Gas Fireplace Insert uses half the natural gas of the open hearth and stopped heat loss up the chimney

I was inspired to become more energy self-sufficient after experiencing one 20% price increase after another with my local utility company, living through $5 per gallon gas prices, watching the tundra around my brother’s house in Fairbanks, Alaska turn to swampland because of warming global temperatures and watching my retirement savings take a nose dive in late 2008. Just from the financial perspective alone, I figure if I can reduce my recurring expenses then I can live on far less income in my “golden” years. PLUS, it makes far more sense to me to invest in things that will give me a solid return on investment than investing in a very volatile securities industry. Additionally with the prospect of looming inflation because of the US Treasury having less than 1% of assets in reserve vs. what they are loaning out, I figure the more I can reduce my monthly bills, the more resistant I will be to economic instability.

To get started, I first evaluated all my options (see blog post below). Next I created my first project plan, and then started by reducing the energy needed to heat the house and the water. I am eventually going to be creating my own electricity with solar and maybe wind power, but I learned that for every dollar I could save in energy usage, that was $5 less I’d have to spend with creating my own energy to power and heat my home. So I figured I would start with reducing my energy usage first.

Tankless Hot Water Heater Uses Half the Natural Gas as the Old Water Heater and 75% of the Natural Gas of a New Water Heater.

I started with the heavy hitters first - the natural gas I was using to heat the house and the water. I had a very old natural gas water heater and with my travel schedule, I was paying to keep a lot of water hot that I was never around to use. I also had this open natural gas fireplace that used 40,000 BTUs of natural gas and let a lot of heat out through the chimney. I replaced the water heater with an instant on tankless water heater that uses half the natural gas of my old water heater and 75% of the natural gas of a new hot water heater. But with my travel schedule, it just made no sense for me to keep a tank of water, no matter how well insulated, heated. For the fire place, that is easier, I installed a natural gas fireplace insert that uses half the BTUs, and is rated to heat the entire space of my house. Plus the insert is very well insulated so I won’t have the heat rushing up the chimney when it’s not on. By my back of the envelope estimates, I cut my natural gas use by at least 50%. This means I am saving $70 per month. I’ll have the upgrades paid back in less than five years. Click here to see the pay back analysis for making these improvements. payback-analysis-for-tankless-water-heater1

For more information on energy efficient appliances - visit - http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/procurement/eep_gas_waterheaters.html

Next I am making warm window shades to reduce the heat loss through my windows, improving the insulation under the house, and swapping out light bulbs with LED bulbs as they burn out.

Click here to see the project plan for becoming energy self-sufficient with this house. project_plan_energy-improvements-house-carson-city

The easy answer is - “it depends.”   Overall, I’m pursuing energy self-sufficiency for three reason:

1. As a hedge against inflation and world instability.  The less I have to pay to utility company’s and for foreign oil to power my life, the more I can weather any future economic and/or political turmoil.

2. As a way to generate a better and lower risk return on investment than I can currently get in any other investment vehicle.

3. As a way to learn how to make long term decisions that will create improved security for all and give me more financial independence - this is especially important as I have to cover the cost of college for my children AND prepare for retirement.

But I realized as I got into this drive to become energy self-sufficient, that some efforts would generate much faster paybacks, far more savings, for a lot less effort and costs.   Not every action you can take to become energy self-sufficient creates an equal and opposite reaction   I developed a pay back analysis template to understand the benefits for pursuing one energy self-sufficient effort vs. another.

Click here to access the payback analysis template for energy self-sufficient investments.

What I discovered was that efforts to reduce my energy consumption gave me a much faster and larger return on investment than those to create my own energy.   I’m still pursuing the efforts to create my own energy on the multiple properties I manage in three states as my goal is energy self-sufficiency.   But before I install those systems, it makes more sense to reduce those properties need for energy first.   For every $1 saved in energy use, you save $5 in the cost of installing an alternative energy solution.

Special Note - sustainability is incredibly important in the pursuit of energy self-sufficiency. HOWEVER, I don’t pretend to have all the answers to save the planet from climate changes that are either part of a cycle or man made from fossil fuel pollution. Being “green” or being energy self-sufficient for economic reasons - the end result is the same - less fossil fuel pollution. For whatever reasons people have to motivate energy self-sufficiency, the reality is that this is not a hole that the government and/or big business are going to dig us out of any time soon. It’s is far safer, and a more sure bet for the individual to become energy self-sufficient and the economic reasons justify it. Yes the government and big business need to create their own sustainable energy infrastructure, but energy self-sufficiency is a highly desirable and attainable state for individuals. We need both to address the multi-faceted problems of being dependent on monopolistic utility companies AND foreign fossil fuels.