Letters to Our Children
"We do not inherit this land from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children." --Haida Indian saying
Nebraska Interfaith Power and Light is official! We're on Google! There are two entries, one is our mention in last Saturday's article in the Omaha World-Herald titled, "Earth's Guardian Angels." The piece highlighted efforts in Omaha's faith community to address the issues of global warming at the personal level. The Nebraska Interfaith Power and Light enjoyed a brief note of introduction in a sidebar on page 2 of the article, featuring our contact information and a brief statement of our mission.
The second entry on Google is our website. It's a simple format. Our Home Page will feature a Sunday column titled, "Letters to Our Children" that redirects our hearts and minds on being part of the personal solution to global warming. Our Resources Page is going to be the link that is most in flux, growing as we add links to Best Practices, Best Websites, Best Companies, Best Programs, Best Books, to bring you of the Nebraska Interfaith Power and Light into the larger community of people who, like us, are making the personal lifestyle changes that ensures for our children and our children's children the same clean air, the same clean water, the same clean created Earth that we know. This is stewardship, taking personal responsiblity for God's creation.
There is a thirst for good, factual information. I am still making inquiries about the best website to compare what the various energy plans out there will cost/already cost the American taxpayer. Our tax dollars subsidize many energy programs now, and we will be called to make a public investment in future clean energy but I hear people saying, "but we don't have enough information to make the right choice." Subsidizing private endeavors, such as ethanol production, oil and gas exploration or nuclear power plants with public tax dollars has a proven history of helping those industries grow. So, if we can find the information, it's worth our time to see which future clean energy generation carries with it the most long-term bang for the tax buck.
As well, I am still finding websites that allow small business owners and residential owners to estimate the cost of making their home or business more energy conserving or efficient. It's called a building retrofit, and it is where much of our early tax dollars should, and will, be spent. My own personal story is illustrative of why energy conservation and efficiencies are the first building blocks to the clean energy future:
In 2005, I called a solar installer in Lincoln and said, John, I want you to give me an estimate of what it would cost me to go solar. He asked me whether my home was already energy efficient. I said, what does that mean? Well, he said, Anne, this isn't how we go about estimating the cost of solar because if you add solar installations to your home at your current rate of energy use, you're paying for energy wasted. I was intrigued. John told me that the way you start adding solar or wind or geothermal (renewable energy) to your home is to first make the home or business energy tight. Replace all your windows with thermal windows, blow insulation, R-49 for Nebraska, into your attic and insulate your walls. Add ceiling fans, a new energy-efficient furnace and programmable thermostat. Seal up the leaks around your doors and foundation. If you are really feeling flush, get rid of your energy hog refrigerator for one approved by EnergyStar.
Long story short: I called the Nebraska Energy Office, now the Nebraska Department of Energy, and got a low-interest energy loan for $20,000 that I pay back over a ten-year period at 5% interest ($207/month) and now I'm ready to start to build renewable energy onto my home, a system that is no longer priced to pay for energy wasted! The folks at the Nebraska Energy Office are professionals and there to help you through the simple application process. As well, many of our installers know how to help you with the application process, so it is fairly painless administratively speaking. Nebraska banks also have a variety of home improvement loans but the interest rates run roughly between 5-9 percent, depending on the loan terms.
One area in which the Nebraska Interfaith Power and Light might choose to be active in the next legislative session is helping Governor Heineman figure out how to bolster the funds that provide the foundation for the 5% interest conservation loans to help Nebraskans pay for retrofitting the buildings in which they work and live. Remember: Buildings--that includes churches, synogogues, temples, mosques, house of workship--account for 40 percent of the energy lost in America.
Since we are the owners of public power in Nebraska, we can also call our power companies, such as Lincoln Electric System, Omaha Public Power District and Nebraska Public Power District, the Nebraska Rural Electric Districts and Cooperatives and ask them to invest our money into energy conservation and energy efficiency programs that can help us keep reliable, lowest cost power.
Energy saved, not used, is energy generated.
God, hear our prayer.