Fossil Fuel Free

On May 22, 2008, crude oil hit $135 per barrel. The next day, gasoline reached a record U.S. national average of $3.88 per gallon. Will our American way of life soon be unaffordable?

Nope--we'll just use less fossil fuel.

Consider life in the United States in 1856. Our modern conveniences depended on oil. We used it to light our homes, lubricate our clocks, and keep our trains running. But it wasn't petroleum--it was whale oil.

What happened? In 1857, a commercially viable kerosene lamp was invented. Within four years the market for whale oil had collapsed.

You probably find it hard to believe that we'll give up fossil fuel as easily, right?

Well, here's my family's plan to be free of fossil fuel without waiting for a magic "kerosene lamp":

1. We're becoming energy efficient. We switched to energy-efficient lights and appliances and now use just 10 kilowatt hours of electricity per day. If we were designing a new home, we'd choose passive solar heat, built tight and super well insulated. But we like to walk or bike to work, school and shopping, so we decided to stay in our in-town 1828 federal-style house. We did an energy audit, then installed weatherstripping, added insulation, and upgraded from forced hot air to radiant floor heating.
   
   
2. We'll use electricity and solar heat instead of oil or gas. We'll install solar hot water for showers, dish washing, etc. We're planning to replace our oil boiler with a solar-assisted electric heat pump. Before too long we hope to trade in our gas minivan for an electric model (we're excited to have Maine Electric Vehicles at our store for a talk on June 12).
   
   
3. We'll generate our electricity without fossil fuel. Today for about 21 cents per kWh, we can choose "green electricity" from hydropower dams and wind farms instead of the "standard offer" from fossil and nuclear fuel. For about $3 per day, we could generate our own electricity with solar panels, as Bill and Debbi Lord do at the Maine Solar House.

Fossil fuel won't disappear entirely from our lives, just like whale oil didn't disappear completely. (Did you know the last bottle of whale oil in the U.S. was sold in 1978?) But the high cost of fossil fuel will disappear from our budget, as we choose better alternatives.

Related Information and Resources

• www.EnergyStar.gov - energy efficient appliances
• hes.lbl.gov - home energy audits
• www.RevisionEnergy.com - solar hot water
• www.MaineEV.com - electric vehicles
• www.EnergyMaine.com/mresignup/ - green electricity
• www.SolarHouse.com - Maine Solar House