Home Energy Savers

I have just conducted a survey [I know, pink] to our Home Economics County agents about altering my Plan of Work.

 

When asked about the programs agents “would like to see “, the most response with 6 out of 10 answered Home Energy Savers Program. When talking about budgeting, rents or house payments tend to be fixed payment but one housing expense category which you may be able to save on is the home energy usage. Some tips are just reminders on how to immediate cut on unnecessary energy use while others may require an upfront investment (e.g. CFL light bulb)

For the home energy information, you may order the free Energy Savers booklets from this site: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/library/order_form.aspx?FormID=2. Highly beneficial for summer and winter seasons – although I have to spend some time to tailor the publication for NM conditions. The program may be used with the Home Energy Smarts Standard slide calculator card – showing how much a household can save by adopting these energy saver practices.

Online Bill Payment Increase

From http://ow.ly/yVVA 11/3/2009 ….

Consumers will soon be hitting the stores en masse in search of the perfect holiday gifts. And when it comes time to pay the bills for all that joy and cheer, fewer shoppers will be reaching for their checkbook, an envelope and a book of stamps. That’s because the share of American adults who say they “always” pay their bills online has grown by 40% in the past two years. As of mid-September, 14% of Americans said that they “always” pay their bills online, up from 10% who said the same in mid-September 2007.

With credit card companies finding way to increase revenues, expect e-banking to be one of the ways to increase their revenues [Credit card issuers fight for more profit (11.03.2009)]. Other observations:

• This also means less use of checks, which means decrease revenues for the Feds, particularly the Federal Reserve.
• Greener prospective. This is very likely to be related to less paper-use, which is not good for the postal service.
• Interesting to know how many opted for automated payment.
• Be careful when you change your financial institutions. When you are no longer with the bank that you had been used to associate with e-payment, you may get charged if you forgot to change the bank details to the new one.

Energy Efficient Houses for the Poor

The Green Dream is sweeping the limited resources population via homes. Housing and Urband Development (HUD) and Department of Energy (DOE) are joining hands to inject $16 billion of economic recovery funds for energy efficiency and “green” housing efforts. These efforts include energy efficient bamboo floors, recycled carpets, recycled composite lumber, solar thermal collectors, and weatherization of housing, which includes rental housing units. The financial assistance part of this funding will alter the Federal Housing Administration’s mortgage products. A house that would sell for $110,000 in the market would be available for $85,000 with this financial assistance.

The colonias are also positively affected by this program. Traditionally built with inadequate housing needs, the houses in these colonias focuses on improving sanitation, paved roads, garbage services, water drainage, public safety, and last but not least, energy efficient properties. The energy savings are centered around using evaporative cooling system, compact flourescent bulbs (CFLs), and low bathroom fixtures. Pictures are available here.

Another greening effort is to improve on transportation in these areas. The goal is to strategically place the housing and transportation services where the cost of trasportation will be minimized, yet fully utilized.

Inquiries about the assistance programs may be directed to New Mexico’s HUD.

Adopted from: HUD (2009). Research Works, 6(6).

Renewable Energy Assistance

Some states such as Montana has been using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to assist the limited income families in building a more energy efficient house. No such Extension program has been found here in New Mexico, specifically NMSU. However, it’s great to know that NM is the 5th state in the nation in wind power utilization. The map on the wind amount is a great resource but almost all homes of NM should be able to utilize it  wind energy given that homes do not reqire too much energy consumption.

New Mexico Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy and Sustainability seems to have something interesting. The focus is on industrial-type of energy, not residential.

Tax Incentives

[Source: Jennifer Amann, ACEEE April 10, 2009, Home Energy COP Webinar: Residential Energy EfficiencyTax Incentives]

Residential Efficiency Incentives

• 30% of installation costs up to $1,500 per home
• Applies to taxpayer’s principal residence only

On-Site Renewable Generation Incentives

• Incentives available for solar energy systems, small wind systems, and geothermal heat pumps
• Incentive amounts: 30% of system cost with NO cap (except for 2008 installations)
• Not limited to taxpayer’s principal residence

Other Resources

Tax Incentives Assistance Project: www.energytaxincentives.org
State Specific Incentives Info: dsireusa.org
Stimulus Package Info, Guidelines, etc.: www.aceee.org/energy/national/recovery

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The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Home Energy

2 pots of money: Directly to the state (personal opportunity) and via grants.

Recovery Act: EERE

1. $5 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program
   • Low Income Prg – up to 200% Poverty Level. Less restricted and more funding in Post Stimulus era.
   • Weatherize home to save energy
   • … while ensuring the families’ health and safety
   • DoE dictates the procedures – climate specific. Our plans need to comly DoE’s standards.
2. $3.1 billion for the State Energy Program
3. $3.2 billion for Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants
4. $2.5 billion for Applied Research, Development, Demonstration and Deployment including:
   • $800 million for the <!––>Biomass Program<!––>
   • $400 million for the <!––>Geothermal Technologies Program<!––>
   • $50 million for Information and Communications technology
   • $41.9 million to spur the growth of Fuel Cell Markets
5. $2 billion for Advanced Battery Manufacturing Grants
6. $400 million for Transportation Electrification
7. $300 million for an <!––>Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program and ENERGY STAR®<!––>
8. $300 million for an Alternative-Fueled-Vehicles Pilot Grant Program

Residential : CoP – Retro fit, residential, energy code, financial incentives

Fueled by Junk

While Americans are gearing towards a greener and cleaner society, an important industry in the US is fueled by junk. It’s not really a good, recycling story but this is an unfortunate waste that can be stopped.

Representing 100 billion mails or one-third of your mail, mail marketing is costing the world trees and valuable resource. Moves to put a break of this practice like the “Do Not Call Registry” have not been successful due the the impact of mail marketing on the mailing industry.

However, you may opt out via these websites:

OptOutPrescreen.com -  Mainly for credit card offers

DMAchoice.org – include non-credit card junk mails. The steps may not be that simple but to save trees and waste, hey, it’s worth it.

Wind Power

Wind power is widely used in farms and ranches due to zoning regulations and other ideal conditions. NM is definitely a great state to promote wind power because we receive a significant wind throughout the year. Though, NM lacks high-power transmission lines to transfer the energy generated from wind to other locations. This poses a major problem in implementing wind-powered energy use in areas less suitable for wind power generation because a new transmission line is costly, from $500,000 to $1 million per mile. This is despite wind power being very clean and economical to produce.

Now, for residential areas, one may purchase the smaller wind turbines but they can be expensive. For instance, E2D Windmaster, a roof-mounted small residential wind turbine, ranges from $1,399 (12v) to $2,299 (48V). The current federal tax incentive programs applies to the large scale turbine use but not the residential-scale wind energy device. Some states may offer tax incentives for purchasing the residential-scale one. One may expect the cost of these residential wind energy equipment to go down with the improvement of technology and the new administration gearing towards renewable energy.

Other websites:
Next Era Energy: http://www.nexteraenergyresources.com/
Taos Wind power Inc.: http://www.taoswindpower.com
American Wind Energy Association: http://www.awea.org/