A recent trip to Monterey really opened my eyes. I was extremely impressed with how actively green it is. I saw so many things that just “wowed” me. It seemed like the people of Monterey were working together as a team. One of the main things I noticed was that nearly everybody was walking around with reusable water bottles, all sizes, shapes, and colors. This is a fantastic concept.  People actually using refillable water bottles rather than plastic ones! I even saw a number of walking folks carrying ceramic coffee cups. I would have to say that I was most impressed by the shoppers.  It seemed like atleast 60% of the folks were using reusable shopping bags, and not plastic. A lot of the Monterey businesses were proud to show memberships to different green organizations by sporting stickers on their doors and plaques on their walls.  Beyond that, I have never seen so many Priuses in my life. It seemed like every other car was some sort of hybrid.  All in all Monterey just had a green feeling. It made me feel better inside. It gave me some hope that my hometown of Bakersfield can do it too. But then I had to return home and be reminded of just how far behind we are. (Click Read More to Continue)

How far behind are we? In my estimation I would say 5 years.  People always say “you know Bakersfield is 5 years behind the rest of the world” Well, it’s true. WE ARE, especially when it comes to caring for our community and environment. When I go shopping, it’s amazing that every person I see is carrying a plastic bag full of groceries. Reusable grocery bags in Bakersfield must be 2 percent of all bags. How about reusable water bottles? I rarely see them. After a visit to Monterey where everybody was walking around with them, my girlfriend and I went down to Fresh and Green and bought us a pair of Klean Kanteens. We absolutely love them, no more plastic bottles for us. Here is a small green rant: Very few people use the recycle blue cans, people constantly leave their porch lights on all day (see Tims post), the roads are packed with oversized 8 to 10MPG vehicles, a majority of households and businesses I go into are still using incandescent lighting, blah, blah, blah.

As citizens of Bakersfield, we need to pull together. We all need to start doing the little things that do make a difference. Let’s make people take notice of our efforts when they come to our city. Below I have made a small list of things we can do to show we care about our future and about our city:

• Call the county or city and request a blue recycle can. Its only $48.00 per year.
• Convert at least one round-trip commute (to school or work) a week to carpool or transit/bike/walk.
• Replace all incandescent and halogen bulbs with compact fluorescents and turn off unused lights.
• Turn down the thermostat 3 degrees during the heating season.
• Upgrade your showerhead to a water-saving one and keep showers below five minutes.
• Pick up some reusable shopping bags and use them everywhere!
• Use cold water when doing your laundry.
• Get a reusuable water bottle and a reusable coffee cup, no more plastic bottles.
• Plug all your electronics into power strips and turn them off when not in use.
• Keep your auto tires fully inflated.
• Replace your old refrigerator with an ENERGY STAR model

-Kynan Chambers
www.greenerbakersfield.com
www.savebakersfield.com

I introduced him to PG&E’s online SmartMeter account information to help monitor current consumption and review past usage.  I explained to him that PG&E rewards its residential customers with lower rates for lower consumption. PG&E’s billing is set up on a 5 tier system. Here is a snapshot of the winter rates for each tier for the Bakersfield area: (Click Read More to Continue)

(1) Baseline Usage 11.4 kWh per day $0.11536

(2) 101-130% of baseline $0.13115
(3) 131-200% of baseline $0.24711
(4) 201-300% of baseline $0.35432
(5) Over 300% of baseline $0.41049

Take a look at tier (1) $0.11536 and tier (5) $0.41049 pricing. There is a $0.295 difference! My friend’s Jan/Feb usage was 1656 kWh or 51.8 kWh per day. As you can see on the bill below, the first 729 kWh cost $119.53 and the remanding 926 kWh cost $359.78. One of the keys to cutting the overall cost is eliminating or reducing kWh usage in tier (4) and (5). Just cutting consumption by 561 kWh from this bill would deduct $230.53. 

Take note of this year vs last year’s usage comparison on the bill. We were able to cut 14 kWh per day with the small changes. If usage was the same as last year, the bill would have an additional $184 added to it for a total bill of $663.

On the bill above, the average price per kWh is found by dividing total price by total kWh used.  In this case the price is $0.298 per kWh($479/1656).

The kWh baseline is adjusted for summer and winter usage and is different for other parts of California based on environmental weather conditions. For example, Bakersfield’s summer baseline is 19.4 kWh per day and Santa Cruz’s baseline is 8.3 kWh.

For more information on baseline usage visit PG&E’s website: http://www.pge.com/myhome/customerservice/financialassistance/medicalbaseline/understand/index.shtml

Jeff Williams

www.greenerbakersfield.com

www.savebakersfield.com

My grandfather Stan used to follow my brother and I around his house yelling, “Why are these lights on? These cost money!”  Well, needless to say, I learned that lesson early on in life and it drives me nuts to see people throwing money and resources down the toilet. If it’s yellow let it mellow!  Sorry I got side tracked.  The only redeeming factor in this energy wasting fiasco is that 8 out the 11 homes with their lights left on had CFL’s.  But, come on! Let’s do the math.  For arguments sake we will assume that the CFLs are 13 watt bulbs, and the incandescents are 40 watt bulbs. Lets also say each house has 2 lights on. (Click Read More to Continue)

40w Incandescent  x 2
24 hrs will use 1.920 KW = $.36
7 days will use 13.440 KW  = $2.55
1 month will use 57.600 KW = $10.94
1 year will use 691.200 KW = $131.32

13w Compact Flourescent x 2
24 hrs will use .624 KW = $.04
7 days will use 4.368 KW = $.83
1 month will use 18.720 KW = $3.56
1 year will use 224.640 KW = $42.68

1 KW @ $.19 average

So, these are the numbers for just two lamps left on, but, like cockroaches, for every one you see there are many more you don’t. Who knows how many lights are left on in the house! Energy conservation is not only good for our environment, but also our pocket books.  Even though the CFL’s use about a third of the energy of an incandescent lamp, it wouldn’t cost my neighbors nearly as much if they would turn off their lights during the day. If their too lazy to do that, then a solution would be to buy a fixture with a photocell.  A photocell is basically a switch that is activated by the sun (daylight-off / night-on). It’s just that simple.  So please, do yourselves a favor and go turn off that light, It’s costing YOU money.

Check back soon for my next articles- where to recycle your CFL’S here in Bakersfield and constructing a homemade solar hot water system.  Solar heated water-DUH!

-Tim  Douhan
Greener Bakersfield Contributor

It all started several months ago with an audit , a walk around the house with my clipboard and an agenda. The agenda you ask? Complete and utter bulbacide. Ok, seriously… my plan?? My plan was to replace every incandescent light bulb in my entire house. This turned out to be more of a task then I could have ever imagined. There were so many wattages, sizes, shapes, and colors of CFL’s. I mean there was warm white, soft white, full spectrum, full spectrum daylight, halogen white, and many more that I can’t remember! Then there was Kelvin, do I want 2700 Kelvin, 3500 Kelvin, maybe 4100 Kelvin, wait, wait perhaps 6500 Kelvin!?  I had no idea what kind of compact florescent to buy to replace what incandescent bulb. All I knew was I had almost 50 bulbs to replace. (Click Read More to Continue)

The easiest way for me to accomplish this was to write down the size, location, and wattage of the current halogen bulbs. I then took my list down to a local hardware store and starting sizing up compact fluorescents. I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of choices I had. There were in fact different wattages, brands, shapes, and prices. After about an hour I finally figured out what I ones I needed. It just took some serious box reading and comparing, even a bit of price comparing. At this point I returned home and started the bulb replacement effort. I found some were too bright, some were too big for the ceiling fans, and some were way to sterile looking when turned on. After playing musical bulbs, I finally completed my task. So, what were the results?

Not so fancy mathematical results:

100 Watt X 1 = 100 Watts
75 Watt X 5 = 375 Watts
60 Watt X 12 = 720 Watts
40 Watt X 14 = 560 Watts
25 Watt X 15 = 375 Watts
Total incandescent bulb wattage = 2130 Watts

11 Watt X 13 = 143 Watts
13 Watt X 18 = 234 Watts
7 Watt X 16 = 112 Watts
Total compact florescent bulb wattage = 489

A 1641 Watt difference!

I ended up paying $70.48 for the CFL army including sales tax. I also had a few spares to store away incase needed in the future

So here is the incandescent vs. CFL payback figuring 2 hours of use a day.
 
CFL will save 3.28 kWh per day and 98.40 kWh per month and 1197 kWh per year.  At an average of $.18 per kWh the lights will pay for themselves in under 4 months!  That means after the first year I will have paid for the new cfl’s and have an extra $141.68.  Not a bad investment in a bleak economy!

Now it’s time for the CFL regime to take over your home…. however…. the LED army approaches silently.

-Kynan Chambers
www.greenerbakersfield.com
www.greenbakersfield.com

Last month I purchased “The Energy Detective” also known as TED.  TED is an energy monitor that allows my family to see our kWh consumption in real time!  TED can also keeps a running daily kWh total.  The TED unit was also super easy for my electrician friend Tim to install. Once the TED unit was installed and up and running, I was enthralled with turning different lights and appliances on and off to check their kWh draws. (Click Read More to Continue)

The Official TED Website explains how the unit works:
TED’s transmitting device, located in your circuit breaker panel, measures the amount of electricity coming into your home as you demand/use it and then transmits data every second over your receiving unit. The receiving display unit can be plugged into any A/C outlet in your home.  Check out more on the official TED website including pricing and installation instructions here: http://www.theenergydetective.com/index.html

For me one of the greatest benefits of the TED unit is benchmarking.  By benchmarking your current kWh usage for certain event times, one will gain efficiency knowledge for that event.  For example, say the event is leaving the house for work or school.  My kWh bench mark for this event is 90 watts. A quick glance at the TED unit, before leaving, will confirm that all lights, heating blankets, computers, printers, etc are powered off.  In the case where my watt usage is higher, I do a quick search to find the TV, closet light or heating blanket left on. For reference, my “Everyone is in bed or going to bed” benchmark is 120 watts.

Below, I have posted my most recent utility bill that shows this year and last years usage comparison for the same time period.  Note the drop from 20 kWh a day last year to 11 kWh this year.  Ohh, before I forget, here is a link to a video review of the TED. http://www.mavromatic.com/archives/000674.asp

One of my goals? a green Bakersfield, and a thicker wallet.

-Jeff Williams
www.greenerbakersfield.com
www.greenbakersfield.com
Green Bakersfield
Save Bakersfield

Six different flavors still available as of Friday the 6th of February:

ULA Mini Dimmable 23 Watt – replaces 100 Watt incandescent bulbs (2 bulbs per pack)
Greenlite 9 Watt Vanity – replaces 40 Watt incandescent bulbs (4 bulbs per pack)
Greenlite 7 Watt tradition bulb style – replaces 40 Watt incandescent bulbs (4 bulbs per pack)
Greenlite 23 Watt – replaces 100 Watt incandescent bulbs (4 bulbs per pack)
General Electric 15 Watt – replaces 60 Watt incandescent bulbs (3 bulbs per pack)
General Electric 26 Watt – replaces 100 Watt incandescent bulbs (3 bulbs per Pack)

I have also heard from fellow energy saver Jeff that you can find these great deals at various grocery stores every blue moon. Keep your eyes open. I will continue to post when I see the CFL rebates at different stores across Bakersfield. Perhaps we need a CFL rebate alert? At this point I’m buying them just to give out to friends and family. What a great gift!

–Kynan Chambers
www.greenerbakersfield.com
www.greenbakersfield.com

Lengthwise Brewing Company, my workplace, installed a small solar system that produces 1.2 kWh per hour for five hours a day.  After a quick investigation, I found that the system would not even provide enough energy to power the 25 track lights that provide ambiance lighting!  Each track light bulb was a 50 watt halogen bulb.  Therefore, the math goes like this:

Consumption Math (halogen bulbs)
25 bulbs x 50 watts = 1250 watts or 1.25 kWh
The lights are on for 12 hours a day
12 hours x 1.25 kWh = 15 kWh

Solar PV production Math
1.2 kWh x 5 hours = 6 kWh per day

(Click Read More to Continue)

According to the info above, the track lights consume 15 kWh per day and the solar PV system provides 6 kWh per day.  So, it appears that we need a larger solar array.  Wrong.  We need to install more efficient bulbs.  All halogen track lights were changed out to compact fluorescent spot lights that consume 7 watts per bulb per hour but provide approximately the same amount of light. New math:

New Consumption Math (compact florescent)
25 bulbs x 7 watts = 175 watts per hour
12 hours x 175 watts = 2.1 kWh per day

Bulb change out cost
25 compact fluorescent spots x $8.00each = $200

Solar PV system after rebates cost
1.2 kWh complete system = $7,000

The point is this, reducing your energy consumption through efficiencies will by far out weigh a hasty solar PV installation.  Our simple $200.00 bulb change will save us 12900 watts per day or 4,708,500 watts per annum! 

Jeff Williams
www.greenerbakersfield.com

www.greenbakersfield.com