Energy Basics – The Primer

Written by Contributor Tuesday, 11 November 2008 01:28

An Energy Newbie Learns About The Basics of Energy - Once I understood the signifigance, magnitude and urgency of our climate crisis I knew I had to do something in my life to reduce my energy consumption. But I also had to admit to myself that I didn't know anything about the energy I use!  When we are new to energy conservation it pays to understand the basics. What is "energy"? Where does it come from? And how do we pay for it? So I decided to bone up on where energy in our homes come from.

I descovered that when you learn the answers to these questions, you can also learn how to live more efficiently in your home.  So in this article I will share with other new energy conservers the basic concepts I learned around energy. Here is your energy conservation primer after you have read this, read the other articles in this section that dig deeper into the energy issues and solutions.

The first thing I learned was that you can make a lot of progress toward improving the energy efficiency in your home by simply plugging the many places through which air can get in or get out. Plugging your home is called "air sealing," and it is one of the most important first steps to take when weatherizing your house to increase its energy efficiency.

Increasing the amount of insulation in various places in your home should be a high priority. Insulation, in its many forms, helps stop the transfer of heat from one place to another. A good example of this is the insulation in your attic. A thick layer of insulation helps stop heat flow from the house to the attic during the winter. In the summer, that same insulation helps stop heat transfer from the hot attic to the rooms below.

But while better air sealing and insulation in your home can do a lot to reduce your utility bill, that's not where the story on energy efficiency starts and ends. There are many other ways to conserve, some of which require only simple changes of habit or lifestyle but it all starts with knowing where your energy comes from.

Electricity powers lights, appliances, and electronic devices in your home. It also runs air conditioners, heats water, cooks food, dries laundry, and in some cases is used for space heating. Natural gas, propane, and oil are mostly burned to provide space heating and hot water; and secondary uses for these gases include cooking, clothes drying, and fireplace fuel.

Electricity: Electricity enters a home through a service-entry cable either above or below ground. From there it passes through a main electrical service panel containing fuses or breakers and is distributed throughout the house through wires, receptacles, and switches. Electricity is billed to the consumer by the kilowatt-hour (kWH). Each kWH costs approximately 8 to 15 cents, depending on where you live and your utility company's fees.

One kilowatt-hour equals 1,000 watts of electricity used for an hour. To understand how kilowatts are calculated, picture a 100-watt lightbulb. Burning that bulb for one hour uses 100 watts of electricity. If it burns for 10 hours, that equals one kilowatt (100 watts 3 10 hours = 1,000 watts, or one kilowatt). And burning that one bulb for those 10 hours costs between 8 and 15 cents.

Natural gas: Natural gas is delivered to homes through a network of underground pipes. After natural gas passes through a meter outside of a house, the gas is piped to where it is needed inside -- to a furnace or boiler, water heater, or gas fireplace -- through a series of smaller metal pipes. Natural gas is billed to the consumer by the cubic foot of gas used.

Propane: Propane, or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), is transported by truck from a utility or gas company to a storage tank on a homeowner's property outside the home. From there it enters the house through a pipe and is distributed via a system similar to that used for natural gas. Propane is billed by the gallon.

Oil: Fuel oil is also transported by truck, is pumped into a storage tank either inside or outside the house, and is piped to the appliances where it is needed. Fuel oil is billed by the gallon as well.

So that's how energy arrives at your house and how it is billed. What happens after that -- how you use these energy supplies -- has everything to do with how large your utility bill is at the end of the month. Every time you turn on a light or a TV, use hot water, or switch on the air conditioner or furnace, you consume energy.

Read the other articles to learn about how you can save energy and money by simply making different choices. I am still a new convert to evergy conservation but in this section, I learned about how to be smart about how you use energy, how to know when to turn electrical power on and off, and how to use natural gas, propane, and fuel oil in the most effective way.