90% Reduction: Electricity

[This was originally posted July 18, 2007 on my Sundrop Jewelry blog. I will be starting a series of updates soon, and figured the original posts should be available here too.]

There are some great
warning signs out there. Starting Point: Electricity

• American average: 11,000 kilowatt hours/household/year
• 90% reduction goal: 1,100 kwh/household/year

This was an easy calculation – I just got out our old utility bills and added up the kilowatt hours we used from July 2006 – June 2007.

• Use during the last 12 months: 7,201 kilowatt hours, or 65% of the average American household

The Problem
I’m pretty sure this is our highest consumption category. We have an electric oven, central air conditioning, and a fair amount of electronics (Shaun is a computer programmer). We usually set the air conditioning to 80°F and switch to open windows at night when it gets cool, but our condo bakes in the sun – we have high windows and vaulted ceilings, which means no attic or upper floor to act as a secondary barrier to heat accumulation. Electric bicycles will also add a bit to our load from now on. I don’t think we’ll be able to reduce our actual consumption in this category by very much – being originally from Alaska, air conditioning is life.

The (Partial) Solution
Instead of immediately trying to drastically cut our actual electricity usage, I signed up for Xcel Energy’s Windsource program to use wind power rather than electricity generated by fossil fuels. It will only cost an extra $6.27 or so per month, and the 90% Project rules consider wind energy to be 1/4 as emission-producing as other forms of electricity. The US Dept of Energy has a list of similar projects throughout the US. (Please leave a comment if you switch to renewable power!)

If we had used wind power last year, we would have produced only 16% of the emissions of the average American. And all without changing our habits one bit.