(For God’s Sake) Give More Power to the People!

That was the title of a 1971 hit song by the Chi-Lites, written by the group’s lead singer, Eugene Record.  It also may be one answer to the question of how we can achieve a more sustainable system for powering our homes in the future.  You might think of it as taking a small step backward to make a giant leap forward.

 

In the early days of America, settlers’ homes were heated by fireplaces that were powered by wood from the surrounding forests.  Light was provided by candles made in the home from tallow.  There were no central utilities delivering light and heat to the homes in a village.  Each homeowner was, in essence, his own utility. 

That model changed with the electrification of America.  In the 1880s the first power generating stations were built.  Within a very short time, homes were wired and began using electricity for lighting, heating and all sorts of appliances.  Today in the USA, about 68% of electricity is generated from the burning of fossil fuels.  The burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) contributes carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, which most scientists believe are causing undesirable changes to the earth’s climate.  To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, utilities would have to switch from burning fossil fuels to alternative sources, such as by wind, solar, hydro or nuclear.  Existing homeowners in states with electric choice programs can switch to utilities offering power generated by these alternative sources if they want to do their part to reduce global warming, as described in my previous blog, “Everyone Knows It’s Windy.”

However, what if in the near future homes were built like in the days of the early settlers with the concept that each was a fully (or nearly) sustainable unit from a power standpoint?  Instead of coming with fireplaces designed to heat the home, they would come with individual power plants capable of generating most, if not all, of the household’s electrical needs. 

This is the thought I had after a recent visit to one of my favorite Pittsburgh destinations, the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.  Phipps has been open to visitors just about as long as we’ve had centralized electric utilities.  However, over the past 10 – 15 years, Phipps has been involved in a $23 million, multi-year project to upgrade and expand its facilities.  The Center for Sustainable Landscapes is the centerpiece of Phase III of that project.  On its website, Phipps calls the Center “one of Earth’s greenest buildings.”  The Center showcases many systems and techniques that can be incorporated into new buildings, including residential homes.  These include designing and constructing a building to make it incredibly energy efficient, as well as installing equipment to heat and cool the building using a ground source geothermal HVAC system and to power it using photovoltaic panels and a vertical axis wind turbine. 

The technology for installing many of these features already exists.  For example, you could request that the roof of your new house be covered with solar shingles, and you could demand that a small vertical axis wind turbine be included in the home’s design to supply power to your homestead.  If enough new home buyers demanded that such features be incorporated into their houses, or enough towns adopted building ordinances requiring these types of systems, we could reduce the demand on centralized power plants and eventually meet the entire demand for electricity from non-fossil fuel sources. 

Tearing a page from the history books, we would be living again like the original settlers in houses that independently produce the power to light and heat our living spaces.  And that power would be sustainable, non-polluting and would not add to global warming.  For God’s sake, that certainly would give more power to the people!

Everyone Knows It's Windy

I’ve known for some time that I can choose my electricity supplier.  Electric choice came about as a result of power industry deregulation that began in the late 1990s.  By way of background, the power supplier operates the machinery that generates electricity.  The other link in the electric supply chain is the local electric distribution company.  We can’t choose our distribution company.  Electric distribution companies are public utilities that have been granted the exclusive right to run wires overhead or underground that connect to the wires in our homes.  Since distribution companies are monopolies, their rates are regulated by state public utility commissions.  Suppliers, on the other hand, are able to compete with each other to sell us the power that gets delivered by the distribution company.

I had been contacted in the past by various power supply companies seeking my business.  In one case someone came to my door and offered me what seemed to be a good deal.  A few years later, another company offered me what seemed like a slightly better deal, so I switched to them.  In both cases, I did very little research in making my choice, and I never really thought about switching suppliers on my own. 

Recently, however, my power supplier notified me that it was leaving the electrical supply business.  A second letter stated that my supplier was transferring its customers to another company.  The letter told me that the rate would stay the same for one month and then would change from a fixed rate to a variable rate.  I remembered reading horror stories in the newspaper about people receiving shockingly high bills this past winter after signing up for variable rate electricity.  So I decided I’d better do some “power shopping” to figure out the best deal for me.

Now I knew the internet was the place to go to shop for power, but I’d never done it before.  So I went to my favorite search engine and searched for “electricity choice.”  Since I live in Pennsylvania, I looked for websites with a Pennsylvania focus.  I found two that were very helpful.  The first was a site called Electric Shopping Guide.  The Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate runs this site, which seems like a pretty reliable source of information to me.  The site contains a Guide instructing consumers how to shop for electricity.  The Guide advises consumers about what to look for in selecting a supplier.  It also contains charts with rates offered by competing suppliers and other useful information.

I discovered that one of the first things you must decide is whether you want to sign up for fixed rate or variable rate pricing.  Variable rates are often lower than fixed rates but can be increased by the supplier without notice.  If you are interested in looking for the best deal every month, a variable rate may interest you.  Personally, I felt like I had better things to do than monitor the cost of electricity on a monthly basis, so I looked for a fixed rate. 

There are two important factors in choosing a fixed rate.  First of all, you have to decide for how long a term you want the fixed rate.  Terms typically range from 3 months to a year.  Obviously, if you anticipate rates dropping, you may want a shorter term.  Conversely, if you think they may be going up, pick a longer term.  The second important factor in choosing a fixed term is whether the supplier charges an early termination fee.  Just like many mobile phone carriers, some electricity suppliers will hit you with a fee if you decide to leave early.  I noticed that one supplier charges a fee of $295, while others have no early termination fee at all.  An early termination fee is not legally allowed for variable rate plans.

The charts in the Electric Shopping Guide also will tell you if the electricity being supplied is generated from burning fossil fuels like coal or from renewable resources such as wind, solar, water or biomass. 

While the Shopping Guide provided much useful information, I found that the rates quoted in the charts were somewhat outdated.  So I visited the other site that I found to be helpful.  PA Power Switch – Pennsylvania is operated by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and it contains more up-to-date rate comparisons.  Then, if you find a supplier that has what you want, you can click on a link that takes you directly to the supplier’s website.  Once on the supplier’s website, you can see the actual rates being offered and sign up for the plan you want.  The new supplier typically will contact your present supplier and distribution company to advise them of your switch.

As a result of my power shopping, I switched to a supplier offering a fixed price for a one-year term.  My supplier will not charge me a cancellation fee if I should decide to switch again during my contract term.  And the best part is this:  for less than a penny per kilowatt hour more, I am now getting electricity generated exclusively by wind power.  I was so excited that I went out and bought a cordless electric lawn mower.  Now the power of the wind cuts my grass!

So whether you’re interested in reducing your carbon footprint or in just finding the cheapest electricity available, doing some power shopping is a good idea.  And now, when I’m mowing my lawn or dreaming about buying a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, I’ll be humming that old song by The Association, “Everyone Knows It’s Windy.”  

I Swear

I’d like to talk about swearing.  I don’t mean the kind of swearing that involves taking an oath.  Perhaps the word I am looking for is cursing, though that can also mean uttering “a prayer or invocation for harm or injury to come upon one,” according to Merriam-Webster online.  Believe me; no one would mistake what came out of my mouth a few evenings ago as any kind of “prayer.”  It’s kind of interesting that we don’t have a good English word that the dictionary defines as, “shouting a blue streak of obscene, blasphemous and otherwise profane and offensive words, because something (or someone) has made you extremely frustrated or angry.”  For an example, I’d say, “see, Sergeant Snorkel in Beetle Bailey.”

Actually, I don’t swear very often.  My wife thinks it was a character flaw that I never swore in front of my mother.  “I never had reason to,” I offer, but she’s not buying it.  She thinks it was some kind of Catholic-boy-Madonna complex.  I actually never swore that much growing up.  I suppose it was that Catholic thing again.  I didn’t want to have to confess to our priest – an imposing man with a booming voice – that I’d done something that merited more than the three Hail Marys he usually doled out as penance for my sins. 

Then came high school when a very smart, very moral guy entered my circle of friends.  George swore early and often, and knew more curse words than a Longshoreman.  He didn’t have to be angry.  He cursed in normal conversation.  I figured that if a guy like George could swear like he did, it was high time that I jumped into this game.  Of course, learning to golf helped immensely.  After a few muffed shots, there’s nothing better to accompany some thrown clubs than a bit of projectile cursing.  By the time I was in college and had joined a fraternity, I had learned the art of the casual swear.  All you need to do is add a choice curse word or two in place of any adjective during the course of a conversation. 

Upon entering the professional workforce after college, I had to tone down the swearing.  Sure, there were occasions when a boss or client decided to toss some profanity into the conversation to prove he was a regular, macho guy.  On those occasions I could bring in just enough to make the other guy feel he could trust me, but would dial it back a few notches to let him know he’s the man.

As the years went by I found myself swearing less and less.  I think that when you don’t swear very often, it kind of backs up like a river behind a logjam.  Then something or someone will really frustrate you, which is like throwing a stick of dynamite into the logjam.  The resulting explosion lets loose a torrent of expletives that continue to stream out until the backed up river has run its course.  That happens sometimes when I get cut off by another driver. Then I find that I can go on for five minutes or more with some pretty salty words and phrases.  

The other night I was making coffee and had filled the basket with fresh grounds and set it on the kitchen table.  Then inexplicably my hand bumped the basket and the grounds went flying everywhere.  Dynamite lit, tossed into the logjam and, boom, we have detonation!  After hearing me rant for 5 or 10 minutes, my wife and adult son came into the kitchen to see what was going on.  By then, equilibrium had been restored and I smiled sheepishly.  “Maybe I’m coming down with Tourette’s,” I offered.  “Well,” I thought to myself, “thank goodness I’m Episcopalian now and won’t have to explain this to a priest!”