely with renewable energy can be done, however, it is important to make your home as energy efficient as possible. There are several sites where you can find tools to calculate how efficient your home is. The best one I have found so far is The Home Energy Saver. Sponsored by the U.S. Government, this site asks a few basic questions about your home - when was it built, which direction does it face, how many windows do you have, etc. Based on this information and your home's general location (you can give your exact address, but it is not required) it calcuates how efficient your home currently is, gives an estimate of how much you annually pay for your power, how much CO2 is emmitted from your power consumption, and recommends upgrades to improve your home's efficiency.

With the recommended upgrades, it also breaks them down individually and tells you the estimated cost of the job, how much money it will save you once it is completed, and how long it will take you to make back the money you spend on it. It also shows a total of how much you will annually save on your power bill if all of the upgrades are done, how long it will take to make all of your money back, and how much it will reduce your home's contribution to CO2 emissions.

It recommended just over $5000 in upgrades for my home, built in 1947, that would save my family over $800 each year on our power bill - making our money back in just over five years. And keep in mind, if you are a do it yourselfer, you can do many of these upgrades without the help of a contractor, which further reduces your costs.

• Make sure your central air conditioning unit is the proper size for your home. If it is more than 10 years old, consider replacing it with a newer, more energy efficient model.


• Check your home's insulation underneath the floor and in the attic. If it is very old or non-existent, reinsulate with at least R13 grade insulation - the pink stuff - to reduce air leaks.


• Replace old lightbulbs with newer compact flourescent bulbs - the ones that look like ice cream cones. They use about 75% less energy for the same wattage of light than traditional bulbs.


• If your windows are more than 10 years old, consider replacing them with newer double or triple paned windows. Seal the edges of the windows with caulk to reduce air leaks.


• Use caulk to seal around where plumbing and wiring, such as cable, enter your home to prevent air leaks.


• Replace old weather stripping around doors and install some on the attic door also.


• If you need to replace any of your appliances, look for ones that are EnergyStar certified. They use significantly less power than older models.


• Use a power strip for electronics such as computers and televisions. They use small amounts of electricity even when they are turned off. By turning off the power strip when they are not in use, you eliminate this power usage.


• Install ceiling fans to help keep your house heated and cooled. It helps to take some of the burden off of your heating and cooling unit, while using less power.


• If you have a fireplace, make sure the flue is tightly closed when it is not in use.


• Install a programmable thermostat to regulate your heating and cooling units. They are much more efficient than the manual models.

All regions in the US have the potential to produce useful amounts of solar energy. The sun can be used to heat your water, cook your food, and power your home. The most common use of this technology is through the use of solar panels.

These panels are made up of photovoltaic cells which use semiconducting materials, such as silicon, to convert the light from the sun into electricity. Generally these panels can be purchased for $1000 or more each. However, there are some resources (see the links below) where you can find out how to build these yourself at a much lower cost. Use caution with some of the free plans you find on the internet for doing this, however, because many of them have been shown over time to leak moisture and ruin your panels.

As of 2007, only 1% of the energy produced in the United States came from solar power. To find out how much energy can be produced this way in your local area, please check out the map at the US Department of Energy.

We can use the wind to produce electricity by harvesting the motion of it using windmills or turbines. The amount of wind in a particular area is influenced by many factors. Some of these include nearness to a large body of water, terrain, and atmospheric conditions.

The wind turbines you generally see on television are not feasible for the average American to use for powering their home. However, there are some designs available online (see the links below) and a few commercially produced turbines that are smaller and designed for home use.

If you live in the midwest, on the coast, in the mountains, or in a high-rise, you have a greater potential for using wind energy than most people in the United States. As of 2007, 5% of the energy in this country was produced using wind energy. To find out how much can be produced in this way where you live, check out the map provided by the US Department of Energy

"I have no doubt that we will be successful in harnessing the sun's energy...If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries ago." - Sir George Porter

"What changed in the United States with Hurricane Katrina was a feeling that we have entered a period of consequences." - Al Gore

"The issue of climate change is one that we ignore at our own peril. There may still be disputes about exactly how much we're contributing to the warming of the earth's atmosphere and how much is naturally occuring, but what we can be scientifically certain of is that our continued use of fossil fuels is pushing us to a point of no return. And unless we free ourselves from a dependence on these fossil fuels and chart a new course on energy in this country, we are condemning future generations to global catastrophe." - Barack Obama

"To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought, by right, to hand down to them amplified and developed." - Theodore Roosevelt

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com