In Phase III of Project Get Off the Grid (for those who haven’t been reading previous posts on Project Get Off the Grid, click here to catch up), I haven’t made many changes. Differing variables in the 2008 and 2009 periods of Phase II, namely a ten-day trip to Mexico in 2008, during which I used virtually no electricity, have made a comparison of the two periods difficult. Therefore, in order to get a better idea of the effects my behavioral changes made in Phase II, I’m not doing anything drastic during Phase III.

I have, however, made one small change. I installed a low-flow Evolve shower-head in my shower. Low-flow shower-heads are officially classified as those that use 1.5 gallons of water per minute or less, and Evolve, a company strictly devoted to making eco-friendly shower-heads, has developed a low-flow shower-head that has another water-saving feature.

For whatever crappy plumbing-related reason, I have to run my shower for a few minutes before the water is warm enough for me to comfortably step in, which means I often turn my water on and then leave the bathroom to occupy myself with other things for a bit – checking my email, watching Sportscenter’s Top Ten, etc. More often than not, I return to a shower that is already spraying – and wasting – hot water. I’m sure there are a lot of folks out there like me.

Evolve’s sleek, low-flow shower-heads are specially equipped to turn off once the water temperature reaches a comfortable 95 degrees. When I’m ready to get into the shower, I simply pull a little cord on the shower-head and the water turns on immediately, already at shower temperature. That way, I can watch Sportscenter, check emails, and mess around with Pandora radio stations to my heart’s content, all the while not worrying about wasting any hot water. When I’m ready, I just get into the shower, pull the cord, and I’ve got hot water.

How does this relate to Project Get Off the Grid? Well, it not only saves hot water, it also saves energy, which is used to heat water. When hot water runs down the drain, we’re not only wasting water, we’re wasting energy, which gets tacked right on to our Duke Energy bills.

Although I think the low-flow and turn-off features of my new shower-head will probably save me some water, I won’t be able to quantify it, because I don’t get billed specifically for water use. I’ll admit the lower pressure probably lengthens my showers a bit, but not by much. As far as the energy savings go, I think they will be minimal, but hey, every little bit counts. Try out an Evolve shower-head and you’ll save water, energy, and, eventually, even money.

The Taipei 101 building in Taiwan, currently the tallest building in the world (but not for long), turns out its lights for Earth Hour 2009.

On March 29th, people from around the world turned off lights for Earth Hour 2009. 4,085 cities and 88 countries participated in the event, which is being described as the largest demonstration of public concern about climate change in history. Check out these pictures of international cities, monuments, and landmarks before and during Earth Hour. The lights on and lights off versions of each photograph are overlaid and will alternatively morph into each other if you click the picture. It’s a cool effect that lets you identify exactly where lights were off and what kind of difference they made.

Where were you and what were you doing during Earth Hour? Did you participate? I was on a train on the way into New York City, so I not only didn’t have any [of my own] lights on, but I was also using public transportation, an earth-friendly alternative to cars (OK, it was kind of by necessity, but still…).

For those who haven’t read my old posts about Project Get Off the Grid, here’s a quick summary. During each Duke Energy billing period, I’ll be making specific changes in my everyday behavior to reduce my overall energy use. I’ll maintain all the changes I’ve made since the start of the project, adding new changes during each phase in hopes that the accumulated effects of these new habits will have an increasingly beneficial impact on my energy efficiency and, as a result, my energy bills. At the end of each period, to quantify the impact of the changes I’ve made, I’ll be comparing current energy bills to ones for the same period from last year, then posting the results.

In addition maintaining the habits I developed in Phase I of Project Get Off the Grid, I made the following changes in Phase II:

• I resolved to leave my thermostat off, unless it got unreasonably hot or cold in my house
• With two weeks remaining in the billing period, I replaced two of my five standard bathroom vanity bulbs with CFL bulbs (one of the old standard bulbs had burned out, cost: ~$9)

And that’s all. Nothing too crazy, nothing too complicated, nothing too difficult. Believe it or not, I never had to turn my thermostat on once and the temperature of my place never went below 67 degrees and never went above 76 degrees. All houses are different and weather varies by region, and I realize this may not work for everyone, but maybe it’s worth giving it a shot.

Anyway, here are the results:

I apparently managed to cut my energy costs by 3% and my overall energy use by 11%, as compared to last year. Although my monthly charges were very low, the reductions in year over year energy consumption were actually smaller than they were during the previous month, when I had my thermostat on for the majority of the time and I hadn’t installed any CFL bulbs. It all seems somewhat counterintuitive. I’ve just implemented more energy-saving techniques, so one would think I’d be even more energy efficient.

However, I think I’ve identified the explanation for the disappointing, and somewhat puzzling, results; just over a year ago today, I took a ten-day trip to Mexico to see the Monarchs of El Rosario (highly recommended) and explore the Mayan Riviera, which probably kept my home electricity use down to just about nothing for over one third of the billing period. This could explain both the unusually low monthly charges, as well as the fact that I didn’t reduce my energy consumption as much as I did during the January-February period. It’s certainly a possibility and, hopefully, next month’s bill will show a spike in energy efficiency, supporting my suspicions.

In any case, even though I think it might be underestimating, if I can maintain last month’s energy-saving habits over the course of a year, I’d save about $12.50, or 3% (that’s incorporating Duke’s price increases) versus the year before. More importantly, that’s reducing my energy consumption by over 11%, or 475 KWH per year. I have a feeling Phase III of Project Get Off the Grid is going to yield the best results yet. Stay tuned for updates.

In 2007, 2.2 million homes and businesses in Sydney, Australia turned off their lights for one hour to show their commitment to planet earth. In 2008, the message grew into a global sustainability movement, and approximately 50 million people around the world turned off their lights for Earth Hour. This year, Earth hour, with the support of WWF, hopes to attract over 1 billion participants who will turn off their lights for one hour, from 8:30PM to 9:30PM local time, on Saturday, March 28, 2009. They’re treating it like a vote – switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, leaving them on is a vote for global warming – which I think is kind of lame, but it’s an awesome cause anyway, meant to bring attention to the green movement, sustainability, the importance of protecting our planet, etc. I’ll be participating, and you should too (sign up here). If this works, I bet it would be awesome to watch from space, like “the wave” at a football game except with a big band of darkness slowly making its way across the surface of the earth. Hopefully, they’ve got some kind of satellite up there videotaping it…

It’s one of the primary drawbacks facing the green movement today: the upfront cost that often accompanies going green. Although going green can help us save money in the long run, the amount of time it can take to break even frequently deters even those with the very best intentions (yes, me included). Especially considering the difficulties we’re facing in today’s economic environment (um, yes, me included again), many people just aren’t willing or able to incur this cost, even if they will, eventually, make it back. In many cases, we don’t even know how long “eventually” is.

Fortunately, the Wall Street Journal (I love when green goes mainstream) recently published this great article discussing practical household changes we can make to save energy, save money, and see payback within a reasonable timeframe. Importantly, it also defines what we can expect that timeframe to be.

The article addresses programmable thermostats, water heating efficiency systems, attic, window, door, and duct insulation, low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators, solar panel leasing, air filters, energy-efficient light bulbs, and lighting motion sensors, all of which can help you save energy and will pay for themselves in the relatively short term. Upfront costs range anywhere from free to $1,000, and the time before breaking even ranges from immediate to about seven years.

Of course, numerous variables go into the author’s estimates, many of which he explains, so you’ll have to consider each topic with your specific circumstances in mind if you want a reasonable idea of savings and payback time. In some cases, calculations were made using automated tools that allow for customizable parameters. In case you want to do some calculations specifically tailored to your own situation, I tracked down some of the tools the author used. Here they are:

• For Programmable Thermostats
• For Compact Flourescent Light Bulbs (CFL Bulbs)
• For Drain-water heat-recovery systems

In finding those, I also came across this awesome EnergyStar website, which provides a whole list of similar calculators for all kinds of residential and commercial appliances, fixtures, gadgets, etc. Super helpful for anyone exploring the financial implications of making some environmentally (and potentially economically) conscious home improvements.

One thing that really surprised me during this process was how insignificant the differences in temperature in my house were when I had the thermostat off, even at night when it dipped into the low 30s outside. When my thermostat is on, the temperature of my house is maintained at 73 degrees, but when I turned my thermostat off, I never saw the temperature dip below a still comfortable 70 degrees. Curious, I decided what I would be doing in Phase II of Project Get Off the Grid: In addition to continuing the behaviors I developed in Phase I, I am leaving my thermostat off, completely, for the entire billing period.

Thus far, despite temperatures ranging from the 20s to the high 70s in Charlotte during the past few weeks, the temperature of my house has not broken a range of 67 to 75 degrees. When it does get cool, I put on a sweatshirt. When it gets warm, I take it off. I am a genius.

The relatively steady temperature in my house is probably a result of all types of variables that won’t necessarily exist universally, so turning off thermostats may not be practical for everyone. First of all, my house is actually a condo unit in an eight-story building, so it’s insulated on three sides by other units and only one side is exposed to the outdoors. Also, the exposed side faces south with tons of big windows, so I get the benefit of the sun’s warmth (and natural light) for the majority of the day. Lastly, I’ve already got insulating double-paned windows, so I don’t lose warm/cool air to the outdoors as quickly as I would with traditional windows. My house seems to be pretty good at regulating its own temperature during the winter, but I’ll be curious to see if it turns into a miserable hell sauna during hot summer days.

Updates to come…

Acqua Liana, a green (LEED certified) luxury mansion designed by Frank McKinney. Price tag: $29 million.

Typically, the bigger a home gets, the more stress it puts on our environment. With increasing size comes increasing energy expenditure, increasing natural resource consumption, increasing land use, increasing waste, etc. Unfortunately, it’s just an inherent result of building big.

With Acqua Liana, however, real estate designer/developer Frank McKinney is challenging this notion. Acqua Liana (here are some good pictures from the Wall Street Journal), or “Water Flower” in Tahitian and Fijian, is an incredible 15,071 square foot mansion that sits on 1.6 acres of oceanfront property near Palm Beach in Manalapan, Florida. Along with its seven bedrooms and eleven bathrooms, the residence has a seemingly endless list of luxurious features, including a glass “water floor” with a Lotus garden motif illuminated below, 2,000 gallon aquarium bar, double helix glass staircase, fitness studio, glass office, two glass elevators, glass wine cellar, movie theater, oversize garage with windows to the pool above, swimmable water gardens, lounge and lap pool, reflecting pools, waterfall spa with fireplace, floating sun terrace, water palapa, two-bedroom two-bath guesthouse partially submerged in a lagoon, yacht dockage… And the list goes on, trust me…

Acqua Liana's spiral staircase and glass "water floor".

Despite all this opulence, one of the Acqua Liana’s greatest qualities is the fact that it is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. It utilizes solar panel arrays that generate enough energy to run two average-sized homes, energy-efficient appliances and air-conditioning, insulating materials and design, environmentally-conscious lighting that reduces energy needs by 70%, and a roof design that collects enough runoff water to fill an average swimming pool every 14 days. The property, so they claim, has enough pools, reflecting ponds, water gardens, misters, and waterfalls to drop the site temperature by 2-3 degrees, thus reducing cooling demands. Just so you know it’s all working, there is also an “automated bio-feedback system will display its energy efficiency in real time” (I’d be lying if I told you I know exactly what that means).

That’s not all. The home is constructed of enough reclaimed and renewable wood to save over 10.5 acres of rain forest. During construction, over 340,000 pounds of debris and trash was recycled, and over 85% of all debris was diverted and will never reach a landfill. Yes, believe it or not, this is a truly green home.

If you can look past the unintentionally amusing absurdity of McKinney’s over-embellished bio, and the Fabio meets rockstar meets David Blaine persona, you’d have to admit that Acqua Liana is absolutely freaking awesome. Its price tag, though, is equally as extravagant, a cool $29 million, so start saving.

Sure, Acqua Liana is completely over the top and financially impractical, and it’s not going to be the type of building that’s going to establish green development as the functionally, as well as economically, superior alternative to traditional development. However, it’s beautiful, at the cutting edge of green technology, and ridiculously cool, and it’s also getting loads of media attention, from real estate ads, to green building publications, to blogs (even from WSJ), etc. So, although it won’t be bringing economical green housing options to the masses or proving to skeptics that green is the way to go, maybe it’ll bring attention to the concept, bring it even farther into the mainstream. Let’s hope so.

In the meantime, if anyone is feeling particularly charitable, I’m trying to save up a few bucks…around 29 million…

Here’s a quick summary of the plan for those who haven’t read earlier posts about Project Get Off the Grid. Since I live alone in a relatively small, one bedroom condo unit and I’m not there very often because of work and travel, my home energy needs are already small, roughly, according to my monthly Duke Energy bills, $44 or 520 KWH per month. Although that’s already way below the average for a one-person home, I still wanted to see what kind of impact I could have on my energy use by changing some everyday habits.

In Phase I of Project Get Off the Grid, I resolved to do the following things:

• Turn off any lights that didn’t have to be on
• Use natural light whenever possible
• Unplug my cell phone, blackberry, and laptop unless they were charging (this means I never had a fully charged device plugged in)
• I should also mention I turned off my thermostat during the last week or so, because we had some unseasonably warm weather

Simple as that. I wasn’t perfect all the time, but overall I think I did a pretty good job. More importantly, I developed some great habits. So, with no further delay, here are the results:

Basically, just by being more disciplined about turning off lights and, occasionally, my thermostat, and eliminating “phantom” charges associated with some of my portable devices, my electricity use and monthly bill went down by 18.8% and 7.7%, respectively, versus last year (I guess Duke Energy snuck in some price increases). My new habits saved me about $0.12 per day or, if I continued them for the next eleven months, $43.80 per year.

To some, $44 over the course of a year may seem somewhat inconsequential, but consider how it would impact someone with a larger electricity bill. If someone’s monthly bill were, for example, a more normal $100, saving 7.7% would represent cumulative annual savings of $92.40. Not too bad.

Plus, in terms of actual energy use, I was 18.8% more efficient, which I’m pretty pumped about, because that’s the true measure of how I’m affecting our environment. The savings are just icing on the cake.

There’s simply no reason why any person, Average Joe or not, shouldn’t be developing the same habits I did over the course of the last month or two. It required virtually no effort and didn’t cost me a cent. In fact, it saved me almost $5, a number I expect will grow tremendously as long as I maintain these new habits. To top it all off, I’m helping the environment. And that’s just Phase I. In Phase II, which I’ll introduce shortly, I’ll be incorporating other energy saving techniques to reduce my dependence on the Grid even further.

I just got the March 2009 issue of National Geographic in the mail.

Side note: Yes, I know we’re supposed to be cutting down on our magazine and catalogue subscriptions, which I’m working on and will discuss in a later post, but National Geographic is one of the few subscriptions that I will be keeping (and that I actually actively subscribe to – the rest just started getting sent to my house after distributors somehow managed to get my home address). It’s simply too superb a publication to give up.

Back to what I was saying… Coincidentally, the March 2009 cover story, “Saving Energy: It Starts at Home”, featuring a couple that attempts to reduce their energy use and carbon footprint, discusses the various ways people can live a more energy-efficient lifestyle. It also divulges all kinds of great facts about energy use in our daily lives and its broader implications. Perfect timing, considering, along with the issue of National Geographic, I also received my latest Duke Energy bill, which will reveal the results of Phase I of Project Get Off the Grid (a very exciting mail day). Anyway, I highly recommend reading the article (and the whole magazine, for that matter). The website actually has some cool extra features, including this one about the carbon footprint of various household appliances and what you can do about it.

Ultimately, the couple featured in the article was able to slash their electricity use by 70% and natural gas use by 40%. Granted, they started out approximately 30% above the national average for a two-person home, but very impressive nonetheless.