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Energy Updates > Energy Update #16

From: Rita Schenck [rita@iere.org]
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2005 1:10 PM
To: Rita
Subject: Energy Update #16

Dear Friends:

Our energy study is nearly complete. And what wonderful things we have discovered!

The design of our study was to project fossil fuel prices over the next 10 years, and compare them to renewable energy costs over the same time period. We looked at energy independence on three scales: a single building (our own), a neighborhood (Vashon Cohousing), and the entire community (Vashon-Maury Island).

Here is what we found:

  • Fossil fuel costs are rising, about four to 11 percent per year, depending on the fuel.
  • Renewable energy costs are falling, about 2.5% per year
  • We can convert our building to energy independence for about $60,000, based on 4 kW of solar on the roof, plus lots of conservation.
  • Simple payback says we will get payback in about 30 years. Simple payback ignores the changes in costs of energy over time, so it underestimates the value of this activity.
  • The Cohousing neighborhood can get to energy independence pretty much the same way.
  • At Cohousing, the cost savings of conservation will be greater than the cost of solar in about 7 years.
  • For the island as a whole, the net present value of conservation is about $95Million. Not bad for about a $35Million investment in conservation
  • We can power the island with about 10 wind turbines, with help from batteries, solar and biomass (wood waste) systems.
  • People on-island liked the idea of wind turbines, but a few wealth individuals off-island thought they were unattractive.
  • Currently there is no commercial way to power vehicles with renewable energy, so we excluded vehicles from our study

There is lots more information in our report, which we will be posting soon on our website.

We invite you to share this note with anyone you believe would be interested. We will gladly add the names of anyone who requests it to this mail list. Likewise, if you wish to be removed, send me a note and I'll remove your name.

Rita Schenck

Institute for Environmental Research and Education
PO Box 2449
Vashon, WA 98070 USA

Phone: 206-463-7430
Fax: 206-279-1570