On DOE’s new “branding” effort.
Clotheslines and Really, Really Big Houses
It’s easy to make fun of the good folks of Southamptom for having a law against clotheslines (messy, you understand). But is it not admirable for them to sacrifice for the greater good, allowing clotheslines for the sake of energy conservation? From Bloomberg:
Even amid such affluence, clotheslines are finding fans among residents seeking to conserve energy after the price of oil rose this year, peaking at a record $147.27 a barrel last month. Southampton’s board wants the community to be “a model of sustainability,” the measure repealing the clothesline ban said.
Or, how about reducing your energy consumption by not living in a giant mansion?
Water Heater Math
I love a good calculation. So does my friend Al Zelicoff, who offers us a doozy of a set in today’s Journal energy tip, providing the back-of-the-very-large-envelope calculation on how much you can save by turning down the thermostat on your water heater:
320 pounds of water X (140 – 60) = 25,600 BTUs or about 1/4 of a “Therm” which is what you are billed for on your bill (currently about $1.20 per therm with tax). This would be the amount you would use per day (and add a little bit because gas water heaters can not be 100% efficient since some heat MUST go up the flue) if you used 40 gallons of 140 degree hot water. So, in a month (30 days) figure about 8 therms for hot water heating in this scenario.
Al’s bottom line: don’t spend a lot of money on a fancy new high-efficiency water heater. Just turn the damn thing down, and use your energy-saving investment dollars elsewhere.
The Robins
If I was a robin, here’s what I would do on a cool, late summer dawn in Albuquerque, as I was headed south. I’d get my friends and fly up to the highest tree in the neighborhood, that big elm over there, and flutter around a little bit to keep warm as the sun just reached its top-most branches.
Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere
Drought, Climate, Change
Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere
Trying to get a better handle on New Mexico’s energy resources, I recently spent a bunch of time learning about coal here. The results, a broad overview story in today’s Journal business section, are an attempt to answer the underlying question of what effect permanently higher energy prices might have on coal mining in a state with modest production and deep reserves. The short answer is “not much”. We’ve just opened our first new coal mine in more than a decade, but a number of factors suggest we won’t see a large increase in coal mining here over foreseeable time frames, for a couple of major reasons:
- Our coal is power plant coal, and we’re just not seeing more power plants being built right now. The exception here is Desert Rock, and the battle over Desert Rock’s carbon emissions and other environmental effects illustrates the problem with coal in both technical and political terms.
- Our infrastructure doesn’t support significant coal exports. The best, easiest-to-mine coal is in the Four Corners area, which does not have the rail connections to make large-scale shipping possible.
The full story, along with two sidebars.
Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere
On drought, climate change and the arid southwest. (Kinda feels like old times.)
The Problem with Falling Oil Prices
Falling oil prices are good for the US economy, right? I can fill up my tank for less, and the inflation rate won’t be quite so bonkers, right? James Hamilton on the dark side:
But really the key question for purposes of assessing the economic consequences of falling oil prices is, Why did oil prices fall? To the extent that it is due to the increased global oil production that we’ve been anticipating ([1], [2]), that is unambiguously good news for an oil importer like the United States. But I’m persuaded that another key cause of oil’s recent plunge has been economic weakness in Europe and Japan, which has meant both a stronger dollar and weaker global oil demand.
And weakness in global economic growth is a real threat to the U.S. economy. Exports are the one sector that seemed to keep the U.S. economy going in the second quarter. If you kick out the leg of a one-legged stool, prospects for stability are not too great.
The Crispness of Fall
There’s a hint of fall in the air right now. They’re roasting chiles across the street from my parents’ house, and the temperature dropped below 60 a couple of times this week (16C).
I’ve been working on a piece for the paper on energy-saving steps you can take to get ready for higher natural gas bills this winter. EIA is forecasting prices up at least 20 percent this winter over last for natural gas heating (the dominant source here in New Mexico for home heating). PNM, which provides our natural gas, is forecasting slightly less of an increase, but definitely above last year.
We’ll have a snazzy package in the paper in a few weeks on the low-hanging fruit around your house for saving gas, but you really don’t need me to tell you what to do. Most of the stuff is obvious.