Being Green
Solarpunk Kermit the Frog, repairing electrical gear, via dreamlike.art
As a wise person once said, it ain’t easy being green. There’s a reason for this. If you’re trying to save the planet via green initiatives, recycling, shrinking your carbon footprint, you are up against some rather rough barriers.
Most goods and services that are available and abundant here in the first world are easy to use or acquire, and delivered quickly - often straight to your doorstep. And these goods and services largely have a negative impact on the physical world, either as a part of the making, delivery, and the using of them. Often it is more than one of these (or all three) that create impact.
As a person who grew up at the tail end of the hippie movement, personally saw things like campaigns to clean up litter and initiatives to try and clean up smog in large cities actually work, I know this can be done. Unfortunately one person alone cannot implement all of the change needed, but it is possible to do something. This blog post is about what I do and what I think about specific technologies. I am not saying I have the answers to reach my goal of saving the planet, but quite frankly my experiences have had an impact on a few others, and that is a huge start.
Get My House in Order
First off, I’ve tried to get my house in order, both literally and figuratively. This means more than just picking up litter and recycling (which I was doing). I started by replacing my gas vehicle with a hybrid way back in 2010. The solar journey started in 2017, which I’ve covered in a whole series of blog posts previously. In another blog post, I covered how I replaced the hybrid with an electrical vehicle. I continue to “downsize” appliances, lighting, and harnessing the various smart things in my house in an effort to reduce the amount I pull down from the grid. And I’m looking into ways to reduce my water bill as well.
Selling the Idea to Others
Some people, when they hear about my green strides, ask about the particulars - how does the process of acquisition work, what are the common pitfalls, would I do it again (yes!) and so on. Then there are the skeptics, those that say the technology is not that green or costs too much to get started. I have a whole different story to share with them.
The big thing is the amount of money I am saving. That wins over a few of the skeptics. I was able to take close to a third of the cost of the solar and battery setup off of my taxes, and as I did it in “chunks” over the course of 5 years, I was able to maximize the benefits. I’ll be doing the same thing with the EV for the 2023 tax year - getting a tax break. The electric bill was reduced by 85% in 2017 when the solar journey started, and when the second round of panels came on in 2019 that completely ended paying an electric bill and allowed for a substantial amount of credit to be built up. When caps on the amount of solar one can sell back to the grid were announced, it became apparent the batteries were needed, and that setup was purchased in 2022. I was able to store a decent amount of solar energy I could use after sunset in the evenings during peak times, reducing the amount I was pulling down from the grid by half. When the credit finally runs out later this year due to those caps, my bill will be roughly $25 to $35 per month (instead of hundreds). And that’s just from the solar setup.
The electric vehicle, which I only charge during the day when the sun is out (to reduce grid usage), can be quantified financially by measuring the amount of electricity used and figuring what an average cost per kilowatt is, and then comparing that to the gas used to drive the same distance in the hybrid. If one calculates the amount of electricity I would be paying for to “fuel” the EV and compare it to the gas prices I was paying to drive the same distance, it was a 75% reduction in fuel cost. This brings up another point - that’s a 75% reduction from a hybrid where I was getting anywhere from 40 to 50 miles per gallon to begin with, and it assumes I am paying for all of that electricity as well. I can charge during the day during sunlight and that is powered completely by the solar panels. In essence, the extra electrical demand my EV puts on my house is more than compensated for with the savings on gasoline.
The other thing that sells the skeptics is when you point out that right-leaning conservative Texas puts a higher percentage of renewables onto the grid over all of the other states - that crazy left-coast state of California is actually number 2. Why? Because it is profitable. There is plenty of money to be made and is being made right here in Texas, and it is not just the power companies - regular consumers can benefit. Just imagine reducing your electric bill by 95% and your automobile driving cost by 75%.
Other Technologies
Okay, here is where I probably lose some of my hippie friends, since I will be bringing up nuclear energy. However a few of these technologies can dramatically reduce the carbon footprint. They are definitely worth considering though, as they either have a proven record or are showing great promise in early trials. And we need something - solar and wind only work when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining. At night or a calm point in the day means no output. We need to either store the excess energy for nighttime and breezeless days, or generate it via other means. Here are a few of those other means:
Nuclear energy. There is a common argument that it is unsafe, expensive to implement, and quite “dirty” for the planet. In many cases this is true, at least as far as the expense is concerned and how much carbon is created from just building the facility. But there are alternative paths for nuclear energy such as manufactured small-scale power plants. More info here.
Geothermal. Historically, scaled-up geothermal has been tied to very specific locations, i.e. not everywhere. However there have been breakthroughs that could change that, providing a method to bring larger-scale geothermal to new locations. More info here.
Nuclear fusion. Interestingly there are multiple areas where this can provide benefits, not just raw power for generating electricity. Great strides are being made, with more info here with just one example.
Why bring these up? Because they are viable alternatives to helping reduce carbon emissions that can reduce the impact from climate change. As a part of being green, I support them, as I know there is not a single source of energy that will replace fossil fuels. And that needs a bit of clarification.
Reservoir Example
Let’s look at an example of how one technology that has proven itself as a resource for humans (at least here in the United States) is being impacted by climate change.
Reservoirs need water to work. They are used to supply drinking water, and they are considered an important resource for power generation. However with drought conditions in many parts of North America, this has greatly impacted both available drinking water as well as grid stability. More information can be gained from watching this video. Usually one might say that while solar and wind are not constant and can help assist with grid power, due to their nature of depending on windy conditions and daylight, they are not reliable resources that can address on-demand needs. Hydroelectric power is a great example of a stabilizing energy source that could meet demands as needed, say for example during a very still and calm night.
This example illustrates the need for multiple sources of energy so that we are not entirely dependent on just one. If one source is having problems or not generating enough power, another source is available that meets the need. The system has to be flexible to work.
Fossil fuels are contributing to the problem in that they are creating strain on other resources such as weather trends. And even if you don’t believe that fossil fuels are actually contributing, removing fossil fuels from the equation is going to improve these weather trends regardless of what is causing them, and the non-fossil fuel sources are actually capable of making money for the producers and saving money for consumers.
My Point
The point of being green is that I am doing my best to show an example of how this green technology is saving me money, and while prices are coming down more and more all of the time, my use of these technologies is helping to prove the technologies themselves. What do I mean by that? I mean that I am helping to work out the kinks in an emerging industry, so to speak. My purchases have helped fund, in a very small way, future development and refinement of these technologies that is going to make them more and more affordable, efficient, and effective. I strongly encourage others to do the same, you’ll save money in the long run (saving a different kind of green, so to speak), and considering we are slowly making a dent in fossil fuel usage we can make a difference.
