negawatts vs megawatts
It's really quite simple if you think about it for a moment. Every Watt you displace with conservation, enhanced efficiency measures, and renewable energy applications, is one less Watt, (NegaWatt), that has to be generated by a utility company and transmitted to your home or business. While it is true that we can't simply conserve our way to energy independence, aggressive conservation and increasing our efficiency are the first steps in getting our house in order. And there's a lot more to be done than just turning off the lights.
Unfortunately, when it comes to energy conservation and efficiency improvements, we have put the fox in charge of the hen house. The conservation efforts of the typical Investor Owned Utility, (IOU), are often little more than self serving, ratepayer financed, public relations campaigns designed to make it look like something meaningful is being done. It's past time for us to get serious about really becoming more efficient and doing this would create thousands of new jobs.
Study after study after study keeps telling us the same thing, increasing our efficiency and applying alternative energy is a cheaper and better solution, (see http://www.nirs.org/alternatives/alternativeshome.htm), yet our leadership in Florida, (the Sunshine State), keeps ignoring the facts in favor of sweetheart deals for the existing IOU's and continued business as usual. There is so much that could be done, but to start with, why don't we consider using early cost recovery to create low interest loan banks that provide large scale funding of small scale efficiency upgrades and alternative energy projects for individual homeowners and businesses in Florida? This is actually being done in some other states that have a lot less solar resource than Florida. It would literally put thousands of people to work and be a good first step toward creating a clean, safe, low cost, and decentralized energy infrastructure built on renewable resources instead of continued expansion of our existing dirty, expensive, vulnerable, and dangerous centralized energy infrastructure built around nuclear and fossil fuels. As a ratepayer, it's your money, you need to stand up and have a say in how it is spent.
Please don’t dismiss these ideas as some unattainable Solartopian pipe dream of a guy passing by on a sunny day in a solar powered concrete boat until you consider all the facts. Look at what countries like Germany are doing, http://energytransition.de/2013/03/americans-misunderstandigns-german-renewable-energy-revolution/ . This is a place with lower solar resources than Alaska, yet they are leading the world in alternative energy development. They are doing it by creating a world class, decentralized energy infrastructure from the bottom up, not the top down, with the enthusiastic participation of their citizens. It's not just Germany, many other industrialized nations are taking this path to energy independence. And it's not a socialist plot to take away your rights to be a polluter, it's a grassroots movement by informed, concerned citizens who want to live a better life and leave a better world for their children.
You don't have to take my word for it either. Visit sites like www.cleanenergy.org, www.rmi.org, or www.oeic.us and learn about the details of how this can actually be done. Then get excited about the possibilities that sustainable technology holds for your future. Lower energy costs, more jobs, and a cleaner environment are the bounties that renewable energy offers us for the taking.
Get informed and get involved. Go to www.myfloridahouse.gov and www.flsenate.gov and contact your state legislators and tell them to stop giving away our future prosperity to the electric utility industry. Learn more and seriously consider investing in energy efficiency upgrades and alternative energy technology for your own home or business. Becoming energy independent has never been more affordable and attainable to the masses than it is right now.
The time is here! Join the Micro-Grid Revolution today and transform your house into your own “Home of Imagination”. Then live the dream of a sustainable future for yourself and your children.
Unfortunately, when it comes to energy conservation and efficiency improvements, we have put the fox in charge of the hen house. The conservation efforts of the typical Investor Owned Utility, (IOU), are often little more than self serving, ratepayer financed, public relations campaigns designed to make it look like something meaningful is being done. It's past time for us to get serious about really becoming more efficient and doing this would create thousands of new jobs.
Study after study after study keeps telling us the same thing, increasing our efficiency and applying alternative energy is a cheaper and better solution, (see http://www.nirs.org/alternatives/alternativeshome.htm), yet our leadership in Florida, (the Sunshine State), keeps ignoring the facts in favor of sweetheart deals for the existing IOU's and continued business as usual. There is so much that could be done, but to start with, why don't we consider using early cost recovery to create low interest loan banks that provide large scale funding of small scale efficiency upgrades and alternative energy projects for individual homeowners and businesses in Florida? This is actually being done in some other states that have a lot less solar resource than Florida. It would literally put thousands of people to work and be a good first step toward creating a clean, safe, low cost, and decentralized energy infrastructure built on renewable resources instead of continued expansion of our existing dirty, expensive, vulnerable, and dangerous centralized energy infrastructure built around nuclear and fossil fuels. As a ratepayer, it's your money, you need to stand up and have a say in how it is spent.
Please don’t dismiss these ideas as some unattainable Solartopian pipe dream of a guy passing by on a sunny day in a solar powered concrete boat until you consider all the facts. Look at what countries like Germany are doing, http://energytransition.de/2013/03/americans-misunderstandigns-german-renewable-energy-revolution/ . This is a place with lower solar resources than Alaska, yet they are leading the world in alternative energy development. They are doing it by creating a world class, decentralized energy infrastructure from the bottom up, not the top down, with the enthusiastic participation of their citizens. It's not just Germany, many other industrialized nations are taking this path to energy independence. And it's not a socialist plot to take away your rights to be a polluter, it's a grassroots movement by informed, concerned citizens who want to live a better life and leave a better world for their children.
You don't have to take my word for it either. Visit sites like www.cleanenergy.org, www.rmi.org, or www.oeic.us and learn about the details of how this can actually be done. Then get excited about the possibilities that sustainable technology holds for your future. Lower energy costs, more jobs, and a cleaner environment are the bounties that renewable energy offers us for the taking.
Get informed and get involved. Go to www.myfloridahouse.gov and www.flsenate.gov and contact your state legislators and tell them to stop giving away our future prosperity to the electric utility industry. Learn more and seriously consider investing in energy efficiency upgrades and alternative energy technology for your own home or business. Becoming energy independent has never been more affordable and attainable to the masses than it is right now.
The time is here! Join the Micro-Grid Revolution today and transform your house into your own “Home of Imagination”. Then live the dream of a sustainable future for yourself and your children.