inflation and energy

As the United States Senate passed a major budget reconciliation bill dealing with climate change, energy sources, health care, and corporate taxes this weekend, there has been a lot of public whining from Republicans and industry, saying that the bill will increase, not lower inflation.

Judging from my family’s experience, the bill will lower inflation by decreasing energy costs.

As regular readers may recall, my household has spent years in efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. We have electrified everything in our home, including a geothermal heating/cooling system. We reduced our demand by increasing our insulation and installing LED lighting. We drive our fully electric Chevy Bolt for local driving. (For trips over 200 miles, we drive our plug-in hybrid Chrysler Pacifica, which gets better mileage in gasoline mode than the non-hybrid version.) We own panels in a solar farm because our home was not a good candidate for rooftop panels.

So, this summer, our monthly electricity bill is $17.35, which is the delivery charge from our electric utility. This covers all our household lighting, cooling, laundry, electronics, water heating, etc. plus all our local and short-trip driving.

Meanwhile, many households are burdened with paying $100 to fill their gas tank for the week, plus the cost of their household electricity and methane, propane, or other fuels that they use for heating water, cooking, drying clothes, etc.

A large share of recent inflation is due to increased fossil fuel prices. For our family, that has been felt mostly in the higher cost of food, which is largely driven by the expense of fuel.

I realize that not every household will be able to follow our exact path to be nearly free of fossil fuels but the Inflation Reduction Act just passed by the Senate, which is expected to be passed by the House and sent to President Biden to sign into law later this week, will go a long way to reducing expensive fossil fuel use for residents. As more renewable power comes on line, electricity costs will come down because it is cheaper to produce than fossil fuel electricity. There are rebates targeted at lower-to-middle income folks to help move to electric vehicles, which are much cheaper to run than internal combustion engines. As battery costs have fallen, electric cars are already around the same price as some conventional cars/trucks, so the rebates may make them cheaper to buy.

It’s true that inflation will not suddenly disappear, but this bill has provisions that will bring it down and will help to decrease future inflation spikes by removing inherently volatile fossil fuel prices from the center of our economy. The bill is projected to save average households about $500/year in energy costs. Some households, such as ours, will be able to save much more than that.

So, let’s get this done and enacted! The sooner we do, the sooner it will help people and the planet.

personal energy independence

With the burgeoning war in Ukraine, which is totally unacceptable and reprehensible on Russia’s part, people around the world expect fossil fuel prices to rise. While this is unfortunate, especially for those in lower socioeconomic circumstances, it will have much less impact on my family than most.

We will be paying higher prices for goods due to increased transportation costs but won’t see much impact on our personal transportation and household costs, due to our years-long efforts to reduce our carbon footprint.

Around town, we usually drive our all-electric Chevy Bolt or our plug-in hybrid Chrysler Pacifica, which only switches to its gasoline engine on the rare occasions that we take longer trips and even then gets much better mileage than a regular minivan. Our home heating system is a geothermal heat pump and our hot water is a hybrid electric/air source heat pump which is nearly always in heat pump only mode. Our appliances are electric. We use a rechargeable electric lawn mower. Only our 50+ year old snowblower which is used a few times a year and our outdoor propane grill run on fossil fuels.

The electricity that powers our homes and cars is from renewable sources. The majority is from solar panels that we own in a community solar installation with the balance bought from a 100% renewable energy supplier. I get a great deal of satisfaction from producing and using clean energy, continuing the legacy of my father and several other members of our family who worked in the hydroelectric sector for many years.

While the driving force for me to move to renewable energy was moral, I do also appreciate the economic impact on our family. Our energy costs as B heads toward eventual retirement will stay relatively low and stable. At the time we installed our geothermal heat pump, the cost of methane was near historic lows, making the number of years that it would take cost savings to make up for the installation cost quite high, partially offset by significant savings in our cooling costs. With the price of methane doubled even before the impact of sanctions against Russia, our investment in our heat pump looks to be an even better economic move, in addition to being best for the climate.

From a moral/ethical standpoint, I also appreciate that my energy dollars are not being used to prop up a fossil fuel system that enables injustice. Certainly, Russian proceeds from fossil fuels go largely to a few oligarchs and government officials, not for the benefit of the public. Saudi Arabia uses its fossil fuel wealth in oppressive ways and is not held to account for fear of cutting off supply. In the US, profits land with oil and gas companies while rural folks and disadvantaged communities bear the brunt of the health and safety problems caused by extraction, processing, and transport. While the entire ecosystem is impacted by fossil fuel use, the heaviest burden falls on vulnerable communities who often did little to contribute to the problem.

I know that the example of my family’s transition away from fossil fuels is a miniscule piece of the solution to help heal the planet, but I hope that we early adopters will show people that it’s possible – and even more economical – to make the switch to renewable energy. Political leaders can develop programs to help lower income households join in and benefit, as well as train workers for weatherization and other energy efficiency projects, for renewable energy jobs, and for the environmental restoration and resiliency work before us.

Real energy independence cannot be pumped out of the ground but can come from the sun, wind, and water that are our common gifts. Let’s use them to create a more stable, just world where fossil fuel supplies aren’t used as a weapon.

Bolt!

As part of my Earth Day observance, let me introduce the newest addition to our eco-conscious family, our new bright blue all-electric Chevy Bolt!

While Bolts became available in some parts of the country late last year, they only arrived in upstate New York in March. Only one dealer in our area is authorized to sell them and I had been inquiring for months, so, when their first Bolt came in, we were among the first to find out. We arranged a test drive and, after waiting a few days for the long-anticipated New York State rebate program to get up and running, we took the Bolt home on March 30th.

We love it!

There is a lot to learn, though, and a lot of bells and whistles that other people take for granted, like backup cameras and collision avoidance systems, that have been available but weren’t a feature of any other car we have had.

It is nice to have a simple push button start and not to have to worry about keys at all. With no engine, it is very quiet. The seats, front and back, are comfortable for both B and me, despite ten inches of height difference, and the seats are heated, which is nice in the damp chill of early spring. I even tried out the heated steering wheel one particularly chilly morning! There is lots of glass so the visibility is good and we have external sensors that warn about vehicles and pedestrians that are alongside.

It is so much fun to drive! It’s like a game to learn about the regenerative braking and how to get the most miles per kilowatt-hour. It accelerates super fast, which is a help when I have to merge onto the highway near our home, where the speed limit is 65 mph (105 kmh) and the merge lane is short. The link near the beginning of the post tells about the torque, for those of you who know about such things. Our salesperson told us it has a much torque as a 6-cylinder Camaro, but, never having driven a sporty performance-type car, I have no basis for comparison. I just know that it is fun!

We intend to use the Bolt mostly around the county and for short trips until more rapid-charge stations come to our region. The listed range is 238 miles (383 km) on a full charge, although factors such as temperature and terrain affect this. We don’t put on a lot of miles every day and usually charge it once it get down sixty miles or so.

We have taken it further afield once so far. When E went to London, she had to fly out of Syracuse rather than Binghamton, so we took her in the Bolt. The roundtrip was about 180 miles and we had plenty of charge to get there and back, despite the temperature being colder than optimal for best battery range.

At the moment, we are recharging with just 110v household current, but we plan to install a charge station later this spring. That will allow us to do a full charge overnight, instead of two days using household current.

On Earth Day, we are proud to have shrunk our carbon footprint considerably. No burning of gasoline! No need for motor oil! And most of the electricity we use will be produced by our solar panels!

Our Bolt makes every day seems like Earth Day!