Traveling to Fiji in April for my Climate Lab, it seemed like an extravagant excursion, but it was with the explicit purpose of learning from the people there and then giving something back to the global effort on climate change. During our in-class sessions that week, we heard from representatives across sectors with different messages but one clear theme: we’ve got to work together.
Limiting or shifting our electricity use benefits our wallets, but it can also help support a more reliable electrical grid and limit the amount of fossil fuels we use to power our homes, which in turn limits climate change. If you don’t know where to start, you’re not alone: some utility companies offer programs to help you save money as you adjust your use.
I recently learned that the global transformer shortage can limit how well we maintain our existing infrastructure and how quickly we can expand our supply with new sources of electricity generation. A constrained supply will impact demand, resulting in negative impacts that range from inconvenient to deadly. Better demand management can ease capacity constraints, but how do we manage that in a fair way?
I was impressed when I learned about Hawaii’s goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045, but I was shocked to learn about some unintended impacts of wind energy development on Oahu’s north shore. Hearing from impacted residents was a great reminder that wind energy, like any tool, is not inherently good or bad – it comes down to how it is developed and used.
I was skeptical of the term “beneficial electrification” when I first heard it, mostly because I knew that more than half of our electricity in Pennsylvania was generated using fossil fuels. But when electric appliances are used in concert with energy efficiency measures, cleaner energy sources, and smart grid technology, beneficial electrification represents a meaningful step in addressing the climate crisis.
When I first saw an Earthship on the Discovery Channel in the ‘90s, I immediately wanted to live in one. While I now recognize that there are some cons in addition to the pros, I am still inspired by the radical and thoughtful design toward net zero energy use and waste. And I was delighted to stay in one recently and learn more about it first-hand.
We will soon have to replace our hot water heater, and I want to invest in something that will save energy and reduce our demand for fossil fuels, while also recognizing an inevitable shift toward home electrification. Initial and ongoing costs were a consideration in the debate between gas and electric models, meaning that this decision called for a comparative analysis. Spreadsheets were used.
After years of intermittent research and data collection, I’m ready to share what we already knew: we’re saving money by using less energy! But how much, and how long until we recoup the costs of the weatherization work we had done in our attic in May 2021? We’ll never know for sure, but this exercise was a fun exploration of that complex question.
I finally got my hands on our gas usage data, thanks to a very patient husband and a helpful customer service representative. With this information, I’ve been able to take a look at how much we’re saving since our attic weatherization work in May 2021. I’m looking for ways to at least reduce our use of this fossil fuel until we’re in the position to eliminate it.
The world is talking more about decarbonizing our energy and transportation sectors, and one hot talking point is hydrogen. Hydrogen fuel cells can store energy like a clean battery, and hydrogen burns cleaner than fossil alternatives. However, the various processes of isolating hydrogen from input materials mean a range of environmental impacts, especially since the bulk of hydrogen is still produced using fossil fuels.