Conserving electricity in winter

There’s a difficulty with most so-called economic behaviour in the world: it pays attention only to the first price tag, and rarely to the second. The first price tag is the sticker at the store. The second price tag is the cost of operation and maintenance. Then, there’s the third — the price you don’t pay, but someone else does. It’s called an externality, and there’s a lot of that going on, and it usually falls to government to pay it, or no one at all. Truly economic behaviour would consider all prices, including these externalities. For these, a mitigation fee could be paid.

In Quebec, we pay the Electronic Waste fee when we buy electronics. We also pay an environmental tax when we buy tires – at $3 per tire. Then, when you want to scrap your tires, you can bring them to any garage that does tire service, no questions asked. Many go to developing countries for a second life. Those that aren’t fit for reuse go to a recycling plant. They used to be stockpiled — a good practice where recycling technology hasn’t kept pace with the supply — but then, in the early 1990’s, someone accidentally set one ablaze both in Quebec and in Ontario. That kicked recycling into high gear! Quebec even announced last summer (2012) that the last stockpiled tires from its various dumps have now all been recycled.

These price tags also exist when you buy a home. After the purchase price, you first have to pay the excise/land transfer/”bienvenue” tax (and the seller has other closing/selling costs to pay at end of ownership). You have the necessary mortgage interest. After these, the cost of upkeep: condo fees, annual taxes, house insurance. Then your energy and other utility (e.g. water) bills. Lastly, and inescapably, repairs and renovations.

When it comes to energy, as a primary producing nation, Canadians often pay too little, and this bears out in “luxury” design and build choices. We don’t pay much attention as to how we use energy, but of course we always complain when the rates go up, or if there’s a sudden spike in use or price that we didn’t expect.

So when it’s -25ºC, those winter heating bills are something to contend with.  I ran into someone at Home Depot who was shopping for Roxul, also known as rock wool, to insulate his 1950’s home. He told me about things he had to do and had yet to do to upgrade the insulation – but also the comfort already achieved in his kids’ bedrooms.

There are a few tax-incentive and utility company programs that help people pay for these upgrades. The Rénoclimat program (do it!) allows you to measure your home efficiency and get a rebate on the work you carry out. Low-income folks can use the Econologis program to improve their own dwelling’s energy efficiency.

When I tested my house for the Rénoclimat program (first a few years ago, and again this past year) I found out that my house exchanges air with the outside 14 times per hour (that’s fresh air every 4-¼ minutes). Cold air enters and hot air escapes through various cracks and holes in your building’s “envelope.” These are literally cracks and holes in walls, both intentional and unintentional, and on the outside (perimeter of the inside of your home!) walls, in particular.

My house was rated a 66 after I did the work, but the most efficient houses are rated in the 80’s. I know I can do better than 66.

Clean electricity demand is increasing

Here in Quebec, our hydro-electricity is so readily available that we have the cheapest rates in North America. The valleys were already flooded, ecosystems lost ages ago (seriously though: dams are a problem), and the resulting methane production is dwindling. So why would anyone care about how much clean electricity we use? After all, it is the best in Canada (ergo, North America) for GHG emissions. We seem to have done a few things right, no?

And that’s why HydroQuebec needs to export more electricity to supplant environmentally-damaging sources like coal, without converting to similar methods themselves. I’m not talking about windmills — though the monopoly on how we do grids here is a whole other kettle of fish, and making wind power the “enemy” to some people. I’m talking about forest biomass conversion, which impoverishes source ecosystems.

Well, yes, but wait. As gains in efficiency increases the perception of abundance, the draw on the power grid increases. Cities are not doing enough for themselves to keep the demand steady-or-less, or supply more of their own. Until businesses, municipalities, and utilities develop a local private/community power model, electricity must come from somewhere else.

HydroQuébec doesn’t have incentive programs to help people switch to off-grid electricity generation, though it finally established a net metering option for self-generators to feed power back in to the grid. That will help a bit.

Elsewhere, many utilities practice load-balancing: timing periods of demand by offering consumers preferred rates, after businesses close down for the evening and overnight (when one can run the dishwasher, laundry, bathe and shower, and charge electronics). HydroQuébec doesn’t do this yet, either, though it reminds us to.

Why do we need to consume less electricity?

Cheap electricity begets waste. Which is a problem, when we could be saving (and the province making) more money if we were more conserving of it. HydroQuébec exports its power to Ontario, New York, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont, where non-hydro sources are still used: nuclear, coal, other.

If we collectively cut down our electricity consumption, HydroQuébec would have more capacity for export deals. This would mean that fewer mountain top habitats in Appalachia (which extends into Quebec, by the way) would be blasted into oblivion to get at the coal.

Even load-balancing our demand would send further into the future HydroQuébec’s construction projects, including harmful ones like biomass. By “biomass,” they say liquor from pulp and paper mills, but they also mean forest litter. They don’t mean garbage or sewage digestion, which would be far better used to feed into Gaz Metropolitain’s supply chain, which instead comes from Alberta. I think you already know about the huge landscape and biodiversity detriments of that energy source.

The planned life span of an electric plant is 50 years. There is only a 2% turnover rate of existing electric plants per year, but plants can be — hopefully — upgraded to the greenest technology available. Even hydroelectric plants could have a smaller impact on the environment than they have. Because of the impacts of damming in western rivers, salmon are critically endangered and there is not enough political will to help them, and the endangered Southern Resident orcas that rely on them.

It’s a sobering thought: what kind of world we have for the next 50 years if, for every upgrade, or new plant installed, they DIDN’T have the greenest, most low-impact technology possible? Why would we do that? Isn’t the endangered fish and habitat problem bad enough?

In 2012, the Nastapoka River has been permanently protected in a new park: Tursujuc. The previous government had wanted to keep it outside of park boundaries to reserve it for HydroQuébec’s future use. (Read about the park – it’s really impressive.)

And a dam removed in the Olympic National Park in Washington state is now being renaturalized by humans and animals alike.

Energy efficiency is a mix of maintenance, customization, and habit

After the first two years of living here, I reduced the annual electricity consumption of my house by at least 20% through habit change alone. I saved considerably more compared to the previous owner (whose equalized monthly bills were $140).

In fact, in the summer, I joined the 10 kWh club. My daily consumption between May 29th and September 25th, 2013 was 6 kWh per day. That is awesome! Of course, now that the heat is back on, it’s over 25 kWh per day.

Here is a graph of my electricity consumption since I started the above measures. It doesn’t graph against the weather, but most electricity use depends on the weather.

Seal the sources of air infiltration

With the recent blizzard that swept through Montreal that left about two feet of snow, I had an ample draft of -10º air coming in through cracks (sloppy construction inspection, a direct effect of cheap electricity in the 1980s). So I went on a hunt to seal them with weather-stripping and caulking, available at any hardware store. I started this process years ago, when I first bought the place.

You can feel a draft with your finger, but an obvious test is lighting a stick of incense and walking it along the edges of the places you suspect a draft.

Check and replace your weather-stripping on doors and windows, as it does get worn out. Check that door sweeps actually close the gap. Also look for and seal off gaps and cracks and edges of door and window (and even baseboard!) mouldings with “backer rod” (pushed into the gap). Caulk the edges of woodwork and other fine cracks, and repair the drywall for bigger cracks and holes.

Electrical outlets also have a draft!

Electric outlets can be a significant source of drafts and loss of heat. I wish more apartment dwellers would make this small investment (probably $20 to kit out a large one-bedroom apartment) and cut their heating bill in turn.You can also install outlet and switch plate kits (“energy gaskets”) to the back of the outlet and switch plates, and, with older outlets, use those little baby-proofing plugs. There are kits that include those, too.

Use programmable thermostats

Set them to 16ºC at night and while away, and 19º otherwise. Wear a cardigan or a housecoat and slippers, not summer clothing – it’s winter, for heaven’s sake! Everyone needs a couch blanket for cozy reading and TV sessions anyway. Keeping your place cooler in winter surprisingly makes winter a lot more bearable than if you do this…(look right ->)

You can also try, like many country folks (i.e. houses with all four walls exposed), keeping the heating registers closed or off, and closing your bedroom doors so they’re not heated by the rest of the house except when the room is in use. People usually sleep better in the cold.

Other energy-saving tips

I wrapped my AC unit in window plastic on the inside, and duct-taped plastic over it on the outside. (I’ll be getting rid of this unit in the next year or two; I don’t use it).

You could use cold water in the laundry (or a tepid 20º-30º). Turn down the hot water tap, so that the cold water is the major supply to your washing machine and other use-points. The dishwasher, for example, has its own integrated water heater.

Set up your entertainment unit on a power bar so that you switch it all off when you go out or go to bed.  For devices you don’t use often, just unplug them. If they are software enabled, with the Standby power feature, they run what is called a phantom or ghost load. It’s not a lot per device, but 10 devices become the equivalent of 30W x 24 x 7. You don’t need it. Turn things off-off on a weekly basis.

Interesting: phantom power and ghost load have very specific meanings, one for audio or electronic equipment, and one for shotguns.

In the meantime, remember:

It’s winter, and we’re not in California (where it still gets cold). Our human senses of comfort adjust to the climate. Animals habituate to the cold, and so do we. They grow extra fur, and so do we we throw on our favourite clothes. Just weather-appropriate ones:

• Wear an undershirt.
• Put on a hoodie or sweater, or a housecoat.
• Wear slippers at home.
• If your head is cold, wear a toque!
• And for the outdoors, always: Good coat, good boots, good attitude.