Kauai Refrigerator Rebates
Kauai’s Refrigerator Rebate Program offers the perfect time to replace inefficient refrigerators with Energy Star refrigerators. KIUC is offering a $250 rebate for the first 360 participants who opt to replace their existing refrigerator with a new Energy Star model purchased between May 24 and June 23. The goal is to reduce electric energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, and dependence on fossil fuels, helping to accelerate the state’s Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative goal of 70 percent clean energy by 2030, while also stimulating Hawaii’s economy.
On Kauai, where refrigerators account for a large portion of your utility bill, a new Energy Star refrigerator will use fifty percent less energy than one made just ten years ago, and end up saving you around $75 per year. Rebates are available to residential consumers who do the following three steps:
- Purchase a new, qualified refrigerator model at Home Depot, Kapa‘a Electric & Appliance, or Sears during the rebate period.
- Replace an old refrigerator and haul away the old appliance arranged through the retailer.
- Submit the required rebate application materials immediately, postmarked no later than July 31, 2010.
This state-wide program will help eliminate approximately seven million pounds of carbon emissions from entering Hawaii’s atmosphere and more than 100,000 barrels of oil from being used, over the life of the refrigerators rebated under this program. The program will start on May 24, 2010 and will continue through June 23 or as long as the rebate funds last.
Energy Conservation On The Road
Transportation accounts for more than 60% of the energy consumed in Hawai‘i. While air transportation uses the largest portion (nearly 40%), trucks, buses, and cars consume roughly 20%. According to the Hawai‘i Department of Transportation, the number of registered vehicles on O‘ahu alone has almost doubled in the past 20 years. So taking steps to use fuel more efficiently on the road is a great way to help shrink Hawaii’s carbon footprint, and stay green.
- Walk or bike when you aren’t in a hurry or have shorter distances to travel.
- Carpool, vanpool, or take the bus whenever you can.
- Keep your car or truck tuned up to maximize fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.
- Make sure your tires are properly inflated, which can reduce your emissions by as much as 3%.
- Trade your gas guzzler for a fuel-efficient car, a hybrid, a flexible fuel vehicle, or a clean diesel vehicle (which would allow you to use bio-diesel).
- Buy a motorcycle or moped.
- Driving calmly and sensibly can improve your gas mileage by 33% at highway speeds and by 5% around town.
- Shed some weight. Leave your toys out of the car, because an extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your mileage by up to 2%.
- Avoid idling. Idling gets zero miles per gallon. The bigger your engine, the more gas you waste when idling.
- Go A/C free. Using air-conditioning dramatically reduces your mileage, especially in stop-and-go city traffic.
Energy Conservation at Work
Nearly 40% of the energy consumed in Hawaii is used to power buildings, so conserving energy at work is a great way to reduce our energy needs. Each year in the United States buildings use $200 billion worth of electricity and natural gas. If the energy efficiency of U.S. buildings improved by 10%, Americans would save about $20 billion and reduce greenhouse gases equal to the emissions from about 30 million vehicles. Here are some ways you can reduce the environmental impact where you work.
- Cut back on air-conditioning, by taking advantage of the cross-breezes of the trade winds to cool your building.
- Close windows and doors when the air-conditioner is on.
- Install weather stripping to fix leaks that allow cool air to escape.
- Have the air-conditioning system checked regularly to be sure it is running at optimal efficiency.
- Set the thermostat to the warmest comfortable setting.
- Use natural or energy-efficient lighting and eliminate unnecessary lighting.
- Install energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), which typically use 75% less energy, and last 10 times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs.
- Turn off lights in unoccupied offices, conference rooms, break rooms, and bathrooms.
- Using timers or occupancy sensors in restrooms and conference rooms also reduces the time lights are on in little-used places. The Navy has installed sensors at Pearl Harbor which are expected to save $90,000 annually.
- Use the power management and automatic sleep features of computers. Screen savers do not reduce a monitor’s energy use.
- Battery chargers for mobile phones, PDAs, and other digital devices draw electricity when they’re not in use. Eliminate phantom loads by unplugging them when your digital devices aren’t charging.
- Turn off and unplug coffee makers, microwaves, and toaster ovens when not in use. Use a smart power strip to cut power when it’s not needed.
- Look for the Energy Star logo when replacing desktop computers, laptops, printers, fax machines, copiers, scanners, lighting, air-conditioners, and telephones.
- Also, commit to buying recycled paper products, which require 70% to 90% less energy to make.
Kauai Solar Energy
It takes about four hundred million years to produce fossil fuels, but it only takes eight minutes for sunlight to reach Kauai from the sun.
Solar hot water heating is the most cost effective means of tapping into the sun. This is the first solar technology that homeowners should employ, since it can cut your electricity bill by up to 40%. Solar water heating systems consist of a solar collector, a circulation system (pump), and an insulated water tank. The water is simply circulated through the collector where it is heated up by the sun, then stored for use. The solar water heater system uses 90% less electricity than a conventional electrical water heater. On average, an electrical water heater uses 240 kWh per month while the solar water heater uses only 24 kWh. The cost of an average system is around $6500. But, after the Hawai‘i Energy rebate of $1000, a State Tax Credit (35%) of $1925, and a Federal Tax Credit (25%) of $1650 your solar water heater system will cost around $2000, with a payback period of 2 – 4 years.
The number of Hawai‘i residents with photovoltaic (PV) on their rooftops is growing rapidly. PV converts the sun’s energy into useable electricity through panels using silicon wafers as the semiconducting material, which produce direct current that is fed into an inverter that converts the energy into household AC electricity. Most systems in Hawai‘i are grid-tied PV systems which do not have any storage capacity, instead using the electricity grid as “storage” through net energy metering. Some systems do have backup or storage capacity that provide a few days of juice if there is a blackout or the sun isn’t shining. Systems range from smaller 1 kW systems to large 6 kW systems – enough to cover an entire home’s energy needs. Depending on the system size, PV systems can cost between $5000 and $40,000 after tax credits and rebates, with a payback period of 5 – 15 years.
Kauai Efficient Appliances
Appliances account for about 35% of your total electricity bill on Kauai, but you can reduce the amount of power they use by upgrading to new, energy efficient Energy Star models. Some of the new appliances work better, look better, and have more features yet consume half of the electricity of an older model. Switching from a 1990 refrigerator to a 2010 Energy Star model could save you about $200 per year. Or maybe you no longer need that old second refrigerator? The old beast probably costs you a fortune, particularly if you have it out in the hot carport or garage. In fact, upgrading your primary refrigerator to a larger, Energy Star refrigerator will be a savings over two smaller inefficient refrigerators.
When buying a new appliance, consider the energy efficiency of the item along with the sale price. This is like looking at the miles per gallon when buying a new car. The decision you make today will affect your electricity bill for years to come. The cost of energy efficient appliances is typically higher than standard models, but the money saved over time will more than cover the initial cost. To sweeten the deal, local energy companies often provide cash rebates for qualifying energy efficient appliances, including ceiling fans, clothes washers, dish washers, refrigerators, and room air conditioners.
Energy Star appliances are about 25% more efficient than average appliances. Read the Energy Guide labels to compare estimated annual operating costs between comparable models in order to select the most efficient appliance for your money. The Energy Guide labels are required on water heaters, refrigerators, freezers, clothes washers, dishwashers, and room air conditioners, and is only awarded to appliances that significantly exceed the minimum national standards.
Kauai Efficient Cooling
There are many ways to cool down your Kauai home without AC to save you energy and money. With all the bright sunshine we get in Hawaii, cooling your home can be a energy hogging task if you use air conditioning.
Under the sun, a roof can reach 150 degrees fahrenheit or more (even when it’s only 80 degrees outside) and transfer heat into your living space. Keeping the heat out of your home is essential to making your home energy efficient. Radiant barriers are thin sheets of reflective material installed in the roof, ceiling, or walls that reduce the transfer of heat and can reflect up to 85 percent of the sun’s heat.
Installing attic insulation will absorb heat passing into the home through the roof. Insulation can reduce ceiling temperatures by more than 15 degrees making you more comfortable in your home.
Hot air can get trapped in your attic and keep your house warmer than necessary. A ridge vent located at the highest point of your roof uses the low pressure created by wind traveling across your roof to suck out the hot air. Ridge vents should be combined with an eave vent or a soffit vent (located at the lowest part of your roof) so that fresh air can be let into the attic to replace the hot air.
Solar-powered attic fans use clean, free energy from the sun to draw out the hot air and reduce attic temperature by as much as 40 degrees.
The easiest way for direct hot daylight to enter your house is through your windows. The best strategy to cool your home is shading. You can try overhangs, awnings, or trees to shade your windows that face the sun during the day. Inside drapes, blinds, or tinting can also help block out the sun’s rays.
Trade winds blow about 90% of the time in summer and about 50% of the time in the winter, so by opening the windows you can harness that energy and let your home cool using natural resources. The further apart the open windows are (opposite corners of the house) the more efficient the wind will be in cooling your home.
Ceiling fans can also create a gentle breeze that can take over comfort duties when the wind quits. Using an Energy Star ceiling fan instead of a typical room air conditioner can save about $446 per year.
