10+ Years of Family Clean Energy Actions

Join daily news updates from CleanTechnica on e-mail. Or follow us on Google News!

I used to be a analysis scientist on the NASA Goddard House Flight Heart for 30 years. I retired in 2005. Whereas I used to be at NASA, I had ample time to see the proof of world warming. With satellite tv for pc imagery, we noticed an almost ice-free Arctic Ocean in the summertime for the primary time in recorded historical past. Our satellite tv for pc photographs additionally noticed the continuation of ~90+% of mountain glaciers on this planet retreating over the past 50 years. I’ve additionally seen the information from the atmospheric carbon dioxide monitor on Mona Loa in Hawaii that exhibits regular will increase in CO2 to ranges not identified for thousands and thousands of years. I imagine the calculations by atmospheric physicists that this anthropogenic improve in C02 is leading to world warming. I additionally imagine the conclusions of Mark Jacobson of Stanford College (and infrequently CleanTechnica) that it’s possible and economically advantageous for the world to transform 80% of all power manufacturing to PV photo voltaic and wind and preserve one other ~15% from hydroelectric. He additionally explains how it’s possible and most effective to transform just about all manufacturing, transportation, heating and cooling to electrical energy.

What can our household do to make our small contribution to decreasing world CO2 emissions on the private degree? I’ll recount the efforts that now we have made over the past 10+ years, in addition to a few of the implications and a few of the areas the place I’ve not been in a position to take motion.

Our Clear Vitality Actions Over the Final 10+ Years:

• ~2010: Over a time period transformed all my dwelling lighting to compact florescent.
• 2014: Leased an 81-mile vary 2014 Nissan Leaf ($200/month)
• 2015: Put in 20 photo voltaic panels on my home in Utah (See Determine 2)
• 2016: Leased a 107-mile vary 2016 Nissan Leaf (See Determine 2)
• 2017: My brother bought a Tesla Mannequin S
• 2017: Bought a 150-mile vary 2017 Nissan Leaf
• 2018: My daughter bought a Tesla Mannequin X
• 2019: Bought a 310-mile vary Tesla Mannequin 3 (See Determine 1)
• 2020: Transformed 100% the lighting of each my houses to 90% extra environment friendly LED bulbs
• 2020: My daughter purchased an electrical golf cart (See Determine 4)
• 2024: My brother traded in his Tesla Mannequin S for a Mannequin Y
• 2024: Bought an electrical golf cart
• 2024: Bought a battery electrical leaf blower
• 2024: Bought an electrical lawnmower for $650 (See Determine 3)

I’ve additionally bought 5 battery-electric bicycles over 10 years, which assist me hold in form at age 84 however make little distinction from a clear power standpoint. I’ve deserted two of them in the mean time as a result of it’s too costly to repair them. In a single case, the batteries are now not accessible and I must have the battery rebuilt.

What are the implications of those efforts and the way has my life modified in consequence?

We don’t declare to be 100% clear power customers. Our homes nonetheless use fossil fuel. We even have boats and beater automobiles that use fuel. Nevertheless, now we have made extraordinary efforts to transform 90% of our car use to electrical and have transformed different use to electrical when potential.

I’ll always remember carrying all my ski garments — together with heat boots, ski pants, parka, balaclava, and gloves — within the winter to cease power use for heating in that first Nissan Leaf, and nonetheless having to cost in Salt Lake Metropolis on the 90-mile spherical journey from our home close to Provo to the Salt Lake Worldwide Airport. Our Mannequin 3 now drives us to the airport and again virtually completely autonomously, and we don’t even take into consideration vary.

Upgrading to 107-mile and 150-mile vary Leafs made native journey simpler, however cross-country journey was nonetheless inconceivable. The acquisition of a long-range Tesla Mannequin 3 and the existence of Tesla’s superb Supercharger community made EV cross-country journey virtually as straightforward because it had been with our fuel automobiles.

We now have reworked a 125-year-old cabin on a lake in Northern Wisconsin. We spend 5+ months there in the summertime, so we commute to Wisconsin within the spring and again to Utah within the fall. We had a Toyota Highlander fuel automobile with a rocket field on prime and generally we even pulled a trailer (see Determine 1). We did what I name kitchen sink journey. When you might consider it, you took it. Now, with our small Tesla Mannequin 3 sedan, if it doesn’t match, we don’t take it. The exceptions are my two electrical bikes. Once I can afford it, I’ll purchase two extra so we don’t want to move them backwards and forwards. Notice: It took us three days to make the 1,523-mile journey from Lindon, Utah, to Three Lakes, Wisconsin, within the fuel automobile, and it takes us three days in our EV.

Electrical lawnmower implications: My son mows our garden and he didn’t need to purchase an electrical lawnmower to interchange our fuel mower that died. He wished to have the ability to do the entire garden at one time. With our new EGO electrical lawnmower, we have to break the job up into two components. I assumed I might finally purchase a second battery. Nevertheless, a second battery would value $350, in order that received’t occur quickly. The constructive half: My 12-year-old grandson is nuts in regards to the efficiency of the electrical lawnmower and he’s comfortable to do the job.

Photo voltaic panel implications: Auric Photo voltaic, which bought us the panels, has been out of enterprise for years. The panels now not report manufacturing and I solely know from my low electrical energy payments that they’re nonetheless working. My electrical energy invoice might be as little as $9/month within the spring when manufacturing is excessive and demand is low. Even within the winter when the times are quick, the solar angle is low, and snow generally covers my panels, my invoice is rarely over $100/month. Nevertheless, our roof is now virtually 30 years previous and we should take away and reinstall the panels once we redo the roof quickly. We stay in the midst of a forest in Wisconsin, so we will’t set up photo voltaic panels there as a result of the bushes block out the solar. Our invoice there may be often over $300, however that features the new tub, charging the EV, and doing quite a few a great deal of dishes and laundry when our summer season visitors are there. We now have a really excessive electrical invoice despite not having air-con due to the cool local weather.

LED lighting implications: 5 years in the past, IKEA was promoting 5-watt LED bulbs for 50¢/piece. I discovered that the 5-watt LED bulbs had been fairly enough for changing 60-watt incandescent bulbs. I bought over 100 bubs and transformed 100% of my lighting in Utah and Wisconsin to LED. LED bulbs are imagined to have a lifetime of about 20 years. Whereas most of my LED bulbs are nonetheless working, a quantity have failed in lower than 5 years.

Electrical golf automobile implications: My daughter, my spouse, and I are such clear power advocates that when shopping for golf carts, we solely contemplate electrical. They’re used for neighborhood journey on our native very low-traffic roads.

Clear Vitality Actions We Have Not Taken: We now have a small Alumacraft boat in Wisconsin which was powered by an previous 15 hp, two-stroke, manual-start outboard motor. With a two-stroke motor, you add the lubricating oil to the gas and burn it. Two-stroke motors emit a lot air pollution that they’re now not authorized. Ours would now not begin, so we wanted a brand new motor. Electrical outboard motors are simply coming into vogue and I wished to purchase one. Nevertheless, a 3.5-horsepower Mercury electrical outboard motor prices $3,510 and has solely a one-hour run time. A 15-horsepower electrical outboard prices far more. In consequence, we bought a brand new 15 hp, electric-start, 4-stroke, low-emission Mercury outboard for $2,400. (See Determine 5.)

We wanted transportation for our son to get to work. EVs weren’t in our value vary, so we bought a 10-year-old beater Acura sedan for $5,000.

My major lifelong pastime has been aggressive trick water snowboarding. I even have an age-group nationwide championship to indicate for my efforts. My observe boat is a 2019 Right Craft Ski Nautique with a 343-hp V8 engine. We solely run the motor for ~40 hours/season, so we’re not burning a variety of fuel. At age 84, I can now barely rise up on water skis and may now not trick ski. Nevertheless, I’ve 12 grandchildren and now 2 great-grandchildren who ski. 5 of my grandchildren skied final 12 months with our little native water ski present workforce. 4 of my grandchildren skied within the exhibits this 12 months. We additionally bought our two 3-year-old great-grandchildren up on skis this 12 months for the primary time (See Determine 6). You’ll be able to see why we’re not anxious to cease water snowboarding in our household.

Nevertheless, what might I buy to transform our water snowboarding to scrub power? This 12 months, for the primary time, Right Craft is providing two ski boat fashions powered by battery electrical energy. Nevertheless, these electrical boats value over $200,000 and have a run time of solely 2 hours. Evidently, that is out of attain for me.

In Utah, I warmth my dwelling and water with fossil fuel. In Wisconsin summers, we do very restricted heating with fossil fuel and our water and sizzling tub are heated by resistance electrical. I might like to convert all my dwelling and water heating to warmth pumps, however they’re out of attain for me on my retirement earnings.

Tesla Referral Program

If you’re shopping for a brand new Tesla, Tesla has reactivated its referral program. When you discover any of my articles useful to you, please use my referral hyperlink: https://ts.la/arthur73734 (you should definitely use it once you make your order). If you’re shopping for a brand new Tesla and use my hyperlink, I imagine you’ll obtain $1,000 off the acquisition value of a Mannequin S or X, or $500 off the value of a Mannequin 3 or Y. Additionally, you will get 3 months of Full Self-Driving (Supervised). Simply be ready to intervene instantly if it screws up.