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January 21, 2006
What's on my mind?
Every week I get a little closer to my goal of home-ownership. Watching my downpayment savings grow and dreaming of what MY little house will be like fills a lot of my downtime. This week, while mindlessly making thousands of little car parts, I found myself pondering the energy costs of a home.
Right now I'm in a one-bedroom apartment, and the heat in it just plain sucks. I've got two little electric heaters which are supposed to heat the place, but in the winter it's tough to get it over 65 degrees and prevent having a heart attack when the light bill arrives. I discovered electric blankets, which are a huge help, as it's much cheaper to just heat me than it is to heat the entire apartment. But, sadly this winter, my main electric blanket gave out, and I've not replaced it since moving to a new place will mean buying a "real" bed (instead of the twin bed I'm using now), so I've decided to wait and buy one which will be the right size for a new bed.
Initially, I'd thought if I bought a home with a gas heating system, my worries over high heating bills would be ended. That was before Katrina, now with the cost of gas soaring to awful heights I'm not so sure it would be a better choice than electric. Enter the third option: solar electricity (aka photovoltaics or PV). So I made a mental list of what I'd need to know about solar electricity, and once home I unleashed the incredible power of google to begin my quest.
Along the journey, I stumbled into the U.S. Department of Energy's "Million Solar Roofs Inititative", and suddenly my hair-brained idea of a solar powered home seems more realistic than idealistic. Although the cost of installing a system is expensive, there are some great financial incentives to consider, as well as the knowledge that a system would pay for itself in less than ten years. For example, the federal government is offering a 30% tax credit up to $2,000 (not to be confused with a deduction) for homes which install a photovoltaic system, as well as a seperate credit for solar water heating systems (complete info here).
The "Rosie the Riveter" side of me has been activated, this is a challenge I know I'm up for. Of course, there is also the warm fuzzy feeling I'll get from doing something which does not harm the environment, and the space-age "tech-y" feeling for being on the leading edge of the new era of energy.
Posted by Anna at January 21, 2006 5:26 PM
Comments
you should check out corn power! there's a guy in takoma park who heats his house with corn (don't ask me how) and he swears by it. it's environmentally friendly and cost-effective. supposedly.
i'm with you on the gas thing. our last bill from christmas when we turned up the heat for company was $400!!!
Posted by: jen Lemen at February 9, 2006 6:44 AM
One of the things that stuck in my mind from reading "The Skeptical Environmentalist" is this quote "Just as the stone age did not end for lack of stone, the oil age will eventually end, but not for lack of oil, Rather it will end because of the eventual availability of superior alternatives." Here's to lower energy costs!
Posted by: Anna at February 9, 2006 11:53 AM