Warmth

Warmth is a word that suggests something inviting. Someone with a warm personality is much more engaging and enriching to be around than someone who is cold, a word that suggests distance and aloofness.

So too do we think of these words in a more literal sense, specifically calories, units of energy. Now in the waning days of September, as summer in the northern hemisphere quickly draws to a close, as autumn lies in wait, ready to pounce upon us who dwell north of certain latitudes, the impending lack of warmth, the incipient cold that will soon be carried on the breezes, looking in all corners for any bits of warmth to grab and carry away with it, what happens?

We will retreat indoors. Indoors we have central heating, to counteract the loss of warmth outdoors. But how do we do this central heating? Oil, gas, electric in most cases.

Now for the editorializing

Oil of course has been getting much attention of late. Excessive demand, limited supply, greed, all lead to comical prices. Gas is not far behind, in spite of substantial domestic supplies in the USA. And electricity? As long as most electric power is in the hands of profit motivated corporations, this too comes very dear. Curiously, where electricity is provided by publicly owned non-profit utilities the price is much lower.

Now I am not a socialist, but when we have something which is not a luxury and is indeed a necessity and most often a monopoly with no competition in a given location, is it morally defensible to put the fox in charge of the hen house? Not an easy sell I know, but I propose that all electricity be provided by publicly owned non-profit utilities. At the same time, it is essential we also promote green technologies. Photovoltaics, wind farms, geothermal, passive solar designs.

Of course, many of us cannot afford to do many of these things by ourselves. But even we of moderate means can do something. Compact florescent bulbs, obviously. Front loading washing machines is another. If you have an electric hot water heater heater, depending on your usage patterns you can shut the thing off most of the time automatically with a timer designed for the purpose. And pellet stoves - here is a hot item in more ways than one.

Here in the northeast USA, pellet stoves are flying off the shelves. So too are pellets. But get this - pellets are available for less than $300 a ton. Based on a quick and rough estimate, based on four tons for the heating season, this could cost me around $1200 for the winter versus around $5000 for oil, assuming the pellet stove will completely replace the oil burner. That may not be a safe assumption, but with 38,000 BTUs per hour provided by pellets, which are carbon neutral, I am ahead of the game by a wide margin both financially and environmentally.

Yes, I can feel very virtuous. Now all we need is for everyone to drive a plug-in electric car that is supplied with power from renewable sources. Fat chance anytime soon, particularly where winters are severe. How do you heat and defrost an electric car during a one hour commute through an ice storm? Answer, don't drive! Too bad most employers refuse to tolerate telecommuting or to locate next to mass transportation hubs. But that is another rant for another day.