There's an interesting article in the February 2005 Discover Magazine about energy consumption. In recent postings I've made some attempt to address this issue from a consumption side and only from the perspective of the use of advance lighting technologies.
The Discover article is an interview with Noble prize winning chemist Rick Smalley entitled "A Chemist's Plan to Save Planet Earth". The article's focus is on the generation and consumption of power. It does offer some insight to a few ideas about how we could transmit power more efficiently and therefore produce power in more remote areas, perhaps with solar energy if that technology becomes a viable option. The article also promotes the use of nuclear energy as an option for meeting future needs and thereby eliminate green house gas production from the burning of fossil fuels.
However, the article doesn't paint a rosy picture about the future for an energy hungry population. The article brings up an interesting statistic about the consumption of countries, such as China and explains how these countries will outstrip the resources and then effect the entire world economy.
In my blog "LED Use on a Grand Scale" I discussed the power savings of replacing just traffic lighting with LED's. 2.7 billion kW isn't on the grand scale of terawatts quoted in the discover article, but it is a savings we can't afford to ignore. IF we made the switch from incandescent technologies to LED's we could in effect shutdown thousands of coal fired plants in use across the U.S. If we further switched our use of lighting technologies in the use of LED's we could realize event greater reductions in power consumption.
This isn't the final answer, but it is a very likely starting point to becoming less consuming and more efficient with the energy we have. Think about it. We're still using incandescent technologies from Thomas Edison's day. Yes they are more efficient but, still for energy consumed to usable light output we're only talking 10% efficiency. A compact fluorescent bulb is about 40% efficient making it a far better choice.
An LED equivalent replacement is about 95% efficient in turning power consumed into usable light. The average office building in the U.S. uses about 25% of the power consumed for lighting. The savings would enormous if we converted to using LED lighting technologies.
Yes we need to find better ways to generate and transmit electricity, but we need to get serious about saving it too.
LED Use on a Grand Scale
I talked previously about using LED lighting in your home. Do you know what type of lighting is installed in traffic lights in your community? In most cases we still use a standard incandescent bulb.
The Department of Energy estimates there are 11 million traffic signals in the U.S. It is estimated that less than 10% use LED lighting. LED lighting saves an average of 85% over the standard incandescent bulb. If all of these signals were converted to LED replacements we'd be saving over 2.7 billion kWh (kilowatt hours) and $225 million per year.
Of course there are other benefits to this technology. Given the fact that the average traffic light bulb lasts only 12-15 months and the LED replacement can last up to 15 years you quickly get the idea that labor savings can be significant too. How about the reduction in fuel in the city vehicles sent to maintain these lights? What about the fact we can reduce the need to build a new power plant from the overall energy savings?
Is your city using these replacements? They should be and you should contact someone in the city administrators office to make sure you're doing your part.
Here's a link to a good article about a study done for western states.
http://www.westgov.org/wieb/led-lite3.htm
If your city government asked for help, be ready. Here is a link to information from Sylvania Lighting. Sylvania is one of several manufacturers of replacement LED lighting products.
http://www.sylvania.com/
What about all of the street lights in your city? There are far more street lights than traffic signals in every city. Your average street light uses about 100 watts of electricity. The average LED replacement lamp uses less than 20 watts. If you live in a large city you get the idea about how much energy we're talking about. Again, we can save money for the city, the taxpayer and reduce the need for building new power plants or the need to keep older plants on line.
While you're asking your city government about the traffic lights ask them about street light replacements. Here is a link to information about replacement lamps.
http://www.ledtronics.com/ds/SLT002/default.asp
Consumer Power
Do we know how much power we have as consumers? Think about it, we all need or want something and there is always someone willing to sell it to us. But what if we decide to change our buying habits?
Can we move the market? Can we shape future markets? I don't know about you, but I don't like paying $2.00 for a gallon of gas. Like I said earlier, my wife has a car that gets better gas mileage than mine. I often think I should "borrow" it for my commute to work and save myself a few dollars.
What about our consumption of electricity? On average for a mid sized home we use about 1500 Kilowatts per month. Of course with more and more consumer electronics being purchased this total continues to increase. Consider this; General Electric (and others I'm sure) makes a compact florescent replacement lamp designed to replace a 100 watt incandescent bulb. It uses only 26 watts of electricity and has a 5 year warranty. I recently replaced 5 bulbs in my basement and this will save me nearly $300.00 over those 5 years.
OK. Again this may not sound like much but if I could convince my family and my wife's family to do the same thing it would change things in the long run. Imagine having to build another power plant to keep up with energy use.
I've also been reading and reviewing LED (light emmtting diodes) technologies and I believe this has the potential to cause a dramatic change in home and industrial energy use. You may not have noticed this, but traffic lights are being replaced by LED lamps. there are also street light replacements available. Not only does this reduce energy consumption, but it reduces the need for frequent maintenance. The LED lamps are far more reliable and therefore don't burn out as often.
you can even buy LED bulbs to replace the standard incandecent bulbs in your home. They are expensive but will last considerably longer than the standard bulb. The energy savings are tremendous.
2 Weeks in Alaska
This summer my wife surprised me with a 2 week vacation in Alaska. We visited Anchorage, Seward, Denali National Park, and several other scenic places in between. We met lots of people and talked about how the changing climate has affected the arctic. By the way it was 90+ degrees while we were in Anchorage.
We dined on fresh Alaskan Salmon with the midnight sun hanging low in the sky only to find ourselves staying up past 3 AM (didn't know it was so late).
We met a family in Talkeetna that live "off the grid", that means they don't have electricity unless they make it themselves. They were interested in a home hydrogen powered generator to make electricity. They weren't in the mood for burning wood or fossil fuels to add to the problems in Alaska.
We also hiked in Denali National Park and were amazed at the variety of wildlife and plants. If you haven't been you owe it to yourself to go. It will drive you to preserve this habitat for the future.
Driving the Kenai Peninsula to Seward is breathtaking. Beautiful mountain vistas and ocean views will capture your imagination. We stopped at a few sites I had read about and panned for gold. At Six Mile Creek there are several spots for recreational panning and yes I did find a few nuggets. OK, flakes of gold, not enough to quit the day job, but we did have fun.
BUT.........................
The permafrost isn't. Glaciers are receding faster by the day, and the winters are becoming a nightmare. It seemed strange to me that as the climate warms more snow falls in winter. I guess I had always imagined Alaska as snow covered most of the year anyway. Folks have to shovel the snow off roofs to prevent a collapse.
So how does this relate to the future? Why am I including this as a point of discussion? Well, if Alaska is being affected by a warming climate, maybe that's one place we are. Could we argue the finer points of why the climate is warming? Yes, of course, but why. Why don't we discuss how we can reduce our own personal contributions to the change.
If we were to say that part of the climate change is attributed to the burning of fossil fuels and that we burn fossil fuels while driving our cars, then we could talk about ways to reduce the amount of fuel we consume. Let's also say this would reduce our dependence on foreign oil, which wouldn't be a bad thing.
My wife bought a Pontiac Vibe last summer and it has a pretty good fuel economy rating (29 city/34 highway). This replaced a vehicle that wasn't as good and I've estimated we'll save about 300 gallons of gas per year. Maybe in the grand scheme it isn't much, but I can only control my own contribution to the future.
I've also been looking into the possibility of a home hydrogen generator for use in providing power for my home. Proton Energy Systems has some new technology that may bridge the gap for folks "off the grid", but maybe we haven't put the necessary resources into the advancement of replacement technology to move us in a different direction.
Where Are We?
I recently visited Washington D.C. on business. I stayed in a nice hotel, The Topaz on N Street. Got my morning fix at the nearby Starbucks (there's one nearby everywhere). I took the Metro and wondered why we don't have more city transportation systems like this.
I passed the pan handlers and beggars, and the street corner vendors setting up for the days business as I walked to the offices where I'd spend the next 8 to 10 hours developing business models for future use. It really isn't important what the business was. As the days turned into weeks I began to wonder why do we plan for the future as though we have any idea what the future will be. Why don't we plan the future? You know, create the future we want.
The more I think about it the more I know that's where we all need to be. My Dad use to tell me, "today will take care of itself" and I never quite got it. Standing looking at the Washington Monument, I got it. Started in 1848 the Washington Monument was built for the future. White marble, for durability, and careful foundations to ensure it would still be standing for generations.
The builders weren't so much thinking about "today" (July 4, 1848) they were thinking about making a statement for generations to come. I think most people live for the moment, "I want it now" is the cry most children have.
So, today will take care of itself, we've laid a foundation to operate on for now. Is it a sound foundation? Will it last? Can we build a solid future on it? How do we make certain we are ready for the future? Who would you like to decide your future? I want to make my own future, and contribute to the success of the future of the USA.
To that end let's discuss where we are. How can we decide where to go, if we don't know where we are?
