Water is Power |
A Wisconsin Energy Company |
Serving Since 1892 |
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Energy Conservation
In today's world, rising energy costs have spilled over to the electrical industry. The cost of generating electricity from fuels such as coal and natural gas has increased sharply in recent years. Coupled with these price increases has been a record-setting low water levels on the Great Lakes which has dramatically reduced the amount of electricity generated at the hydro-electric generating plants in the St. Mary's River Hydro generation in Sault Ste. Marie at both the historic Edison Sault Hydro-electric plant and the U.S. Government Hydro-electric plant located near the Soo Locks is responsible for the production of approximately 27% of the energy needed. The remaining 73% is purchased on the wholesale market through links to WeEnergies. The costs to purchase this additional power are greater than the cost of power generated at the hydro-electric plants. That cost difference appears on your monthly electric bill as a PSCR Charge (Purchase Supply Cost Recovery ). Since 2004, there has been a steady increase in the PSCR Charge as demand for electricity has increased and water for hydro generation has decreased.
Easy
Energy Savings Compact
Fluorescent Light Bulbs
Compact Fluorescent (CF) light bulbs are an energy saving
option which can be done easily in the home – as easy as changing a light
bulb. A few years ago, CF bulbs were
extremely expensive, but recent price drops have made them more affordable.
Today,
a 60-watt equivalent CF bulb can be found in any store selling light bulbs and
ty On the energy side, CF bulbs typically use 70% less energy
to provide the equivalent amount of light as an incandescent light bulb.
For example, a 60-watt incandescent light bulb uses 60-watts of
electricity for every hour the light is turned on, but a 60-watt equivalent CF
light bulb only uses 15-16 watts of electricity for each hour it is turned on. Let’s take a look at a real world application in the
home. Since the 60-watt equivalent
CF light bulb is the least expensive CF bulb available and the 60-watt
incandescent bulb is the most commonly used bulb in the home, it stands to
reason that significant energy savings can be obtained by replacing your 60-watt
light bulbs with CF bulbs. The
following table illustrates this point and is based on my experience at home
replacing 60-watt light bulbs with 16-watt CF bulbs (a savings of 44 watts per
bulb per hour of use)
Using the totals above, for one month (30-days),
incandescent bulbs would have used 84.6 KWH while the CF bulbs only used 22.6
KWH for the same time period. At the
end of a year, the CF bulbs only used 275 KWH while the incandescent bulbs would
have used 1,029 KWH, a difference of 754 KWH.
Putting a price on the energy savings, using Jan-2008 residential rates
of 8.634 cents/KWH, the savings on energy totals $65.10, after deducting the
cost of the CF bulbs, $34.00, I had a first year savings $31.10.
And, don’t forget the CF bulbs still have another 3-4 years of savings
still to come. What’s important to remember here is how easy it was to make this change and reduce our energy costs. In one afternoon, I made a trip to the store to purchase the new CF light bulbs, changed out the light bulbs, and continued to do everything else exactly the same.
The efficiency of portable electric heaters can be a confusing issue and involves a significant amount of science and math. Every unit of energy, such as a gallon of fuel or kilowatt of electricity, contains a maximum heat producing potential. Efficiency would be the percentage of heat produced relative to that maximum. For example, a natural gas furnace rated at 85% efficient would convert 85% of the potential heat in the natural gas to heat in your home, and the other 15% of the potential heat is lost. Electric heat efficiency is very high, in the range of 97% to 99.9% of the potential heat. However, the amount of heat produced, often measured in BTU’s, varies with each type of energy. A gallon of gasoline has 124,000 BTU’s of potential heat, a gallon of propane has 91,000 BTU’s, 100 cubic feet of natural gas (1 CCF) has 102,600 BTU’s, and a kilowatthour of electricity has 3,412 BTU’s of potential heat. It takes 30 kilowatthours of electricity to produce the same BTU’s as 1 CCF of natural gas. When considering portable electric heaters, look at the wattage and BTU output of the unit. For example, a ceramic-type, portable electric heater which sells for around $30.00, uses 1500 watts of electricity and outputs 5,200 BTU’s of heat per hour. The price of a portable heater is not related to efficiency. A popular new infra-red electric heating system which sells for between $390.00 - $600.00, uses 1,500 watts and outputs 5,000 BTU’s of heat per hour. When compared to the above ceramic-type portable heater, the infra-red electric unit is less efficient by 200 BTU’s per hour. And, don’t forget the infra-red unit is 15 – 20 times the price. Efficiency is not the same as cost saving. While using a portable electric heater may help reduce your heating bill, it will increase your electric bill. Depending on the price of the heating fuel, price of electricity, and BTU output of the units, you’re main heating source in your home may be more cost-effective at providing heat (BTU’s) than portable electric space heaters. Remember to always think safety first when operating any type of portable heater in your home. All portable heaters can cause burns and fires and should be used with extreme caution.
ENERGY Guide
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Water is Power |
Serving Since 1892 |
