Ok, We took the little steps towards some “GREEN” for Amador County Real Estate in the last post. Now we can look at some bigger steps. These certainly will not be for everyone, but information can only help, so don’t feel bad if these opportunities are a bit out of reach, just do what you can and try to think about what you are doing…

The biggies, or” How dark is your green?” But first some background...

In the last post we talked about turning off the stuff you aren’t using and CFL’s now lets talk about making your own energy. In case you didn’t know it, energy generation is a misnomer. You can’t actually “generate” energy. You can only change its form into one that you can more easily utilize. And all of the energy on this planet comes from only three real sources: atomic, kinetic, and solar. So you might say atomic and kinetic, but I think the local atomic (here on earth) and atomic from that big star we see everyday rate their own mention. The kinetic friction is the stuff that gives us geothermal heating and volcanoes, it has some affect on the planet’s temperature but it is a very stable affect in the big picture. We use atomic energy to heat water into steam to run turbines to turn generators to give us electricity. Only a small percent of our energy gets to us this way, it is rather dangerous in many people’s eyes, and the left-overs are going to be a real challenge.

Lets break those three sources down a bit

There is a little bit of tidal power being tested but so far only on small scale. That would be kinetic… The moon draws tides that in one way or another spin generators, or in some cases “pull” generators… don’t ask… How ‘bout hydroelectric? Well that is really solar. The sun evaporates water into clouds that move by wind (we will get to that next) up mountains where they cool and the rain/snow falls out, eventually ending up above a dam or water wheel that turns a generator…
But what about wind? Yep, that is solar too, the reason that wind happens, is changes in temperature of air over different parts of the planet’s surface, the changes in temperature are due to the sun heating some areas more than others. Hot air rises and is less dense than cool air. The changes move air around that in turn can spin blades… you guessed it, that turn generators. And of course there is that sexy Photo-Voltaic, This is a more direct conversion for photons to electrons due to exciting stuff in thin panels of layered silica and assorted metals, (Ok, it is magic) By the way Gas, diesel, oil, coal, wood, bio diesel, alcohol, are all solar, just stored in other forms.

I could go on… but I bet you see where I’m going. But how does this fit in to Real estate?

I’m glad you asked…

If you play your cards just right you can take advantage of at least one of the three energy sources we have, in and around your own home. We ought to leave that tricky atomic stuff out. It is rather dangerous. And Geothermal heating is also rather large scale for all but the very luckiest of us, unlike geothermal cooling witch is different. But you can reasonably think about solar in its different forms.

Most of us think of big black panels up on roofs when we hear solar and that is because that is the most popular alternative power system for individual homes these days at least here in the USA. Those panels are Photo-Voltaic (Light-Electricity).

You also see Solar-Thermal (that is sunlight to heat) often on residential roofs. Solar-Thermal is a great way to cut heating bills, these systems coupled with on demand water heaters, and radiant floors or even pool heaters, all make great sense. But we really think most about PV. These days, systems are being sponsored by government at all levels, from Federal down to City. Programs abound, and many of us can actually finance these systems to the point that the monthly savings on electric bills can counter the monthly cost or the systems. Break-even dates are ever closing with the cost of systems dropping and the cost of electricity on the rise. These days it is common to see systems pay for themselves in five to seven years. That is about the historic amount of time between average house re-sales here in California. Now remember that these systems often have 25 year warranties and tests show very little degradation even at the 50 year mark. So if they pay off in five years, that means FREE POWER for the next twenty years minimum.

Look at your last bill, what could you get with that much cash each month? Installing a PV solar system could easily get you that savings in a few short years.

Don’t forget how that cost savings could affect the ability of more buyers to purchase a given house… If the system saves $100.00 per month that means around $16,000 more house (assuming 6%, 30 year fixed) The ability to convince appraisers and banks of this simple math is growing but the average buyer can understand it already.

Programs to bundle improvements like this into purchase loans have been in the market for decades, but they are really just catching on now.

PV is a great answer for many of us, but it’s not the only answer. Wind is getting more and more popular, It has its problems sound, sight, safety, and vertical space issues, Not to mention the long term /big environmental issues with slowing down the wind ( I will come back to that in some other post), but it is something to think about and if you are lucky enough to have a stream on your property, micro-hydro-electric is a fast growing technology.

Very few of us in the US have the opportunity to plumb into geothermal heat sources, that tech is growing fast in other parts of the world, but it may never get to the point of individual homes being powered that way, but towns or neighborhoods maybe… I will talk more later about geothermal cooling, that is much more available to the average person, although not cheap to ad on, but with the cost of energy going up, I expect to see more and more of this wonderfully sensible technology.

For most of us this stuff in just background, or things to think about. If you would like to talk about ways that these things can help you in you real estate endeavors, feel free to give me a call (209) 257-4590 email me, or click over to Mainstreet Brokers' website. In the next post we can talk about some Building technology to help put some of these things together