National Teacher Enhancement Project

Middle School Home Energy Audit

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS


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 Energy/power  Meter Reading
 Utility Bill Reading  Appliances
 Lighting  Energy Efficiency
 Energy Audits  Ask An Expert

 


Energy/power:

What are the ten major sources of energy?

Petroleum, Natural gas, Coal, Uranium, Propane, Hydropower, Biomass, Geothermal, Solar and Wind

 

What are the top coal producing states?

Wyoming, Texas, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia

 

What are the types of power plants in the United States?

Fossil fuel, nuclear, and hydropower

 

What are the top natural gas producing states?

Wyoming, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana

 

What consumes the most energy in your home?

Heating and cooling consumes half of the average home's energy consumption.

 

What is an electrical grid?

The electricity generated in different areas of the United Stated are placed onto a series of wires that connect to each other. Electricity maybe produced in Washington state but will be consumed by a home owner in Los Angeles, California. The electricity was sent through the grid. The California electric company would have purchased the electricity from the Washington state company and the delivery of energy came through the grid. A customer does not receive only the Washington state power but would be using energy from a pool(several suppliers).

  

What are "fossil fuels" and why are they called that?

The most common fossil fuels are coal, oil (also called petroleum) and natural gas. Some other fuels, like oil shale and peat (a very young form of coal), also are part of the fossil fuel family. These fuels were formed millions of years ago from plants and animals that died and decomposed beneath tons of soil and rock. At the same time (and for millions of years afterward), ancient plants and animals left their outlines in mud which later dried and solidified into rocks. These outlines, along with hardened bone fragments from the prehistoric animals, are called "fossils."

 

Why did some decaying material become coal while other ancient material became oil and natural gas?


Coal was formed from plant debris while natural gas and oil were formed from tiny organisms that settled to the bottom of ancient seas and rivers. Differences in temperatures and pressures, along with the amount of time the organisms decayed underground, typically determined whether oil or natural gas was formed. Generally, where the underground temperature was hotter or the pressures were the greatest, natural gas formed.

 

How much buried plant matter did it take to make coal?

It took 10 feet of dead plant material to make 1 foot of coal.

 

What keeps oil and natural gas from escaping to the surface of the Earth?

Oil and natural gas are often found under rock formations called "caprock" that are dense enough to trap the oil and gas and keep it from seeping to the surface. Some oil and natural gas have been found at the surface of the Earth. Marco Polo, an Italian explorer, wrote of seepages of oil in the Caspian Sea region. The "eternal fires" reported by Plutarich, a Greek historian, in the area of present day Iraq probably were natural gas seepages that had been ignited by lightning.

 

Why do we need to use fossil fuels for energy?

For two reasons, primarily:

First, the United States has enough fossil fuels - especially coal and natural gas - to provide energy for decades and possibly, for centuries. At the rate we currently use coal, for example, this country has enough to last for more than 250 years. There is enough natural gas to last until well after the year 2060, possibly enough to last for a hundred years or more. There is even a lot of oil left in the ground, even though the United States produces only half of the oil it uses.

Second, the cost of these fuels is lower than most other energy sources. The cost of energy is a big part of the cost of making many of the products we use every day. Keeping energy costs low is a way to keep other things affordable.

 

How much of our energy comes from fossil fuels?

More than 85 percent of the energy used by the United States comes from fossil fuels. Oil supplies about 40 percent of our energy; natural gas provides about 25 percent, while coal provides about 20 percent.

 

What do we use fossil fuels for?

Fossil fuels touch every moment of our lives - when we wake up or sleep, when we eat, when we use our eyes to see, when we play or work, or when we are ill. For example, oil not only can be refined into fuels, such as gasoline, to power engines, it can also be processed into petrochemicals from which plastics, medicines, paints, etc. can be made. The plastic used to make the alarm clocks that wakes us up can come from petrochemicals (chemicals made from "petroleum," another name from oil). The farmer who raises our food depends on fossil fuels like oil and natural gas to make fertilizers (recently, one company has begun making fertilizer from coal). When we read, our eyeglass frames or lenses may be of plastic made from oil. When we listen to a CD player or telephone we are using equipment made from oil and natural gas. The synthetic fibers that are used to make fabrics for our clothes are produced from fossil fuels. Photographic film for our cameras is also make from petroleum as are many medicines.

Even our schools were built using fossil fuels. Coal, for example, may have provided the heat for the ovens that were used to make bricks. Petroleum was probably used for tarring and waterproofing the roof. The heat in our homes or schools may come from natural gas, as does the fuel used for cooking on stoves and in ovens.

Coal is used primarily as a fuel in electric power plants. In fact, more than half of the electricity generated in the United States comes from plants that burn coal. Coal is also used to make a substance called "coke" that is used in making steel and other metals.

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Meter Reading

Can electric meters or supply be changed so the readings will be less than the actual readings?

There are ways to change the meter readings and supply to have lower readings. As a customer of the utility company, any past dollar amounts can be collected when the readings are corrected. It is not a good idea to be changing the supply(wires, etc) due to a probable accident happening. Only a professionally trained person should work with large power supplies.

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Utility Bill Reading

Why do similar size homes have different electric bills?

Conditions that are beyond the consumers control that may effect the monthly costs are: season of the year, weather extremes, daylight savings, number of days in the billing cycle, number of days between meter readings.

Conditions that may be controllable: Life style, age and condition of appliances, vacations, holidays, visitors and appliance/lights usage.

 

What are some factors that might cause higher utility costs?

Pass through costs by the utility provider, decisions made by the Public Utility Commission, contract costs on purchasing electricity off the grid may have an effect on higher costs. In some geographical areas, the consumer may wish to pay additional money for alternate electrical generation (areas with wind that could have generators connected to the grid).

 

Doesn't electricity cost the same day or night?

No. Although consumers traditionally have paid a flat retail price for electricity, the wholesale price utilities pay for that energy varies from hour to hour. Electricity usually costs much more during the times of day when overall public demand for power is high.

Why do power costs fluctuate so much?

It's basically supply and demand. In today's energy marketplace, wholesale electricity is a commodity that's bought and sold much like soybeans or crude oil. When consumers use a lot of electricity - typically when we start our day and around dinnertime - the market cost of electricity is much higher. But at night, on weekends, and on holidays - when overall demand for power goes down - real bargains are available.

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Appliances

Are there appliances that are more energy efficient than others?

Appliances under the "Energy Star" are developed to be more energy efficient. These appliances may cost more to purchase but the return on energy costs(increases) does save money. The more efficient with higher energy cost speeds up the rate of return.

When should appliances be replaced based on energy efficiency?

Replacing appliances are a personal choice. Costs for energy combined with the age of the appliance may help the decision. Most large appliances have a 10-15 year life span. Technology advances may cost more in new appliances but the savings on energy usage will offset the purchase price. Be an educated consumer in making appliance purchases on initial cost and energy consumption.

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Lighting

How does an incandescent bulb work?

This types of bulb only converts 10% of the electricity they use to produce light, the remaining 90% is converted into heat.

 

Do Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL's) really save money?

Use the table below to compare for yourself.

 

 Incandescent

Compact Fluorescent Lights
 Life expectancy 750 hours 10,000 hours
 Number of bulbs/10,000 hrs 13.33 bulbs 1 bulb
 X Cost per bulb $1 $20
 = Cost of product $13.33 $20
     
 Total hours 10,000 hours 10,000 hours
 X Wattage 100 watts 28 watts
 /Wh to kWh conversion 1,000 Wh/kWh 1,000 Wh/kWh
 = Total kWh consumption 1,000 kWh 280 kWh
 X Average cost per kWh $0.08 $0.08
 = Cost of operation $80.00 $22.40

 Life Cycle Cost 

(Product + Operation)

$93.33 $42.40

 

Why are CFL's lights not used by more people?

Most consumers will purchase that they are used to buying. Energy issues are difficult to solve because a consumer needs to be educated on these different issues. Life style and choices of how to spend dollars at the store determines consumer decisions.

 

What person is famous for developing the incandescent light bulb?

Thomas Alva Edison is best known for his work on the incandescent light bulb.

Besides inventing the incandescent light bulb are there other inventions developed by Edison?

At one time, the Edison group(think tank) held over 2000 patents for items developed under Edison's guidance. Several well known Edison invented devices: Telegraph, movie projector, phonograph player(which now looks like a CD player).

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Energy Efficiency

How efficient is our body in using energy?

Our body is less than 5% efficient converting food into useful work.

Is energy conserved?

No, energy is neither created or destroyed. Energy is changed from one form to another. Example: Chemical(gasoline) to Mechanical(car) and heat being lost in the process of change.

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Energy Audits

Do businesses do energy audits?

Most businesses do energy audits to provide comfort for their employees as well as to provide an economical service or product to the customer. Some companies charge additional money for energy, for items such as shipping, heating or cooling.

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Created for the NTEP II Fermilab LInC program sponsored by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Education Office and Friends of Fermilab, and funded by United States Department of Energy, Illinois State Board of Education, North Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium which is operated by North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL), and the National Science Foundation.

 

Authors: Sue Emmons, Powell Middle School, Littleton, CO; Kevin Lindauer, John F. Kennedy High School, Denver, CO; Linda Lung, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO; John Sepich, Scott Carpenter Middle School, Westminster, CO; ; Janet Stellema, Monarch K-8, Louisville, CO.
Created: September 9, 1998 - Updated: October 17, 2001.
URL: /ntep/f98/projects/