Not Las Vegas: Andrew is "nearzero"

Thursday, June 11, 2009 at 3:22PM

This short blog follows the Las Vegas blogs . . . . it is a good fit. It is written by aguest-Andrew Michler (photo). Andrew reports that he has lived "off-the-grid" for fifteen years. He is a LEED AP withBaosol Sustainable Building Consulting. Andrew also has his own blog at http://www.baosol.blogspot.comand does blog postings for GenGreen and TreeNex. Andrew's comments have an important message in the context of our recent conversations about a 6,500 square foot house in Las Vegas. Our Vegashouse had many complex characteristics with the goal of being able to say that it was "green." Andrew's message is much more simple. Here it is.


“Net-zero” is no longer a cheesy internet provider but the holy grail of the society’s environmental infrastructure. Real or imaginary, it inspirers engineers, entrepreneurs, and builders to create buildings that need no fossil fuels what so ever to run on. They are looking to low entropy solutions for an increasingly high entropy civilization. Some may even suggest that the embodied energy of the building components should be net-zero. That gets a little complicated so let’s just think about the energy a building uses.

This report about my findings of living on solar electricity for a while. I used to think that is was neat to use just the energy from the sun, and I have to admit that I’d brag about it. I would say that it was no big deal, implying that it was a big deal. Now I just think it’s no big deal. The computer I am writing on and the one you are reading this on are a big deal right? Not really, they just do what they need to do. Same with the lights, stereo, the fridge and all that yummy food inside. It’s just stuff (but I do appreciate my wife’s cooking). So the real story is how that stuff is used.

Another group of engineers is busy creating stuff we want but their goal seems to be to satisfy our instant gratification at the expense of our energy savvy. If you want to live near net zero you are in a pitched battle with these engineers and there devious plot of instant on, cheap components, push button color display programmable universe. They put their smart chips in everything. We submit to their electronic dreams. When you want net-zero waking up from this dream is at first a little surprising. Your goal is to use no more energy than you produce, but every which way you look stuff just wants more energy. Worse, at first you can’t see it. You need to develop energy vision, kind of like the guy in the Matrix, but without all the drama. To be net-zero is a training in seeing where energy goes.

Clearly heating your house, your water, and dinner are a challenge. I use wood and propane. This makes me near zero instead of net-zero. Everything else is electricity. Cfl’s saved the day in not just letting me live off the grid but also to enjoy it with good efficient Light! Computers, TVs, printers, tools, and all those damn little black cubes in the wall are itching to eat up my hard earned solar power. I learned early in the game that if it plugs in don’t trust it, confirm it really switches off. If not then put in a switch. Because it was early in the game for me to know this my house has switched plugs for all the electronics. Just to make it even easier to save energy I have a lot of individual ways to light the house, no big fans, pumps, electronic controls, etc. I also use these switches, and make sure the house’s power inverter is off when we go to bed, because even 20 watts on all the time is a lot. This is easier than I thought.

Ok, it is not really that easy. We use energy for everything. Flush your toilet? That water is pumped in at some point, cleaned up at a plant, sent to your toilet, discharged to a sewage plant where it is cleared, pumped a lot more, aerated, filtered, etc… a lot of energy. In fact the book Natural Capitalism mentions that water pumping uses 10% of the entire world’s electricity. What’s that about? Your furnace says 90% efficient, but the motor that pushes the air around and the other motor that takes the combustion air outside is only 50% as efficient as it could be. Statistics are showing that many people actually use more energy with an efficient furnace because they keep the house warmer. I just inspected a house where the owner rightfully updated her furnace to a 90+Afue and 14 seer ac unit. There was even mastic added to the ducts. Sadly, she will see little energy reduction from the ac because it is 1/3 oversized and cools the house faster than it can remove the humidity. A new energy star refrigerator is rated against only like sized models, not the most efficient, and LG even found a way to cheat the testing (they are not the only ones), but regardless, perhaps the refrigerator is sitting across from the west facing window and has sun on it for three hours. These little energy faux pas are everywhere.

Now put on your energy seeking goggles and find them. A kill-a-watt meter might help, a TED for the whole house. Don’t buy stuff and just plug it in forever, look at the label to see what this stuff wants in return. Ignore how much you owe the power company for a moment and look at the kwhrs. That number means a lot. 100kw a person a month is a good start. Just to brag, my wife and I use about 30kw a month each (not including propane) and I can still watch Netflix, play video games, and write newsletters. I have a friend who recently cut her energy use for her whole family by two thirds. I am sorry that near net-zero may seem so boring, but it works. If you need more convincing I can ship the truck load of coal to your house that you use each month. Come to think of it, that’s what the power company is doing already, only even less efficiently. Join the low entropy revolution.