Friends of East Orlando
Friends Of East Orlando - April 2008
By Jennifer Thompson, Co-Publisher, Insight Magazine
Going green seems to be on everybody’s mind these days! David and I have taken special note of the small things that we can do to limit, if not reduce, our carbon footprint. Luckily, our recent move into a newer home has proven to be a new start in more ways than one. Our double-pane windows are definitely more efficient, providing better insulation and a significant reduction in our energy costs. Because we work from home, our vehicular travel and corresponding emissions have been reduced drastically. In fact, we are considering going down to one car come September.
We’re recycling more than ever because we finally have the orange and green bins provided by the County (something that we were lacking for years in our previous home). Recently, we decided to replace our wall-to-wall carpet with wood floors. Hopefully this will mean less chance of having to replace our flooring in the next decade and thus less impact on our local landfill. Insight Magazine, by the way, is printed every month on recycled paper.
It seems that goods and services labeled ‘green’ or ‘environmentally-sound’ are all the rage right now, but have we truly assessed whether what seems like a good idea today will be a great idea tomorrow?
I applaud the State of Florida and Orange County in their recent green initiatives, especially those that give incentives to green businesses. Regional planning groups are also to be applauded for their environmental stewardship and commitment to smart growth. All of this is fantastic, but I firmly believe that in order for our community to truly reduce its environmental impact and for us to change our habits, it is going to take the commitment of the business community to change the mind of consumers. Or, a commitment by consumers to change the behavior of our business community.
Living in a community where it’s enjoyable to take long walks with your dog has certainly gotten us into our sneakers. I am a huge proponent of cleaning up after your dog, but wonder what kind of environmental impact those little plastic bags bring? I too often find them floating in ponds and along the sides of the bushes and conservation areas.
David and I often walk to Publix with our reusable green recycled bags rather than use the ones provided at the supermarket. More than ever, though, I notice we fill them with freshly prepared salads and snacks—all of which come in plastic containers of their very own. Is it worse to use the water and salad spinner to clean our lettuce, or to purchase a salad for $4 in its own plastic container? And, have you noticed how much bottled water we drink nowadays? As a kid, I remember drinking water from the tap and not from the bottle, but recent news reports of drugs found nationally in tap water is yet another reason to be wary of it these days.
Plain and simple, if we want to make real progress when it comes to conservation of natural resources and more efficient energy usage, it’s going to come down, as it always does, to the almighty dollar. It’s what our country was founded on: free enterprise. Either we consumers are going to demand it and stop buying plastic items like bottled water and pre-packaged salads, or businesses and governments are going to find a way to balance budgets by producing environmentally-friendly products and services. I’d like to see both happen.
Publisher
1 Comment
15 References
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to FriendReferences (15)
-
Response: dedicated hosting -
Response: dedicated hosting
-
Response: CancerComplete Cancer guide.
-
Response: speakerspeaker career service.
-
Response: atmosphereGenerate atmosphere vibrations.
-
Response: speakerAll speaker programs.
-
Response: retirementOnline retirement Reports.
-
Response: link buildingfind ultra link building.
-
Response: childhood obesity
-
Response: kitekite useful information.
-
Response: speakerGreat details.
-
Response: chemotherapygreat chemotherapy items.
-
Response: surgeryModern surgery stadium.
-
Response: medicalmedical general activity.
-
Response: surgerysurgery online catalog
Reader Comments (1)
Harnessing the ower of Solar Energy by Johnny Duncan -
Hey get real! Have you ever done a cost study?
I got a call this week from a solar energy company. They had a rep in my area and would I like to talk with him. Hey, what the hell why not.
So he comes along and we yak for awhile. Would I like a quote on solar power products, sure -
He asked what size system I would like for Photovoltaic panels - I took a swag and said a 5 Kw system.
His quote;
27 PV Panels - Evergreen SL190 $56,430 Note: A DC to AC converter is about 80% efficient - so a 5Kw system would net around 4kw
He said the state would rebate $20,000
A fed tax credit of $2,000
Net to me $34,430
I told him that I would never live long enough to recoup that investment. But that is just for the PV modules!!!!!!
So I looked up the Evergreen panels on the internet - $4.80 per watt so that would make a 1 Kw system cost $4,800 or ~ $5,000 and a 5K system cost $25,000 plus shipping. Hmm, $25K or $56K sure looks like a rip off. ~ 224% above what I can buy it for!!
The said that my power company OUC (Orlando Util. Comm.) would reimburse 5 cents a Kw hour for production. Note they charge $0.0909 per Kwatt for the first 1,000 Kws. I dug around on their web site to find that OUC estimates for a 2Kw system that the expected gross power produced for a year would be 2,800Kwh or 1,400kwh per install 1Kw system per year. If one then divides the 1,400kwh by 365 days/year we get ~ 3.8 hours per day. And this is the sunshine state!
So I did a calc. to find out what it would save in a year.
I used the 5 cents per kwh pay back from OUC plus 10 cents per kwh for the avoided cost - so one multiplies 1,400 kwh and 15 cents - ah lets make it easy and use
1,500h X 4kw (net) X $0.15 kwh= $900/year Ok call it $1,000 - It would take 34 + years to recoup the PV panel cost. - What a green rip off, and I am green with envy!
But wait that is not all - a friend down the street decided to go with their solar hot water system - quoted at $2,500 - but the complete system installed ended up at $5,400! An additional $2,900 bucks for installation, pump, hot water heater. Using this mark up 5,400/2500 we get ~ 216% of quoted cost!
Now what % should we apply to the PV system 216% of the 34,430? Yes ~ that gets one to ~ $74,370 for installation, hard ware wiring, DC to AC converter etc.
Dang add back in the $20,000 state rebate and an additional $2,000 federal tax credit we get to a real cost both public (gov) and private $96,370 - oh I am sure there is probably more costs. Or maybe I should take $56,430 X 2.16! Wow, that is more like it! $122,888.80 - now that is going really green!
What a racket! More than green with envy!