Green Building Summit and Expo November 21 thru 23 2008 Free!

Hi,

Day 1 has concluded for the Green Building Summit and Expo and there are two more days to go. I trust many of you have found the time to attend this free summit on green building up in beautiful Santa Fe. If you attended and have a moment, please share some of the highlights or pearls of wisdom from the summit.

I plan on attending the NM Chapter of the USGBS's Green Tie event December 11th 530pm to 8pm at 516 Central SW. Admission is free for members and $10 for nonmembers. They are also collecting canned food to help the food pantry. Should be a blast!

Speaking of "green tie events". Did anyone catch the sad documentary on the Emporor penguins this past Thursday on PBS? Dr. Gerald Kooyman documented the tragic effect of a massive ice sheet splitting off and one piece hitting a coastline causing the death of a many Emporer and otehr species.
Ciao!
Mark Pedrotty

Chairman of Senate Energy Committee predicted no climate change bill until 2010

Hi,

Senator Bingaman (D-NM)predicted that Congress will need until 2010 to work out a bill to limit the heat-trapping gases blamed for global warming. Senator Bingaman was speaking at a carbon markets conference when he made this statement. He went on to say that Congress will work out legislation to boost energy savings in buildings and transportation, and require utility companies to produce more electricity from renewable resources. (ABQ Journal 11/13/08)

In a related article in Thursday's ABQ Journal the US Geological Survey found there to be potentially 85.4 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas in the North Slope buried 2000 feet below the permafrost. This is enough natural gas to heat 100 million homes for as long as 10 years!

There is much work to be done to significantly reduce energy use, increase renewable energy resources, and increase our green footprint!

Good luck,
Mark

US Energy Information Administration predicts lower heating costs this winter

Hi,

With the unprecedented decline in the economy one silver lining is the extraordinary drop in forecasted heating costs this winter by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The average cost of fuel oil is expected to be $1,694 for the winter heating season, an increase of 13%, rather than last month's prediction of a $700 increase. Home owners using natural case will fare even better with only a 3.6% increase or on average $889 this heating season! In addition next year's gasoline prices are believed to be on average only $2.37 a gallon. Here in Albuquerque I saw gas going for $1.96/gallon at a station on Juan Tabo, near another station that was selling regular gas for $1.99 gallon. (ABQ Journal 11/13/08) This is all good news for the consumer. The money saved can be put directly into improving the energy efficiency of your home. For about $50 you can cut your energy use from 10 to 30% if you haven't already done the following low cost changes in your home: 1. put a insulated blanket on your water heater, 2. purchase about 5 CFL and replace your incandescent bulbs with them, 3. buy some power strips to turn off your entertainment center and other appliances when not in use, 4. install some weather stripping and caulk in doors and windows, 5. buy some rope to use as a clothes line to dry your clothes rather than using a clothes dryer. If you are you going to save several hundred dollars with this reduction in fuel costs then you might also consider updating your appliances in your home so that they are energy star efficient! And getting a HERS audit to determine the best way to invest into making your home even more energy efficient as well as use renewable energy. Don't let this ideal opportunity to save energy and money slip away. Check out this blog and the energyforhumanity website for more energy saving ideas.

Finally we might want to rethink the demand for off-shore drilling. We've just been given a huge reprieve for demand of fuel oil and natural gas and maybe we can come up with some alternate strategies for next year, saving those essential reserves for future demand. There might be an extraordinary silver lining to this very dark cloud stifling the global economy.

Happy Savings!
Mark

Mark

Take the Energy Efficiency Brief Survey!

Hi. Might you have a few minutes to answer some questions about improving energy use in your home and saving money on your energy bill? Any information you share will be kept anonymous. You can see what people are saying across NM by visiting our website at energyforhumanity.googlepages.com and our blog at energyforhumanity.info. You might have to cut and paste this and email it to energyforhumanity@gmail.com. Please put your zip code in the top box. You will notice that there are 4 response columns. The first two are a yes or no column which ask you to write a reason for your response of yes or no. The 3rd column asks if you want to make the change suggested if you haven't already done so. The 4th column asks if you would like some help to make any of the changes that you are interested in. Help can be provided through having someone come to your home to help make the changes or financially. At the end of the survey are some general questions to answer.

Thank you for taking the time to take this survey.

Mark Pedrotty

President, Energy for Humanity, Inc.

Zip code: ______________

#	. Question	Yes, then Savings, None, Some, Large	NO, then Why not? Can’t, Time, Cost, Difficult, No Interest, Other	Want to do it? Y/N	Would like Help to do it? Y or N
1	Install CFL in most used lights, at least 4 or 5 in house
2	Clean coils on refrigerator
3	Boil water with lid on pots
4	Use power strips to turn off TVs, computers, chargers, and other such items when not in use
5	Turn down water heater to warm (120degrees)
6	.Insulate Water Heater with a water heater blanket
7	Turn up AC to 72 during the day and turn off when nobody is home during the summer months
8	Turn down heater to 50 degrees at night and when no one is home in the winter
9	Turn off outside gas lit lights
10	Air dry dishes in dishwasher, DON”T use Heated Dry cycle
11	Only run dishwasher when full
12	Run electrical appliances (washers, dryers, dishwashers, etc) at low peak times (nighttimes and mornings)
13	Turn lights off at night when go to bed
14	Ride bike or walk to work and/or store at least once a week, Make only one trip to the store each week
15	Set freezer temp to no lower than 4 degrees F and refrigerator to no lower than 38 degrees F
16	Judicious use of electric space heaters
17	Only wash clothes in cold and when have a full load
18	Hang clothes out to dry on clothes line
19	Let sun in during the day in winter for heat and light
20	Energy saving windows (new)
21	Insulation in ceiling, walls, floor (R value)?
22	Weather strip doors/windows
23	Passive Solar panels for heat or hot water
24	Active solar panels for power
25	Trombe’ walls
26	Purchase new refrigerator in last 8 years
27	Have no 2nd freezer or refrigerator
28	Had an Energy Audit
29	Replaced Heating in past 9 yrs
30	Other

Please take a minute to complete these final questions:

1. How many households in your neighborhood would you estimate are already saving energy? Less than 10, 10, 20, 30, 50, more than 50

2. How many people in ABQ do you think have become more energy efficient?

(none, a small number, many, most, all)

3. Would you be willing to allow a trained person from EFH to help you do some of the inexpensive things we discussed earlier to save energy?

4. If you agree to allow us to help you do some things to improve your energy efficiency in your home, would you tell us what your utility bill is each month to see how your home becomes more energy efficient?

6. Would you be interested in volunteering to help educate people and put some energy saving plans in place in others’ homes?

Thank you for your time to help us with our energy survey. Remember you can visit our blog at http://www.energyforhumanity.info or our website at http://energyforhumanity.googlepages.com .

Happy Energy Savings!

Mark Pedrotty

President, Energy for Humanity

PNM Discounts on CFL's at Home Depot

Hi,

Did you see the discounts on CFL's by PNM at Home Depot? For some CFL's there was an almost 50% discount for a pack of 4, while for the brighter CFL's there was somewhere around a $3 discount for a 4 pack. In addition PNM had some easy to use information on CFL hanging off the shelves at Home Depot touting the standard information of how one CFL is the equivalent of 10 incandescent bulbs, that incandescent bulbs are 90% heat and 10% light, etc. There was a decent selection on CFL's at Home Depot but no CFL's that could be put in dimmer switch lights. Maybe some day soon they will get these in. I haven't been to Lowe's or other such stores in the last week to know if the other big stores have similar deals sponsored by PNM.

Let us know what deals you've found across Albuquerque. Also let us know if you have time to help survey neighborhoods on energy use knowledge, actions taken to reduce energy use and improve green foot print, and how much help, if any, they would like to save 10 to 30% energy through simple and inexpensive changes.

Happy savings!
Mark

PNM $30 refrigerator pick up

Hi,

Did you see in today's ABQ Journal the ad by PNM offering free pick up of your old refrigerator plus $30? They are aggressively pushing to find ways to help home owners reduce their use. I hope you take advantage of this offer.

Best,
Mark

Serious Fun with CFL's

Hi,

Have you seen the utterly funny website on CFL's that is a completely different? If not then go to http//unscrewamerica.org. It's Monty Python-esque and full of important facts about CFL's! I really liked the idea of how changing out 6 to 10 incandescent light bulbs for CFL's in America would be such a huge energy saver!

It's great to see how the push to become more energy efficient has developed a light side!

So let's lighten up and unscrew america!

Mark