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Dear Mark,

The Energy Miser #3, November 21, 2006

Hello and welcome to the third issue of The Energy Miser. While you prepare for the long weekend, too much food, and too much football, read about the implications of climate change and another way you can save energy and the planet.

There are a number of forces causing Gulf Stream flow but one critical component is gravity.

Water at the equator is saltier than water at the poles. Salt water is denser (heavier per unit volume) so as it moves northward, it sinks. This sinking, in effect, pulls the Gulf Stream along.

However, and here is the scary part, as the Greenland and Arctic ice melts due to global climate change, it dilutes the Gulf Stream water, makes it less dense, and consequently, slows the Gulf Stream making it less dense and slowing the sink-rate of the Gulf Stream.

What this means in the long term is hard to say but you can be sure that Europeans are concerned because Europe’s mostly pleasant climate depends on a robust Gulf Stream.
Alternative energy systems generate electricity on their own schedule. For example, you might be fast asleep as a cold front moves through your area. Your wind turbine might generate electricity at full capacity but since everyone is in bed and all your appliances are off, you don’t need the electricity. What do you do with it?

One way to take advantage of your excess capacity is to send it out to the grid. This runs your electricity meter backwards. At the end of the month when your utility reads your meter, they will record your net usage (the total amount you used minus the amount you put into the grid). You are only billed for your net usage.

What if, at the end of the month, your net usage is negative? In most cases, the utility company will pay you for the excess you generate (or they will credit your next bill), however when they pay, they pay the wholesale price for electricity (in Massachusetts that's about five cents per kWh).

Tying your alternative energy sytem to the grid has another benefit. Any of your excess clean energy that goes to the grid reduces the amount of electricity that your utility must purchase or generate to support your neighbors. That means less fossil fuel and less global warming gases.
You've heard it before, and here it is again - Heating water is the most energy intensive operation in your house (on average). What can you do about it?

Growing up, if I took an unusually long shower, my parents could hurry things along by running the hot water somewhere else in the house. The resulting slug of cold water to the shower sent a clear message - get out of the shower! "Unfortunately," in newer homes, that method no longer works.

Short of putting a timer on the water supply, (which is technologically feasible), encourage your family members to use an an egg timer (the noisy kind) and take 10 minute showers. You will see a reduction your water heating bill and your water bill.

Best of all, when the bell goes off, your kids have to argue with a timer instead of you.

Are you ready for an alternative energy system? New England Breeze also offers solar water heaters along with solar photovoltaic and wind turbine electric systems.

Thanks for Reading the Energy Miser,
Mark Durrenberger
New England Breeze

phone: 978-212-2665