Lightening our load: A personal energy policy can help you save money, limit pollution andreduce nation's relianceon imported fuels

Union Tribune
Peter Rowe
June 25, 2006

BEIJING – The United States, South Korea and China all have energypolicies. Why don't you?

Last month, during a whirlwind trip sponsored by Honolulu's East-West Center, I and 11 other reportersexplored the challenges facing three of the world's great energy consumers. In Houston, Seoul and Beijing, experts issued glum predictions:

Ruthless competition for oil and natural gas, the fuels that provide nearly two-thirds of the world'senergy needs.

Higher – yes, even higher – prices at the gas pump.

Revived interest in nuclear power; coal, “clean” or otherwise; and renewable resources, such as solar, wind and geothermal.

Clearly, nations need energy policies. Yet nations don't pay $100 to fill up the SUV. People do.

So why not adopt a personal energy policy, one tailored to meet your specific goals? Patriots may wishto reduce America's reliance onimported oil. Environmentalists may strive to spew out less pollution.Everyone is eager to save money.

In fact, Americans have pioneered a host of gas-saving tactics in the last 20 years. Without these moves, scientists at Lawrence BerkeleyNational Laboratory estimate, our national energy consumption would be about 50 percent higher.

Beyond those successes, though, there's room for improvement in your home, car and workplace. Experts advanced solutions in three broad categories: simple steps that are a snap to accomplish; complex strategies that are worth thinking about; and iffy breakthroughs that, today at least, seem like a stretch.

Home

It's a success: Green leaves and appliances.

Americans are great planters of trees, whose shady branches can lower temperatures – and the cost of air conditioning – in adjacent homes and office buildings. Moreover, the leaves can absorb up to 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

This is a love the world should share. “Can this be replicated in India and other countries? Sure,” noted Jayant Sathaye, a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The United States is also a leader in setting national standards for power-stingy household appliances, awarding qualifying products with the “EnergyStar” label – a move that South Korea has imitated.

It's a snap: The Easy Saver.

Actually, this would be a snap, if the gizmo was available in The States. It's not, yet, although it's needed here. Around the world, in fact, TVs, computers and other household devices suck up electricity even when they are turned off.

“These are 'power vampires,'” said Eun-Koo Lee of the Korea Energy Management Corporation.

Easy Saver, then, acts like a garlic clove, a mirror and a crucifix. Slip this little gizmo between the wall socket and your appliances. When you turn off your TV or computer, the energy no longer flows.

While this cuts household electricity consumption by about 11 percent, Lee argues the product could be easier to use. “It's very inconvenient to have to plug it into the wall,” he said. “The goal is to have it built into the devices.”

It's a thought: Food miles.

Matthew R. Simmons is a Houston-based banker to the oil industry and an adviser to President Bush. So it's a shock to hear his Al Gore-like message of looming oil shortages and the need for creative conservation techniques.

One of the most creative: chart your “food miles” and buy local produce, meats and dairy products.

This is a global issue. This summer, Simmons notes, 80 percent of the apples in British markets will come from New Zealand.

“That's 22,000 miles of travel,” he said.

But Americans, in particular, are accustomed to supermarkets stocked with Chilean nectarines, South African grapes, Mexican tomatoes, Australian wines. What one scholar calls “the journey from field to fork” consumes growing amounts of fuel – a 50 percent increase between 1977 and 1999.

Outside of a few bureaucrats and academics, though, few people seemed concerned. Until last year, that is, when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast and demonstrated how quickly a region can be left to its own resources.

“I used to get a call a week,” said Rich Pirog, who studies food miles for Iowa State University's Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. “I get about two a day now.”

Pirog and Andrew Benjamin, an Iowa State student, discuss food miles in a paper that is posted online: www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/staff/files/food_travel072103.pdf.

It's a stretch: Remodel.

Some Americans already enlist the sun to light their homes, heat their water and warm their pools. In San Diego County, more than 30 of these residences will welcome visitors on Sept. 30, for a free “Solar Homes Tour.”

For details on the tour, call the San Diego Regional Energy Office, (858) 244-1177, or visit the Web site, www.sdenergy.org/index.asp, then click on “Solar Energy Week.”

Even with tax credits, though, this can be an expensive move. But in the future, solar power may be just the beginning.

In Daejeon, a Korean city an hour's train ride south of Seoul, “Zero Energy Town” is a “village” of two experimental structures, a combination office-apartment building and a house. Both have solar panels on their roofs. Both pull in energy from an industrial-strength windmill. But only the house boasts a vertical tunnel, dropping deep into the Earth.

In the winter, this shaft ensures a steady stream of warm air. Year-round, one imagines, it also supplies nonstop nightmares to pet owners and parents of toddlers.

Car

It's a success: Increased mileage.

In the U.S., passenger cars averaged 13 miles per gallon in 1973, the year of the first great oil crisis. By 1991, that average had climbed to 21 – despite the introduction of smog-reducing catalytic converters and reformulated gasolines.

It's a snap: Spring – as well as summer, fall and winter – cleaning.

You're already keeping your car tuned and your tires properly inflated, both important ways to squeeze more miles out of each gallon of gas. Next, replace your dirty air filter for a 10 percent mileage boost. Then dump the junk in your trunk – for every 50 pounds you shed, expect a 1 percent mileage dividend.

It's a thought: Drive strategically.

Simmons frets about “the one biggest waste of oil – traffic congestion.” The Texas banker advocates flex time and telecommuting, so armies of workers do not clog the roads in the morning and evening rush hours.

“We need to restructure the way we move goods and people,” he said.

Moreover, combine your errands and trips to limit your time behind the wheel. Focus, people!

It's a stretch: New cars, new fuels.

California has adopted an ambitious “Hydrogen Highway” policy, but will your local car dealership ever sell vehicles powered by squeaky-clean hydrogen fuel cells? In West Sacramento, a consortium of American and Japanese automakers insists the answer is yes; GM is expected to roll out the world's first commercial model in 2010.

Critics, though, note that the obstacles remain steep. For starters, we lack fuel stations – there are only 22 in California, including one in Chula Vista.

“It's a myth,” said David Fridley, a staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “It's a very expensive myth.”

Lane Sloan, a former Shell Oil executive who leads the University of Houston's Global Energy Management Institute, notes that the average range of experimental models is a scant 100 to 200 miles per tank. “It's hard to get enough volume in the tank.”

At the Korea Institute of Energy Research, the outlook for fuel cells is rosier – long-term. Very long-term. “After 2060, fuel cells will get a lot of attention,” said Ik-Soo Choi, the institute's president.

In the intervening 55 years? “We think hybrids will be more promising.”

But hybrid technology isn't the only route to significant fuel savings. The conventional combustion engine in Toyota's new Yaris claims 40 miles per gallon on the highway. And in Fiji, mechanics are trying to get cars to run on coconut oil.

Work

It's a success: Seize the day.

Some office managers are scheduling the cleaning crew for daylight hours, then turning off the building's lights at night. Color their inspiration green, as in cash. At the Sacramento headquarters of the California Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, this simple step trimmed 8 percent from its electric bill.

It's a snap: Stretch your legs.

If you work in a multistory building, adopt the 2-1 rule. Skip the elevator and walk if you are descending no more than two floors or climbing no more than one floor.

It's a thought: Re-consider how much light you need.

In the Cal EPA building, every other overhead light fixture is dark. China is limiting urban “beautification projects” that involve electrical displays. “This consumes a lot of power,” said Qin Gang, a deputy director in the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Love the light? Urge your company to install a power regulator/voltage stabilizer, which eliminates power spikes and fluctuations building-wide, thus cutting power costs. Best of all, it's automatic. “You're not relying on human behavior, which is variable,” said Cal EPA's Theresa Parsley.

It's a stretch: Drink “green” beer.

Several American breweries are reducing greenhouse gas emissions by switching to renewable power sources. New Belgium, the Colorado brewer of Fat Tire Ale, has used wind power since 1999; Sierra Nevada, the Chico brewery, adopted fuel cells in 2004.

Your company doesn't run on clean energy? You still can support this cause with a few six packs – although it's wise to offer this “help” after work.