ASK AN EXPERT
Becky Harlin
Owner and President
Rosi Office Products and Rosi Office Furniture
www.rosiop.com
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Mike Dietz
Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in Sustainable Living at Utah State University
Submit your question
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Mike,
We will be building a home in Grantsville. It will be designed for solar application, etc - if funds become available. We are looking at becoming as self-sustainable as possible in the future. I know there are some tax credits for existing homes but they won't apply during construction.
Because of the housing market collapse, our budget for construction will be less than $100,000. Solar, etc. will have to be an add on unless we can find some funding as a prototype or first edition for the area.
So, my question is: Can you or your contacts suggest an avenue or source of funding to help us with the energy efficiency applications as well as to advise us on practical, cost efficient applications for heating, cooling, water heating, etc? We have designed a very efficient and sensible (we believe) floor plan that could be a prototype.
And, another question, on a different level: If a small community wanted to invest in solar, wind, or energy efficient applications, where would they start?
Thank you for offering your service. If you don't have answers, but know of someone/where to contact, I will appreciate the information.
Thank you,
Paula ayock
Hi Paula,
I would advise two things. First, make every attempt possible to lay out the house on the lot to take advantage of passive solar. If you or your architect would like more information on this we have some fact sheets on the topic. This takes a little bit of planning up front, but there is very little cost involved, and will give you a lifetime of benefit in your house to maximize heat gain in the winter, and keep out the sun in the summer. Second, for heating/cooling, I recommend ground source heating and cooling (also called geothermal, although it is not true geothermal). It is the most efficient HVAC system that you can install today, and there is currently a 30% federal tax credit (no limit), and a 25% state credit ($2000 limit) to install one of these systems. They can also do domestic hot water heating, without the use of natural gas. I would recommend coming to the Utah House in Kaysville (http://theutahhouse.org) to see the passive solar design and the ground source heating and cooling system. I oversee this facility and it is a great resource. We are also having a workshop in August in ground source heating/cooling (see description below).
On the small community scale, I’m afraid I don’t have very much information on that. I have heard of energy co-ops where members of a communities have organized to purchase renewable energy, but I don’t have any specific examples. A google search on “energy co-op” may yield some results.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions!
-Mike
Mike,
I don’t know if you are the right person to ask but you would probably have a better idea than I, Are there any government Grants or refunds available for going green for example solar heating ,insulation ect…
-James
James,
There are lots of great incentives for energy efficient upgrades. If solar heating and insulation is what you are looking at, Questar gas has some great rebates. They offer $750 towards solar hot water heating, and rebates for insulation that will likely make your cost near zero. The website is http://www.thermwise.com/
There are also federal and state tax credits available. Check www.dsireusa.org and http://www.utahcleanenergy.org/eepolicy/REIncentives.htm
Formerly, the federal tax credit for solar systems was 30% of cost, up to $2000. Starting January 1, the $2000 limit will be removed, and the credit will be 30% of total cost. This is a substantial difference.
I hope this helps. This information can also be found at our new extension energy site. It is still under construction, but it is functional: http://extension.usu.edu/energyconsumer
-Mike Dietz
Hello Mike,
I read in many articles that vegetable and yard waste produces methane gas as it breaks down anaerobically in municipal dumps, which is even worse than carbon dioxide for greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, those articles stated composting such waste is a really good thing for reducing emissions. So this weekend I built a compost bin with a friend and informed another friend about the project. She asked why does the breakdown of the yard & food waste produce methane in the local dump, but not in the compost bin? I’m thinking it has to do with the aerobic breakdown in the bin verses anaerobic in the dump – is that correct?
here are some stats I found on the topic:
Food scraps & yard waste comprise as much as 25% of the waste sent to landfills. When packed into landfills, they decompose under anaerobic conditions — meaning in the absence of oxygen. Methane gas — a greenhouse gas with 23 times the heat–trapping capacity of carbon dioxide (CO2) — is produced when organic materials such as food scraps, lawn and garden clippings, paper, and wood decompose under anaerobic conditions. Landfills are the largest source of human created methane in the U.S.
Jackie,
Your research was correct. The breakdown of organic materials in the absence of oxygen does produce methane. Food scraps in a small compost pile will break down aerobically. I took my class to the Logan landfill last spring. We all think that newspaper is biodegradable right? Well, not if it doesn’t have air. They excavated an old section of the landfill and found readable pieces of newspaper from the 1960’s! So diverting yard and kitchen waste from the landfill is a great way to reduce the amount of material going to the landfill, and also reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced.
-Mike
We recently had a great question come across in regards to recycling, and although we don't currently have an expert that specializes on this topic, we did some digging and got some great guidance from Michael Dietz our sustainable living expert. So Mary, and the others of you out there pondering this same question, we hope you gain something from this.
Why don’t all cities in Utah provide recycling cans along with their regular garbage cans? What do we need to do so that more cities will REQUIRE recycling?
-Mary H.
Mary, I suggest that you contact your local town officials to find out why they don't have recycling, and then contact local legislators to lobby for it. As far as I know, there is no state law mandating recycling. There are some big municipalities (like Kaysville) who do not have a town recycling program. There are many that do. I would also suggest contacting some towns that have recently started recycling to get information on the hurdles to get over.
-Mike
Mary,
We did some research into your question as well and have found that in most circumstances it is not that the cities don't want to participate in a recycling program, it is the high cost of getting one off the ground and maintaining such a program. Along with that, once a program is started it takes a lot of educational materials and costs to teach the cities people how/when to use recycling. One thing I did learn, is that they can not ignore the strong voice of those in the community though, so if you feel strongly about recycling and it is not offered in your city, take Mike's suggestions and start lobbying for one.
-GTU
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