Did you know?
Facts on Energy
- Roughly 20% of the world’s electricity usage is from light bulbs.
- When you turn on a light bulb, you use only 3% of the power generated at the power plant to create light – the rest is waste. (The power system (grid) is only about 30% efficient at delivering electricity to a home; the rest is lost in power generation and transmission over land-lines. A light bulb is only about 10% efficient, the remainder is wasted by generating heat.)
- Needs of the United States are continuously increasing and expected to double by 2030 from the 2000 requirements
- Oil and natural gas prices keep rising as a result of higher demand and reduced availability of natural resources
Facts on Natural Resources
- The average American household consumes over 100,000 gallons of water and generates over 22 tons of carbon dioxide each year.
- The United States is responsible for 21% of carbon dioxide emissions, yet we have less than 5% of the world’s population.
- Brazil loses roughly 5,000 square miles of rainforest each year - an area larger than the size of Connecticut.
- In the summer of 2007, the word “Carbon Footprint” was officially added to the Oxford Dictionary.
- In a 2002 U.S. Geological Survey study of contaminants in U.S. stream water, 69 percent of streams sampled contained persistent detergent metabolites, and 66 percent contained disinfectants.
- For every ton of paper that is recycled, the following is saved: 7,000 gallons of water; 380 gallons of oil; and enough electricity to power an average house for six months.
- Each year, Americans use more than 100 billion plastic shopping bags, consuming as estimated 12 million barrels of oil. After a very short life, they end up in landfills where they need up to 500 years to decompose.
- You can run a TV for six hours on the amount of electricity that is saved by recycling one aluminum can.
- By recycling just one glass bottle, you save enough electricity to power a 100-watt bulb for four hours.
- Each calorie of beef requires 11-17 calories of feed to produce. Producing 8 pounds of beef requires 25,000 liters of water
- Average temperatures are rising. In New England, the average temperature has risen 4.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1970 and the last 8 five-year periods in the USA are the warmest since we started taking national records 112 years ago.
Facts on Solar Power
- A home solar system is typically made up of solar panels, an inverter, a battery, a charge controller, wiring and support structure.
- A 1-kilowatt home solar system takes about 1-2 days to install and costs around US$10,000, but can vary greatly and does not take into account any incentives offered by the government.
- A 1-kilowatt home solar system consists of about 10-12 solar panels and requires about 100 square feet of installation area.
- A 1 kilowatt home solar system will generate approximately 1,600 kilowatt hours per year in a sunny climate (receiving 5.5 hours of sunshine per day) and approximately 750 kilowatt hours per year in a cloudy climate (receiving 2.5 hours of sunshine per day).
- A 1-kilowatt home solar system will prevent approximately 2040 lbs. of coal from being burned, 3600 lbs of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere and 1260 gallons of water from being consumed each year!
- Relying on the battery back-up, a solar energy system can provide electricity 24x7, even on cloudy days and at night.
- Solar energy can be collected and stored in batteries, reflected, insulated, absorbed and transmitted.