NORTHFIELD — Peter Talmage, a former member of the Northfield Energy Committee, spoke to a full room of 30 intrigued residents Thursday night about simple strategies to reduce their energy consumption, their electricity bills and their impact on the environment.
His talk, titled “Taming Your Energy Beast” and held at Dickinson Memorial Library, was organized by Solar Up Northfield, an ad-hoc group dedicated to increasing the town’s use of solar energy. Thus, Talmage began by explaining what a good investment solar panels can be.
“I haven’t paid an electric bill in 35, 40 years,” he said, producing a copy of the June electricity bill for his Amherst house on a PowerPoint slide. It read “minus $731.92.”
Talmage clarified he receives a dollar credit and is able to supply his friends’ and neighbors’ homes with energy as well.
In order to know how many solar panels are needed to power a house, Talmage advised the audience to take a close look at their electricity bills.
“Most houses in Massachusetts use 500 to 600 kilowatt hours a month,” he said.
Talmage estimated it would cost $14,000 to install enough panels to power the average house. But, he added, such an investment means 30 percent federal and 15 percent state tax credit.
Additionally, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) offers low-interest loans for residents looking to go solar.
Once installed, Talmage said the systems require little maintenance and are quite durable. Snow easily slides off in the winter. And, if the electrical grid fails, solar-powered homes are independent.
Of course, Talmage continued, using less energy would reduce the size of the solar array a house would need.
“Today, you can build houses that make more energy than they use,” he said. “We’ve got millions and millions of homes out there that are just energy hogs. They could be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.”
Talmage offered these energy saving tips to homeowners:
Mass Save offers energy audits that tell homeowners where their homes can be more energy efficient. The average house leaks 30 percent of its heat in the winter, particularly through the attic floor and basement.
By turning down the heat 10 degrees in the winter, homeowners can save 10 percent on their energy bills.
A super-insulated house, with two times thicker walls than the conventional house, saves 50 percent on energy bills. Any existing home can be upgraded to a super-insulated home.
Up to 25 percent of heat is lost out of the average New England window, and upgrading can help, though not as much as adding insulation.
Removing window screens allows more heat from the sun into a house.
Adding an ENERGY STAR refrigerator can save hundreds of kilowatt hours per year.
Drying clothes on a clothesline saves an average of five kilowatt hours per load of laundry, an equivalent of 80 cents.
Adding a $15 wrap around a hot water heater can save 225 kilowatt hours of energy a year.
Fourteen percent of energy used by Americans is phantom, meaning the appliances continue to use energy even when they are turned off. Talmage recommends plugging these appliances into a power strip, and unplugging the strip when they are not in use.
Replacing one 60-watt incandescent light bulb with a 10-watt LED bulb, used four hours a day, saves 73 kilowatt hours a year.
In the end, Talmage said, reducing energy consumption is not just economically beneficial, but ultimately supports a long-term goal of protecting the environment.
“There are so many ways that these increased temperatures affect not only our lives, but the lives of the animals and wildlife,” he said. “We’ve got to get ourselves into thinking, ‘How can I stop burning fuels?’”
To get an electronic copy of Talmage’s PowerPoint presentation, email him at ptalmage@yahoo.com.
To gain information about the steps for installing solar and its costs, residents can attend Solar Up Northfield’s next event, a solar fair featuring solar company representatives. The fair will be held July 28 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in Town Hall.