Home Fire #5 - Clean Feeling

Home Fire

Clean Feeling

Imagine, if you will, a hot shower: the initial sensation of release and relaxation; the way the water and heat combine to soothe knotted muscles and open the passages through which breath travels. In the end, the body emerges not just clean but cleansed, renewed. Ready. Showering is a ritual, in act and meaning. For many, showering is the only respite we have most days, our only time alone with our thoughts.

Since the earliest known civilizations bathing has been understood as sacred. The role of water as a means of purification and rebirth stretches through tribal and world religions to encircle the planet. From the bathing rooms of the Indus valley cities some 5000 years ago, to the baptisms of the ancient Egyptian cults and earliest Christians, to the requisite cleansing of the face, head, hands, and feet before entering a mosque, water has grounded us in our physicality while allowing us to simultaneously transcend it.

Doug Hickey, Doug Miller, and Rich carry a panel on the roof.

“Hot”

Unfortunately, there are two problems with this wonderful, seemingly simple, part of the day. One is the “hot” part and the other is the “water” part. This writing will deal with “hot”; “water” will have to wait for another time.

To state the “hot” problem explicitly: our water heater relied on natural gas. The practice of exploring for, digging up, processing, and transporting natural gas is comparable to that of oil. The necessary infrastructure for natural gas causes almost all the same detriments to the environment as those caused by the oil industry. Natural gas also creates carbon dioxide when burned, and it has the added element of being explosive. Right now most of our natural gas comes from locations within the U.S. and Canada. While we import only 15% of what we use from Canada, that 15% represents half of their annual production, which they are increasingly in need of for themselves. It will not be long until we have to import natural gas from less friendly nations—the same nations who have the oil fields above which natural gas is often found.

Also like all other fossil fuels, natural gas is finite. While no one can say for certain when production of natural gas will peak (when we will have used half of the supply), 2030 is the working estimate. It’s easy to see that the more we rely on it, the sooner we run out. As with all peak fossil fuel events, the downside of the slope promises to be much steeper than the upside. That is to say, the second half of the supply will go much faster than the first half as demand continues to increase while supplies decrease.

If we had an electric water heater to begin with, it would have been the same story with different details, since our electricity comes from burning coal.

On the roof, Doug Miller, Doug Hickey, Mike Smith, and Steve Wilhelm wonder what they got themselves into.

Wealth from the Sky

If there’s one thing we have in abundance in Arizona it is sunlight. It was easy to decide we wanted to switch to solar heated water. The hard parts were (1) not going into debt to do so and (2) finding time to do the work. Granted, people usually pay professionals to do this second part. But we pride ourselves on being DIYers, or at least I have since harnessing Rich’s enormous set of skills to use toward my own ends. Luckily for our marriage, we usually aim for the same ends.

I’d like to be able to say that the funds for the project came from good planning and frugal living, but really they came from an unexpectedly large tax return. After a fix to the W-4, we began research using the Internet and the Real Goods Solar Living Sourcebook. After determining the type and size of the system we needed, we discovered we would have to use an 80+ gallon water tank to support it. Day to day, this enormous reservoir of hot water has been a most welcome perk; we can simultaneously run the dishwasher, clothes washer, and take showers without coming close to running out of hot water. Plus, we received a $300 rebate from the electric company for switching to an electric water heater.

Wealth from the Man

Speaking of rebates, come next tax season the state of Arizona will reimburse us 25% of the cost of the solar preheat system, with a $1000 cap, and the federal government will give us 30% of what’s left after that, with a $2000 cap. Between the two incentive programs, we will get back 44% of the initial cost of the system. After that it will take somewhere between 5 and 8 years, depending on how much hot water we use, for the monthly savings on our gas bill to equal what’s left of what we paid for the contraption. As far as conservation devices go, that is a super quick turn around time. Photovoltaic systems, like the one we hope to install eventually, can take two decades to pay for themselves. (For information on incentives for renewable energy, see www.dsireusa.org.)

Upkeep on the system promises to be minimal: just a bit more vigilance and maintenance than what is required for a plain old water heater. Several of our neighbors have systems, installed as long as 20 years ago, which still work, still saving resources for the future and money for the time being. One benefit of the newer systems is the small photovoltaic panel that provides the electricity to run the pump. The whole thing truly is powered by the sun.

The beautifully installed, perfectly level solar collectors and PV panel.

The Downpour

You know those really well-deserved showers? The ones after hard physical labor or strenuous exercise or long hours in the sun and wind? When the grime just streams off of you and you may actually need to lather, rinse, and repeat? There’s something about those showers that lets you know that whatever it is you just finished doing was really worth it. It’s a welcome finale to time well spent. It is truly gratifying to know, during those few seconds I spend at the beginning and end of those showers just standing there, head tilted back, that the same sunlight that made me so grubby is heating the water that takes it all away.

Home Fire

Resources

Heinberg, Richard. The Party’s Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies.
Gabriola Island, B.C.; New Society Publishers, 2003.

“Natural Gas Demand.” http://www.naturalgas.org/business/demand.asp

Real Goods Solar Living Sourcebook: The Complete Guide to
Renewable Energy Technologies & Sustainable Living.
12 ed. John Schaeffer Ed. New Society, 2005.

The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream.
Dir. Gregory Greene. The Electric Wallpaper, 2004.

Amy Vaughn