Cooking with Larry Schlussler at his home in Arcata, California, is, if not quite cool, at least incredibly efficient in its use of energy.
He takes fresh ingredients out of his Sun Frost, the refrigerator he developed and manufactures, which uses far less electricity than any other brand on the market. (Its largest model costs US$2,500.) He fills an electric pot, with an insulated top he made, with tap water heated to 180 degrees by thermal solar panels outside the kitchen wall. After his mix comes to a boil, he turns off the electricity to let the trapped heat in the covered pot do its work.
"Perfect soup every time," said Schlussler, a native New Yorker with a Ph.D. in engineering. "And I save energy. I like that, too."
In the struggle against the rising cost of energy, Schlussler is way out front. His home is a model of efficiency, and his utility bill is zero. He uses so little energy that the small solar power system on his roof provides more than enough electricity to pay back the utility for the power he uses on cloudy days and cold nights. By comparison, the average American homeowner, according to the Energy Department, spends an average of US$1,820 a year on energy.
Perfection in energy-efficiency, or anything close, requires a substantial investment of time, expertise and capital, all of which may be out of reach for most Americans. Still, a growing number are taking up the challenge of finding ways to get more out of less.
Businesses that may not have even existed a decade ago, offering huge selections of efficient products, are now a click away, at sites like 1000bulbs.com and affordable-solar.com. Among the offerings now available are Superglass windows, LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs, solar-powered exhaust fans and soybean foam insulation. They often cost more than the traditional versions: LED bulbs, for example, are about US$20 each, compared with less than US$3 for compact fluorescent bulbs and less than US$1 for an incandescent bulb. And Superglass windows may run upwards of a third more than the several hundreds of dollars that conventional windows cost. Over the long run, though, for some homeowners, it may be possible to recoup the extra money through savings on utility bills.
If superefficient solutions are pricey or obscure, many mainstream options abound at the mall. Anything that bears the Energy Star label, part of a federal program to promote energy efficiency, guarantees savings of at least 10 percent over standard models.
Over the last five years, when the program has operated at full throttle, the Energy Department says the number of homes with these more efficient appliances has grown substantially. Energy Star dishwashers, like a highly efficient Asko model for around US$1,200, are in 21.1 percent of homes, up from 2.7 percent, while Energy Star refrigerators, like Kenmores from Sears in the US$600 to US$900 range, are in 11.8 percent, up from 3.8 percent, and Energy Star clothes washers, like a Eurotech at around US$1,200, are in 7 percent, up from 1 percent.
Energy Star refrigerators now command 35 percent of annual sales, according to Bill Prindle, deputy director of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, which offers ratings and information on its Web site, aceee.org, on state rebates for buying a wide range of energy-efficient appliances. (An average Energy Star refrigerator will save US$43 annually.)
Even buyers who pass up the Energy Star label for something cheaper stand a good chance of cutting down on utility bills when they replace old appliances. Today's least efficient models are nearly always more efficient than the best of a generation ago. About the only thing that won't cut utility bills is sticking with what you have.
Staying with the old way is not for Danny Orlando, an administrator for the Energy Star program in Atlanta. Orlando is another professional in the field who takes his work home with him. Since buying his ranch house 15 years ago, he has been taking steps toward making it more efficient.
He was quick to buy a dishwasher and air-conditioners with Energy Star ratings. He replaced incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent ones and bought a new furnace that was 50 percent more efficient than the original - and cheaper, because a smaller one would do. Last year, the space above his kitchen ceiling got new blown-in insulation made from recycled newspaper.
"It gets better and easier all the time," he said. "I remember five years ago they'd sell single compact fluorescent bulbs and I'd stuff it down in the bottom of a grocery bag because I didn't want to think about the cost. Now I get a pack of eight to 12. They're so inexpensive I don't think about it."
The savings over 15 years, though, are worth thinking about: He has used nearly a third fewer kilowatt hours, for annual savings of roughly US$600. And he isn't finished. His house is a work in progress.
Consumers who pay more up front for appliances may come out ahead over time -- if the appliances last long enough and save enough energy. Front-loading horizontal axis washing machines, which tumble clothing rather than agitating it, are one example. Those made by Eurotech and Asko run a few hundred dollars more than comparable top-loading models.
"They use 10 to 30 percent less electricity," said Dennis Creech, executive director of the Southface Energy Institute in Atlanta. "They also use less water, spin out more water from the clothes and are gentler on them."
Some consumers are taking other paths to energy efficiency. Robert Jackson of Hopewell, Mass., bought a solar-powered exhaust fan for US$250 from the Alternative Energy Store, at altenergystore.com. It sells 2,400 products, like tankless water heaters that provide hot water on demand (US$649), solar lanterns (US$65) and composting toilets (US$1,153).
The fan is installed on the roof and sucks hot air out of the attic. The sunnier the day, the more hot air it extracts.
"The house cools off a lot faster since I put the fan in," he said. With his average utility bill down by US$14 a month, he expects that the fan will pay for itself in less than two years.
In some categories, products seem to come in three layers of energy efficiency: the usual, the better and the best (and, sometimes, the most expensive). In lighting, for example, there are incandescent, compact fluorescent and LED bulbs. But such divisions can also apply to windows and insulation.
Old-style windows generally have one pane of glass. Relatively modern insulating windows have two panes that trap dead air between them. The latest version, known by the brand name Superglass, has two layers of clear film between the panes.
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