When I first met Jackie O’Neil in 2006, I was blown away by her understanding of green building. She built two net zero energy homes (for herself and her sister) and was able to do it for the price of non-green new home. So when I planned to stop by her amazing house recently, I was expecting to feel a little envious, but I wasn’t expecting any new surprises. And yes, jealous I was. She has a gorgeous home with all the ammenities and she has no utility bills– in fact she gets paid by the power company because she generates so much energy with her solar panels — she can sell the electricity to the power company!

But that was not the surprising part– I knew that from my last visit. What blew me away is where the real energy savings comes in — its not necessarily the solar panels or the geo-thermal heating unit. They are great but they don’t even factor into the majority of the energy savimgs. What Jackie learned and what she is happy to share — si that 80% of the energy savings comes from the passive stuff. Where are the windows– how well insulated is the house.

The way Jackie summed it up is like this 80% of the energy savings comes from the passive stuff– the things you will have any way. The last 20% of savings comes from the big ticket items– like the solar panels and geo-thermal HVAC.  So what can you take away from that. here are a few things to think about when creating your own master plan for energy savings.

DO THE CHEAP STUFF FIRST.

- REPLACE YOUR LIGHT BULBS WITH CFL BULBS.

- MAKE SURE ALL THE DRAFTY LEAKS IN YOUR HOME ARE SEALED. THEN STEP UP YOUR INSULATION.

-AFTER THAT THINK ABOUT YOUR SYSTEMS. DON’T BE IN A RUSH TO REPLACE THEM UNTIL IT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

ALL OF THESE THINGS CAN HAVE A GREAT IMPACT ON YOUR MONTHLY BILLS. BEFORE YOU SPEND ON  THE BIG TICKET ITEMS– THINK ABOUT HOW THEY FIT INTO YOUR HOME’S ENTIRE ENERGY STRATEGY.. INCLUDING HOW LONG YOU PLAN TO BE IN YOUR HOME.THEY SHOULD BE THE “LAST” PURCHASES YOU MAKE.

HAVING A MORE ENERGY EFFECIENT HOME WILL NOT ONLY SAVE YOU MONEY EACH MONTH– IT WILL MAKE YOUR HOME MORE APPEALING TO POTENTIAL BUYERS– IF YOU CHOSE TO PUT IT ON THE MARKET.

For more tips see my new story on green building on the LiveWell HD TV network. For local listings visit: http://www.livewellhd.com/feature?id=6775183

Almost 3 years after my visit to an ethanol plant in Central NY, the plant owners have filed for bankruptcy. The condition of the credit markets for the last six months have been incredibly difficult for many businesses. But the timing may also be a reflection of the political winds shifting in renewables. Promises for better efficiency have yet to materialize to the degree many had hoped in the ethanol business. Despite these setbacks, I would not count ethanol out. Just look for fewer mom and pop shops. Bigger businesses that are better equipped to weather financial and political storms will become the dominant players. 

In 2006 I visited the plant that was gearing up to be the future of fuel. It was an old Miller Brewing plant that had been converted to produce ethanol. It’s investors believed in the near-future they would be producing, not just corn-based ethanol, but something much more important, cellulosic ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol is so much more efficient, because it doesn’t use corn or sugar, it uses the agricultural waste to make fuel. Three years later, it is still not commercially viable. The question is, can it get to market before the ship sails completely on ethanol?

The pressure on the smaller ethanol producers goes beyond the credit markets. The price of corn has squeezed margins. About half the cost of goods sold for distillers comes from the price of corn. At last check corn feedstock was making up about 80% of a distiller’s COG. So it is not surprising that companies like Northeast Biofuels can’t stay in the game. Larger players in the sector are snapping up the bankrupt companies. Sunoco is reportedly purchasing NEB and there have been other deals like Valero’s move to get VeraSun’s assets. They see what the operators of NEB saw, there will be a future at least in the mid-run for ethanol. It may not be today, and corn based-ethanol may not be the long-term solution, but it will have a role to play during the transition period away from oil. The small guys may have been right, but their timing was off. Now the bigger players are buying their expensive assets cheap and can handle the unattractive margins for a longer period of time than the small shops. As you will see in my video report, the cost of getting a plant built is huge in both time and materials. Valero and Sunoco are in a better position to wait for higher ethanol standards to kick in (like raising gasoline blends from E10 to E15).

http://maryandmoney.com/videos/the-future-of-fuel-cellulosic-ethanol/

Almost 3 years after my visit to an ethanol plant in Central NY, the plant owners have filed for bankruptcy. The condition of the credit markets for the last six months have been incredibly difficult for many businesses. But the timing may also be a reflection of the political winds shifting in renewables. Promises for better efficiency have yet to materialize to the degree many had hoped in the ethanol business. Despite these setbacks, I would not count ethanol out. Just look for fewer mom and pop shops. Bigger businesses that are better equipped to weather financial and political storms will become the dominant players. My video report is a look back, when the promise of cellulosic ethanol seemed closer at hand to some investors in Fulton, NY.
In 2006 I visited the plant that was gearing up to be the future of fuel. It was an old Miller Brewing plant that had been converted to produce ethanol. It’s investors believed in the near-future they would be producing, not just corn-based ethanol, but something much more important, cellulosic ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol is so much more efficient, because it doesn’t use corn or sugar, it uses the agricultural waste to make fuel. Three years later, it is still not commercially viable. The question is, can it get to market before the ship sails completely on ethanol?
The pressure on the smaller ethanol producers goes beyond the credit markets. The price of corn has squeezed margins. About half the cost of goods sold for distillers comes from the price of corn. At last check corn feedstock was making up about 80% of a distiller’s COG. So it is not surprising that companies like Northeast Biofuels can’t stay in the game. Larger players in the sector are snapping up the bankrupt companies. Sunoco is reportedly purchasing NEB and there have been other deals like Valero’s move to get VeraSun’s assets. They see what the operators of NEB saw, there will be a future at least in the mid-run for ethanol. It may not be today, and corn based-ethanol may not be the long-term solution, but it will have a role to play during the transition period away from oil. The small guys may have been right, but their timing was off. Now the bigger players are buying their expensive assets cheap and can handle the unattractive margins for a longer period of time than the small shops. As you will see in my video report, the cost of getting a plant built is huge in both time and materials. Valero and Sunoco are in a better position to wait for higher ethanol standards to kick in (like raising gasoline blends from E10 to E15).

There is a springtime ritual in Philadelphia, and probably at other urban campuses around the country, I call it the circle of trash.  Students at the University of Pennsylvania, have done the math and have determined that instead of packing up their dorm and apartment supplies, and putting them in storage for three months, it is cheaper to toss the stuff and buy all new in the Fall. As a result, hundreds of lamps, sheet sets, microwaves, and office supplies get put curbside every year for trash pick up. In years past, equally astute locals turned into trash-pickers having a field day during the end of May and early June. But now, that tradition of trickle down economics has been thrown out of whack.  The University has decided to pick up the trash and sell it itself.  Before you get bent out of shape about the Ivy elite taking the trash finds of the under-privileged non-Ivies in the neighborhood, let me tell you the rest of the story.

The school’s leaders believe by taking the trash—they are being environmentally sensitive. After all, not all of the abandoned goods were scooped up by the neighbors.  So, literally tons of useable items were going to a landfill. So today and tomorrow the neighbors are doing their picking in the comfort of a giant flea market set up at Penn’s ice rink. The University calls it PennMoves weekend.  Everything from refrigerators and microwaves, to lamps beds, clothes, towels and sheets can be found. All of the donated or picked up items are sold to the public for pennies on the dollar.  Word of mouth was effective, as you can see from the photo taken this morning, people lined up around the rink to get their hands on the cast-offs. When I stopped by, the crowd was made up of other students (the ones stuck in town for the summer and not so well off) and local residents who are looking for a bargain.  My unofficial survey of attitudes revealed that most of the shoppers would rather walk to the rink than dumpster dive for the stuff. Interestingly, there was visible disdain for the benefactors of the event. One woman told me “they are fools throwing stuff away. I don’t care how much money you have, it is a waste.” But she added, “I love it I get stuff cheap and I don’t have time to go through trash.”  

 The University’s line, “Move-out time at Penn usually means tons of used furniture and household goods thrown in the trash all over campus and the nearby neighborhoods – a lot of it still in usable condition. Wouldn’t it be better for Philadelphia and for the planet if all this useful stuff could make its way to people who could really use it, rather than getting shoveled immediately into landfills?”  Money raised will go to United Way programs that help the residents of Penn’s neighborhood, University City. 

There are so many ways to create a cleaner environment, but the process of getting there is going to be a series of hard choices. Small business people need to be aware of the changes coming and they need to stay engaged in the debate over greenhouse gases and the regulation to curb them. Your green investment today, could be money down the drain if you don’t chose well. Here is a quick snapshot on the choices our friends in the dry cleaning business have to clean their cleaners.- Mary

The creativity that comes with the search for alternative fuels has to be acknowledged. I know that replacing fossil fuels will not be easy and will not be done with just one type of alternative fuel. But you’ve got to applaud the folks who are looking for small creative solutions. Maybe the answer is micro not macro. BTW you probably heard this week that the Obama Administration took fuel cell vehicles off the table– essentially saying the infrastructure is not feasible to make the switch. Before we completely abandon fuel cell technology, I think we should consider how it may be the perfect choice for commercial fleets, particularly those that have their own fueling stations. Thinking less-large may reap some pretty huge benefits. Let me know what you think. BTW check the video archive if you want to see what a fuel cell car looks like and what it drives like. -Mary

With rash of hearings, bailouts, investigations and other such activities on Capital Hill, you may not have realized that legislation to help curb climate change is making its way through the U.S. House of Representatives. The U.S., following Europe’s lead, wants to put a price on pollution, particularly carbon dioxide. The hope is that making polluters pay for carbon emissions will encourage them to invest in cleaner energy.

Of course that is the simplified argument. The truth is there is a big expense tied to eliminating coal and other fossil fuels from our biggest polluters, the utility companies. Switching to clean alternatives, while desirable for many, is expensive and time consuming. The concern for consumers is that the energy companies will pass those costs on to us in the form of higher rates. More expensive energy is a tough pill to swallow for Americans already bruised by a tough recession and job losses.

Because of the Environmental Protection Agency’s declaration that carbon dioxide is a threat to human health, change is coming. Either the EPA will make the rules or Congress. That is why it pays to be an educated consumer on this matter. The more you know, the better the national debate.

There are two main proposals out there that could spare the consumer some of the pain. One is Cap-and-Trade, where by the amount of carbon pollution a business can emit is capped at a certain level. The companies that don’t have the technology to stay under the cap, can purchase permits to pay for their excess carbon emissions. The permits could be purchased on the open market from companies whose emissions fall below the carbon quota.

Are you still with me? The big question with Cap-and-Trade: does the U.S. government sell all of the permits at auction (raising over $1 billion in the process, or does it give some away for free to help the Utilities transition to cleaner energy and to prevent a huge run up in energy costs for consumers?

Another plan that has been getting some attention is a Cap-and-Dividend. In this scenario the consumers that do the most to lower their consumption would receive some of the cash (a dividend) collected by the sale of carbon permits. Some feel it is the best way to incentivize both consumers and business. Others find it a logistical nightmare to implement. There are other ideas out there, but right now, the traction is with Cap-and-Trade. You would do yourself a service by investigating the pros and cons of this policy so that you can be an informed voice as the debate gets louder. -Mary Caraccioli