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How Much Energy Do I Use Right Now?
Start by becoming familiar with the information contained in your natural gas and electric bills and then track your energy usage from month to month. This will make you more aware of just how much energy your home is consuming and more conscious of energy issues generally. It can also provide a big incentive to test various strategies to improve your home's energy efficiency and will help you monitor the impact of those changes.
Reading Your Gas Bill
There are several main sections of the typical gas bill. The Nicor Gas bill, for example, starts by reporting the amount of gas used (1) during the current billing period. This is used to calculate the three sub-totals of the bill: delivery charges (2), the cost of the natural gas supplied to the home (3), and applicable taxes (4). Added together, these three costs and charges determine the total current bill.
(1) The meter reading section reports the number of cubic feet of gas (CCF) used during the current billing period. (CCF=100 cubic feet.) It shows the current reading of the gas meter, the previous meter reading, and the difference between the two.
This gas usage then is converted from cubic feet to therms, a measure of the heat, or energy content, of the gas. The amount of gas consumed (CCFs used) is multiplied by a BTU (British Thermal Unit) factor--the actual heat value of the gas supplied. The BTU factor may vary from month to month.
(2) Delivery charges reflect the cost to the gas company in operating and distributing gas to the home, including
- a monthly customer charge, a minimum fixed amount that covers the cost of reading the meter, producing a bill, and other administrative services;
- distribution charges, which reflect the cost of delivering gas to the home (labor, gas mains, gas transmission and distribution lines) and are based on the amount of gas used (in therms);
- an environmental recovery cost, which covers costs for environmental monitoring and possible clean-up of former manufactured gas plants in the company's service territory.
(3) The natural gas cost accounts for the largest portion of the bill. It is calculated by multiplying the amount of gas used that month (reported in the meter reading section) by the average cost per therm that the company pays for its gas supply.
(4) The taxes section includes several state and local tax levies.
The Nicor Gas bill also provides information to help the homeowner compare energy usage for the current billing period with that for the same period the previous year, including total degree days and therm usage for the month.
Reading Your Electric Bill
Information about usage and applicable charges is also included in the typical electric bill.
(1) Electrical usage is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh). (One kilowatt-hour is equal to using a 100-watt light bulb for 10 hours.) The utility bill details the number of kilowatt-hours of electricity used during the billing period, reports the date on which the meter was read, and indicates whether it was an actual or an estimated reading. The amount used will vary due to the number of days in the billing period, the season of the year, appliance use, vacations, and so on.
(2) Several charges are added together to determine the amount owed, including:
- a customer charge, a fixed amount that covers the costs of providing the standard service connection, metering and meter reading, and other basic services;
- an energy charge, calculated by multiplying the cost/kWh of producing the power by the number of kWhs used during the billing period;
- taxes and other governmental levies (e.g., franchise fees);
- other applicable charges (e.g., for ComEd customers, a decommissioning adjustment to provide for the recovery of the estimated costs to safely retire ComEd's nuclear generation units at the end of their operating lives.)
Electrical companies also provide a graph showing the customer's usage history to assist in identifying those months in which to expect higher usage. This information can also help homeowners see where lifestyle changes might be made to decrease usage.
What Are the Sources of the Energy I Use In My Home?
Much of the energy consumed in homes is produced by power plants that burn fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. When burned, each of these fossil fuels emits various greenhouse gases, principally carbon dioxide. But they differ significantly in the level of emissions that each gives off.
- Coal burning accounts for about one-third of the country's carbon dioxide emissions and is the single largest source of some of the worst air pollutants, including deadly particulate matter, acid-rain-forming sulfur dioxide, and toxic mercury.
- Oil burns cleaner than coal but still produces large quantities of carbon dioxide emissions for each unit of energy produced.
- Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel. Burning natural gas does release carbon dioxide and other pollutants but at much lower levels than other fossil fuels. It emits half as much CO2 as coal per unit of energy produced and nearly 40 percent less CO2 than oil.
Roughly two-thirds of the 22,000 pounds of carbon emissions related to operating a home is attributable to the electricity used in the home. This is due in part to the relative inefficiency of many power plants in converting the energy in the fuel they burn into electricity. It typically takes three or four units of fuel to produce and deliver one unit of electricity.
The other factor is the electric power industry's heavy reliance on fossil fuels--carbon-intensive coal in particular. Almost three-fourths of the electricity generated in the U.S. is produced by burning fossil fuels, with about 51 percent coming from coal, 18 percent from natural gas, and three percent from oil. Non-fossil fuel sources account for the rest: nuclear power provides about 20 percent, hydropower produces about six percent, and the remainder comes from "green" power sources.
What is the Environmental Impact of the Energy I Use?
To answer that question, you will need 12 months of data about the energy used in your home. If you do not have your utility bills for the last 12 months, you should be able to obtain a history of your account from your local utility companies.
- To calculate the impact of the electricity you use, add up the number of kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity delivered to your house over a 12-month period. Then multiply this total by 1.34--the number of pounds of carbon dioxide (U.S. average) emitted for each kilowatt-hour of electricity used. For comparison purposes, the average electrical consumption per household in the U.S. is 900 kWh/month (or 10,800 kWh/year), resulting in emissions, on average, of 1,200 pounds of CO2/month (or 14,400 pounds of CO2/year).
The actual amount of C02 released varies from region to region, depending on the type of fuel used in the power plants in the area. Coal-burning plants release significantly more C02 than do plants that burn natural gas, for example. The EPA's Power Profiler, which uses information about the fuel mix used to generate electricity in your region, can give you a closer estimate of the emissions attributable to the electricity used in your home.
- To calculate the environmental impact of the natural gas (or other heating fuel) you use, first determine the number of therms of gas (or gallons of propane/oil) used in your home over a 12-month period. Then multiply this number by the appropriate conversion factor to determine the number of pounds of CO2 generated. One therm of natural gas generates 11.7 pounds of CO2; for propane, it is 11 pounds/gallon, and for heating oil, it is 22 pounds/gallon.
- For most Americans, driving ranks along with electrical usage at the top of the list of daily pollution-causing activities. (For others, air travel can be a big contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.) Calculate and compare your vehicle's miles per gallon and greenhouse gas emissions at the Fuel Economy Website of the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. Environmental Defense is another good source of information to help you choose a more fuel-efficient vehicle.
What Can I Do To Make a Difference?
There are a range of steps you can take--many of them no-cost or low-cost actions--to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions. Here are just a few:
- Replace five of the most frequently-used incandescent light bulbs in your house with compact fluorescent lights. Savings: 700 pounds of CO2/year.
- Set the temperature of your water heater so that the water is no more than 120¡F. Savings: up to 550 pounds of CO2/year.
- Install a programmable thermostat to turn down your heating or cooling at night and when you leave home. Savings: about 1,800 pounds of CO2/year.
- Invest in energy-efficient appliances. Savings in upgrading all appliances to ENERGY STAR standards: up to 6,000 pounds of CO2/year.
- Seal and weather-strip doors and windows to keep warm air from leaking into your house in summer and out of your house in winter. Savings: up to 1,700 pounds of CO2/year.
- Recycle aluminum cans, glass bottles, plastic, newspaper and cardboard. Savings: 850 pounds of CO2/year.
- Buy the most fuel-efficient car that meets your needs. Savings with a new car that gets just three miles-per-gallon more than your old car: 3,000 pounds of CO2/year.
- Plant trees and shrubs around your house. Savings in planting one deciduous tree: 50 pounds of CO2/year.
- Install a solar-heating system to help provide hot water. Savings: up to 720 pounds/year.
- If you have the choice, buy electricity for your home from a Green Power source.
Why Does It Matter?
Greenhouse gas emissions are often reported in terms of emissions per person. This includes emissions from a set of everyday activities over which individuals have some control--emissions from transportation choices, from electricity and heating for the home, and from landfills for household waste. Individuals can take steps to reduce emissions in these areas, for example, by choosing more fuel-efficient automobiles, by switching to fluorescent lights, and by recycling more.
Per-person emissions rates in the U.S. are approximately 6.8 tons (15,000 pounds) of CO2/year. This accounts for only about one-third of the total emissions generated per capita, however. The remainder includes additional sources, primarily industrial and agricultural emissions, over which most people have no direct control. Per-capita emissions in the U.S. are approximately 20 tons (44,000 pounds) of CO2/year.
Per-capita emissions rates are useful for comparing rates between different countries. The United States generates more carbon dioxide than any other country in the world, accounting for more than 20 percent of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions. Its CO2-emissions rate of 20 tons per capita dwarfs the world average per-capita emissions rate of six tons of CO2/year.
Links and Resources
- The Alliance to Save Energy promotes energy efficiency worldwide to achieve a healthier economy, a cleaner environment, and greater energy security. Its consumer booklet, Power$mart: The Power is in Your Hands, offers many helpful energy-saving tips.
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy and You web pages contain information about sources of energy, with a focus on the environmental impacts of various electricity generation technologies. Its Power Profiler enables consumers to evaluate the impact on air quality of the electricity they use.
- The EPA also provides a set of links to a variety of interactive calculators that can help consumers estimate the greenhouse gas emissions of their activities, convert carbon emissions to equivalent units, and identify and compare emissions-reduction options.
- American Forests sponsors tree-planting projects in the U.S. and around the world. Its Climate Change Calculator can help you figure out the number of trees you would need to plant to offset your carbon emissions.
- The websites of a number of nonprofit organizations provide valuable information about global warming, clean energy, and tips for consumers on ways to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
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