This was a blog I wrote for Reno Friends Meeting (https://www.renofriends.org/) for the month of October.
“Every morning I awake torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it. This makes it hard to plan the day. But if we forget to savor the world, what possible reason do we have for saving it? In a way, the savoring must come first.” E. B. White
I can’t recall when my mission to save the world and others began or how I became overly responsible. It’s been such a part of me for so long I didn’t realize what a toll it was taking until I got older. This cloak of over-responsibility is heavy. It slows my steps, saps my life energy and joy. It keeps me so busy; I don’t have time to slow down, rest and savor life.
I suspect I’m not the only Friend who struggles with this. For those of you who think you might be overly responsible too, here’s a good read on the topic:
I’ve been working on shedding my cloak of over-responsibility for some time now. I’m getting better at recognizing when I’m taking on something beyond my Light, overstepping my bounds, taking responsibility for another or something totally out of my control. I feel a heaviness on my shoulders and in my heart. I get tense, pushy, judgmental.
As the above, article points out, responsibilities are a normal part of adult life and being responsible is not the problem. Normal responsibilities include doing our jobs well, being there for our loved ones, taking care of our homes and yards, paying our bills, etc. Over-responsibilities are when we take on what isn’t ours to do like fixing others’ feelings or mistakes, trying to keep peace between people who enjoy conflict and drama, taking on other’s work or more than our fair share of a project, etc. We can get so caught up working on an endless To Do List, that we don’t take time to slow down, enjoy life and rest.
These days, I’m learning to slow down and savor life, to take time for rest and reflection. I’m experimenting with doing this while I’m working on a task. For example, I’ll take a break from weeding to commune with the plants I’m tending, to ask what they need from me, to thank them for their gifts and enjoy their beauty. When I take breaks like this, I have more stamina and fewer injuries, along with more joy. How I do my works is changing and it’s still getting done. I always thought I had to be a rigid taskmaster to get everything done. Now I don’t worry when I don’t get to everything on the list. It’ll be there for me tomorrow. I use the Simplicity testimony and ask myself if I’m taking on things beyond my Light and over-complicating my day. Am I walking with Spirit and listening to what is truly needed today?
My cloak of over-responsibility still hangs in my inner closet, and occasionally I deliberately put it on and tackle a challenge I feel led to accept. I then look for ways to engage others in a worthy cause, so we can share the load. Sometimes that doesn’t work, and I must lay it down. I’m getting better at recognizing and accepting that before I’m completely fried. Sometimes the cloak ends up on my shoulders and I don’t know how it got there! Old patterns take a long time to change. It’s good to remember that and be gentle with ourselves. It seems to me the best thing we can do is be in the moment and respond with love to what Life brings us. Can we trust that is enough?
Queries:
How do I live a compassionate life and be a good steward without becoming obsessive, moralistic, judgmental, and pushy about my yearning to save or improve?
What is the next right thing to do that is loving towards myself, others and the Whole?
What can I let go of that isn’t mine to do, carry, think about?
Am I taking time to care for myself and tend my own Light? To savor Life?
This is a blog I wrote for Reno Friends that I wanted to share about the practice of “detached compassion”.
What does that mean? Doesn’t being compassionate involve
passionate caring about others? I began exploring this concept while I was in
the throes of burnout. After years as a counselor, I wasn’t sure I could go on caring
so much for others and neglecting myself. I was suffering from compassion
fatigue, which is a common problem in helping professions.
I studied professional literature which recommended taking
time for self-care and setting better boundaries. But often I would prioritize
the suffering of clients and friends over my own needs. I didn’t feel right
about doing something good for myself or enjoying life while others were
suffering. It seemed selfish and I wasn’t supposed to be selfish.
I started seeing a therapist who encouraged me to be
“self-full”. “You will be more effective if you give from a full bucket,” she
told me. While this made sense, I still wavered in my resolve, regularly
dropping my own plans to help someone in need.
I read books on gender dynamics and realized that, as a
woman, I was culturally programmed to care for others above myself. Observing
my family, I could clearly see where these messages had come from. This
awareness helped me understand the emotional hooks which triggered my automatic
responses.
I also read several Buddhist books that introduced me to
the idea of detached compassion, which was new to me. Compassion is a central
tenet of Buddhism, but it is not connected to martyrdom. Compassion for all
living beings, including oneself, is a goal of Buddhist practice. So is
detachment, which is not being attached to the passing forms and states of
human existence. In other words, detachment is accepting where we are and what
is happening in each moment as we move through life.
So how does one detach while being compassionate? The basic idea is to detach from the outcome, while allowing our hearts to guide us in compassionate action. This was a liberating concept I’d never considered! I realized I was very attached to the outcome of my helping and giving. I wanted clients to reach their goals, and my professional evaluations focused on this. I wanted friends and family to be happy. I wanted the world to be just and peaceful. I couldn’t rest until those outcomes were achieved, which meant I never rested.
It also meant I often took more responsibility for others
and their choices than was my place. Detached compassion means we let others
make their own choices and deal with their own outcomes, while still caring
deeply about them. We may have to make choices in response, like setting
boundaries and detaching from toxic or abusive relationships. I remind myself
that others have a right to learn as they go, just like me, and while I like to
help, it’s their life. I can be more helpful when I’m centered in myself and
not caught up in their emotions and crises. It’s also helpful to maintain
awareness that all things pass.
In my explorations on the topic of detached compassion, I
have found the writings of the Dalai Lama to be particularly helpful. What I
learned from him is that life is full of suffering, but it is also full of joy.
He has witnessed terrible suffering, especially of his own people when China
invaded Tibet. He lives in exile, and he is full of joy. How is that possible?
He can detach emotionally from suffering while being compassionately present
with an open heart, allowing his words and actions to be guided in each moment.
His intention is to alleviate suffering; however, he is not attached to how or
when this will happen. In this way, he opens space around suffering with his
acceptance, so its hold can be loosened. In this spacious awareness, new
possibilities arise. He also has a great sense of humor and strong faith in
others.
As I absorbed the Buddhist perspectives, the possibility of
being at peace with suffering arose. I learned it was my resistance to the fact
of suffering which was causing my distress and leading to burnout. I began to
practice being with the suffering of myself and others, while keeping my heart
open. That required getting out of my head, which is my favorite place to hang
out! I learned about the dance that happens between heart and head. I
discovered that leading with my heart while letting go of my head’s agenda and
judgments was a more skillful and joyful way to be with others. Then my head
can be in service to my heart instead of the other way around.
I am still working with these lessons every day. I often
forget what I learned and fall back into old patterns. When I catch myself
getting hooked again into outcomes, I take a deep breath and remind myself to
let go, open my heart and simply be with what is in the moment. I am a living
creative process, as is everyone else. I can be deeply compassionate towards
suffering and trust the process. I have learned that suffering often leads to
joy given the spaciousness of acceptance and time.
Our gratitude to Travis and the guys at Great Basin Solar (https://www.greatbasinsolar.com/) for the awesome job they did designing and installing our system, including the 8 new panels we added this year.
Our New Quest to Reduce Our Carbon Footprint
In the summer of 2021 we lived through two months of skies darkened and polluted by wildfire smoke, while we watched the effects of climate change rippling across the world. It was heartbreaking. We can no longer deny that this is happening, nor can we wait for someone else to fix it. Scott and I decided we must decrease our carbon footprint as much and as quickly as we can. We will share our experience here in hopes that we might inspire others to join us in the quest. When all of us do what we can, we create a tidal wave of change! According to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we have a limited time to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions before we reach a point of no return. They are asking us to cut our emissions 50% by 2030.
What we have learned during this journey is that we can drastically reduce our carbon footprint without sacrificing a comfortable, modern lifestyle. There are great technologies out there to help like solar panels, heat pump systems and electric vehicles, which allow us to cut our emissions significantly. It is actually not that difficult to replace old systems with these technologies and it makes such a difference. It’s also easy to install these more efficient systems in newer homes. In Nevada we are lucky to have this amazing sun and a net metering power company that allows us to bank and use our excess solar energy. Did you know that the biggest part of our carbon footprint comes from the energy we use in our homes and vehicles?
Here is the calculation of our Carbon Footprint and how it has changed since we began this journey:
To convert pounds to metric tons, divide by 2000
We were thrilled to see that we have already cut our total footprint by 48%, and we cut our primary footprint by 70%! We were surprised we had already come so far in our quest. Now let’s see how much lower we can go!
Reflections on our Third Year of Going Solar, Greening our Home & Driving the Cars of the Future
This is kind of like trying to eat one potato chip, once you get going you can’t stop! It seems that we are always finding new ways to reduce our carbon footprint. I can’t express how wonderful it feels to see a long-time dream of ours coming true–living in a green home and driving green vehicles. It has helped us both to feel less helpless about climate change and more hopeful about what is possible in our collective future.
I always thought it would be expensive and require a lot of sacrifice to realize this dream. We haven’t had to sacrifice any of our usual modern comforts to make this change. We live in a standard home built in 1999 with extra insulation and efficient windows. It turns out for the cost of a kitchen remodel, you can go solar and green a home like ours. Plus it increases the value of your home so much that it pays for itself almost immediately. This year a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research showed that homes with solar panels sold at a 4% premium. Studies are also showing that homes with solar and other energy-efficient improvements are selling faster and at even higher premiums. Buyers know that they are buying savings when they purchase these upgrades with a home. You get even more for a home that is equipped with a fast charger for electric vehicles, which runs off the panels. This adds the additional savings on gas plus the convenience of in-home charging, and it is so much fun to drive an EV!
Summary of 2021
In 2021, we used our stimulus money to add 8 more panels to our roof and replace our broken old gas water heater with a new hybrid heat pump model (see the April 25, 2021 post). We also decided to cut down the big pine tree and smaller maple that were shading our panels. They were too close to the house and sitting on top of water and electrical lines. Not a good planting decision on our part… It’s looking like we might get a 10%+ bump in our production as a result! We tried to add a heat pump HVAC system, but unfortunately the supply chain problems kept us from securing a unit this year. We will keep trying in 2022.
Here’s the summary for this year with cumulative data:
To convert pounds to metric tons, divide by 2000
We produced about 13 megawatts of power this year, about 300 kilowatts more than last year. We are hoping that the 8 new panels will get us closer to 17 megawatts next year. We saved $737 on our utility bills, which was improved by installing the new electric water heater. It will use about 1 megawatt of electricity per year and it dropped our gas use another 20%! The biggest savings comes from driving one electric car and one hybrid.
We are still loving our cars and saving money driving them instead of our old gas-powered vehicles. This year they both required some maintenance–a 15,000 mile service for the Highlander and new tires and a door handle repair on the LEAF. This reduced our savings from previous years, but we saved more on gas due to the higher price per gallon. We saved a total of $1855 for the year!
We added the cost of the new hot water heater over and above what it would have cost us to replace it with a gas model. We also added the 8 additional solar panels to our costs, less the 26% federal tax rebate. We now have a total of about $20,000 invested in greening our home. We have recovered about $9,000 in just the first three years!
We didn’t include the cost of our vehicles, since they cost about the same as we would have spent on gas powered cars. I actually just discovered that a 2016 Nissan Juke, which is the ICE most comparable to the 2016 LEAF was actually selling at $6,500 more! We got such a good deal on the Toyota Highlander that it was only about $1,000 more than the same ICE model. So, even though I haven’t counted the cost of the cars, we actually saved about $5,000 on the pair because the LEAF was so cheap.
What we are most excited about is saving 26,000 pounds of carbon from entering our atmosphere this year! Over the last three years we have saved nearly 71,000 pounds of carbon! The savings come from a combination of generating solar power for our own home and the local grid, and reducing our use of natural gas and gasoline. Note: Carbon footprint and carbon savings are different calculations, so the numbers shown in the two tables differ.
2022 Plans
In 2022 we will add the heat pump HVAC system to further reduce our use of natural gas. It will by a hybrid system, which uses our high efficiency natural gas furnace to back up the heat pump when temperatures fall below freezing. We are also planning to go all EV! It is our hope to trade the Highlander for an all electric SUV later in the year. The ranges and charging stations are finally at a point that we think it’s time to take the plunge. That will be another big adventure for us. We’ve also decided it is time to let go of our beloved little teardrop trailer, Pearl. We have enjoyed her for 7 years but aren’t using her very much anymore. We purchased the Highlander primarily as a tow vehicle for Pearl. Without the need to tow a trailer, we can get a regular size SUV which will use less electricity to power.
THE DATA FOR MY FELLOW NERDS:
Electricity Production and Accumulated Credits
We produced 13.2 megawatts, about 300 kilowatts more than last year. We installed the 8 new panels in September and saw a jump in our production that month. But then there was a stormy fall and December, so it leveled out for the rest of the year. It will be interesting to see what happens next year, especially now that we have taken out those trees. That seems to have boosted our output by at least 10%.
Our banked power with NV Energy went from 2.5 to 2.0 megawatts, so that means we used about 800 kilowatts more power this year than last. This is about right for powering the new electric water heater and the extra miles we drove the LEAF in 2021.
We saved a $736.18 on our utility bills by reducing our natural gas usage in addition to generating our electricity!
We saved 211 therms over our old average. Now we are using about 35% less gas than we did before. We also saved 2500 pounds of carbon!
These are the graphs from our SolarEdge inverter showing the production of electricity off our roof. You can see the jump in September when we added the new panels. Then how it leveled off with a stormy fall, but is now up in 2022. (February data was only for about 2/3 of a month.)
You can see that our lowest production months are November-January, which is when we are using the electric zone heaters and running Christmas lights. It’s during these months that we tap into our banked power with NV Energy. In the higher production months, we send more power into the grid, which is used by other households and increases our banked power.
Electricity Delivered from and Received by NV Energy shown on the bar chart Hand calculation is of our stored bank of 2 megawatts (Bank of $184.79 divided by price per kilowatt of .09325)Check out the reduction in gas use since the water heater was installed in April!
2016 Nissan LEAF
We drove the LEAF more this year since we are now my mom’s sole source of transportation. She stopped driving in April 2021. So, we save even more carbon and money having one less car in the family, plus we don’t have to pay for gas to use the LEAF! The average cost of gas went up over $1/gallon, so we saved even more using the EV. Our gas savings was nearly $1200. Plus we saved nearly 6000 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering our atmosphere (299 gallons X 20 lbs/gallon of gas). It took 1.6 megawatts to power BeeBee, which would have cost $148 for the year if we didn’t have solar panels. This represents a savings of over $1034 over a gas powered vehicle.
BeeBee required a little more maintenance this year–new tires and a front door handle repair. However, new tires are about the most expensive thing you have to buy for an EV, so I expect this will average out over time to significant savings in maintenance on the LEAF.
We are noticing about a 20% decline in the LEAF’s range at the 5-year mark. A full charge gets you closer to 90 miles now vs. the 110 she used to get. However, that is still well within our range limit of 50 miles, which easily gets us around town more than once. We expect she will meet our needs for another 5 years.
2019 Toyota Highlander Hybrid
We did some road trips in the Highlander this year, increasing our mileage by about 3000 miles. This used about 100 gallons more gas than last year, but about 200 gallons less than the 4-Runner would have used. This saved $858 and 4,000 pound of carbon emissions.
The Highlander came off its two-year maintenance contract in 2021 and had its 15,000 mile service, which was $577. This is an expensive service, so closer to the old 4-Runners average R&M cost of $602. If we kept the car, this would average out over time. Most hybrids cost about 2/3 as much to maintain as an ICE.
We love our Highlander and it is truly a pleasure to drive, but with our new quest to reduce our carbon footprint, we feel compelled to go all EV in 2022. We bought this car primarily to tow Pearl (our teardrop) and go on road trips. We are finding we rarely use Pearl now–only once a year for a group camping trip. It makes more sense to us to sell Pearl and rent an RV, which allows us to drive a smaller SUV. Our plan is to trade the Highlander for a new EV that qualifies for the federal tax credit. So stay tuned for another exciting year of greening our life and going all EV!
We drove the LEAF more this year since we are now my mom’s sole source of transportation. She stopped driving in April 2021. So, we save even more carbon and money having one less car in the family, plus we don’t have to pay for gas to use the LEAF! The average cost of gas went up over $1/gallon, so we saved even more using the EV. Our gas savings was nearly $1200. Plus we saved nearly 6000 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering our atmosphere (299 gallons X 20 lbs/gallon of gas). It took 1.6 megawatts to power BeeBee, which would have cost $148 for the year if we didn’t have solar panels. This represents a savings of over $1034 over a gas powered vehicle.
BeeBee required a little more maintenance this year–new tires and a front door handle repair. However, new tires are about the most expensive thing you have to buy for an EV, so I expect this will average out over time to significant savings in maintenance on the LEAF.
We are noticing about a 20% decline in the LEAF’s range at the 5-year mark. A full charge gets you closer to 90 miles now vs. the 110 she used to get. However, that is still well within our range l
Sometime last summer, I hit a wall. My Light sputtered and I felt exhausted and depressed. I think it was Pivot Fatigue–a condition caused by too many changes and adaptations brought on by Covid, and then by our relentless wildfire season. Add to that the growing needs of our elders, which had also changed our lives considerably.
In a moment of despair, I was inspired to search for a place to retreat from the world and retore myself. I immediately thought of the California Redwoods and found myself on Airbnb searching for a cabin amongst the trees. I found this gem and booked it immediately for early November.
It was a magical spot in the forest, near the state park and my favorite trails through the majestic giants. I stayed for 5 nights–hiking; meditating; reflecting; journaling; listening to Spirit; napping; practicing yoga, Qigong, Tai Chi; dancing; and playing my wood flute.
I was frightened to go. I had received a very clear message from Spirit that I was not allowed to bring any of my books. I had never done a retreat without my books! What was I going to do with all that time by myself? Would I go mad?
Spirit was relentless. You spend too much time with the words and experiences of others and look to them for your answers. They are within you. Go and listen quietly.
I brought a notebook and pen with me and wrote what came through from the Beyond That is Within (another of my names for Spirit). As we begin this new year, I was led to share the highlights of what I heard and experienced.
As I walked through the forest, I was struck by its beautiful perfection. It is a jumble of new life growing out of death and decay, feeding lovely fungi that eat and transform wood that then grows new trees, ferns, and other plants. It is constantly renewing itself in an endless, intricate dance. Some trees are burned all the way through their centers and yet they still stand strong and vibrant, green boughs reaching for the blue sky and new children sprouting at their feet.
I remember asking for forgiveness for humanity and the destruction we are causing to the natural world and I received this message:
You and your species are as wonderous a creation as this forest.
I was aghast! How could that be true?
You are part of the Creation, unfolding Itself endlessly like this forest. You are a young species with much to learn. You are learning. Be patient with yourselves. Allow yourselves to be taught by Nature, to be transformed.
But we are killing nature, I argued.
You cannot kill Nature. Creation is endlessly resilient, like these redwoods, like you. Everything changes and transforms. Yes, you are changing the biosphere into something new. And you are learning through this process.
But species are dying, landscapes are forever changed!
Look around and within you. Everything is always dying and changing, including yourself. Yet from the decay, new life is born. Always new life. Embrace the changes, learn how to dance with Nature, remember we are all connected and nothing ever really dies. It just changes form.
I realized with sudden clarity how judgmental I have been of myself and all of humanity. As the days went by, my heart softened towards us all. We have a role to play in how creation unfolds on this planet. I determined to return to my life and allow Nature to teach me how to dance with Her, how to care for Her and cherish Her as part of myself. We are all intertwined in this magnificent Creation.
Meditation on the Redwoods
Be rooted in the Earth
Reach for the sky
Open your heartwood
Be fireproof
Create
Decay
Die
Give Birth to New Life
Repeat
I was encouraged to be present in each moment, not elsewhere in my head, to embrace what is so without thinking it “should be” something other than what it is. Along that same line, I was also encouraged to embrace myself as I am, while also honoring that I am continuously growing and changing like all that surrounds me. It is perfectly unfolding. My OCD/Perfectionist self was definitely challenged by Spirit during this retreat!
I heard this message:
BE more; DO less.
I spent time taking stock of what I am doing that dims my Light and feels like a “should”. I resolved to make changes to my schedule and open up more space to BE, to listen deeply more often.
One of the joys I discovered about halfway through the retreat was that I was having fun and it was effortlessly delightful! All this fear I’d had of being stuck with myself for a week, vanished. I realized I still had the same ability I’d had as a child to get lost in nature and keep myself company.
Heaven is right here under your nose, open your eyes and see it.
I have a tendency to look for what I am seeking other than where I am standing and living. Repeatedly, I am directed to grow where I am planted and realize the beauty right here and now. I’m sure these redwoods understand this wisdom and are trying to transmit it to me!
The purpose of your existence is to give and receive LOVE.
I could feel that love was in the forest, connecting all the amazing life forms to each other in a symbiotic dance, and that I was also part of this dance. I was challenged to see that it is the same when I am in the human world.
Life goes on. It adapts, transforms, changes forms, but it always goes on. You are part of the Creative, Holy Spirit which goes forever on, creating the next manifestation. Rest in that, trust, and then do the next loving thing in the moment, led by the Inner Light which is ever part of the Great Light.
We took the plunge and put 8 more panels on our roof!
Looking at our anticipated use of electricity with our new systems and our ultimate
dream of driving 2 electric cars, we decided to go for it and fill out our
bottom row of panels now instead of waiting. They were installed over two days
in September and went live on the 8th, right before the Great Reno
Balloon Race. We couldn’t resist taking this photo from our neighbor’s second
story window showing the panels with balloons floating in the background!
Looking at the data from the SolarEdge inverter, it shows we are producing an
average of about 60 kWh per day now vs. the 40 kWh we were generating before
the new panels were installed (early September data). The newer panels are
generating more power than their 2.5-year-old predecessors.
Cost of 8 Additional Solar Panels
$6,600 ($825 per panel, installed)
-$1716 Less 26% Federal Tax Rebate
=$4,884 Total Net Cost ($610 per panel,
installed)
Another big thank you to Great Basin Solar for making this so easy! I called on a Monday and they were installed and operational 8 days later! You guys are amazing! (https://greatbasinsolar.com/)
We are excited to see how all of this year’s changes will
affect our energy use vs. generation. Our ultimate goal is to produce enough
electricity to power most of the systems in our home, two electric vehicles,
and offset our limited natural gas use. Let’s see how we do! Next up is the
installation of a new heat pump heater and air conditioning system. We are
having some trouble with ordering the unit to go with our high efficiency
Bryant natural gas heater. But we are hoping to have it in before winter. Luckily,
our 22-year-old A/C condenser has made it through another hot Reno summer,
giving us time to make this switch.
X-ray 7-1-2021: Right hip replaced 9-20-17, Left hip replaced 5-16-18
On July 1st I saw Dr. Shukla and Davis for a checkup on “my girls” as I like to call them. I was relieved to hear that everything looks as good on the X-rays as it feels in my body. Dr. Shukla pointed out that my bones have grown in more around the implants and said, “They are now a part of you.” How comforting to hear him say that! I told them all the things I can do now, and we celebrated with hugs. I thanked them for bringing me BACK. They asked me to return in 3-4 years for another checkup.
I was planning to post this in July, but then got
sidetracked by a very busy schedule. I think, in hindsight, that I was meant to
post this now. By mid-July, Reno was inundated with smoke from the wildfires in
California and I could no longer walk and hike outdoors. Not wanting to lose
the gains I’d made in leg strength, I returned to the gym at St. Mary’s Center
for Health & Fitness. I had not worked out on the floor in seven years,
which is an odd thing for an old gym rat and health club owner to say. I guess
I’d come to associate the experience with a lot of pain due to my failing hips.
What a difference! I’ve really increased my leg, glute, back and arm strength by returning to the use of Precor weight machines and 20 minutes on an elliptical trainer. I also warm up and cool down on the walking track (5 minutes each). I’ve found my hiking/walking is easier, my standing stamina is improved, and I can grip and lift things with greater ease. I feel more powerful and balanced in my body, and my posture has improved. My chronic neck and shoulder pain is gone! I’ve also noticed improvements in my cardiovascular fitness. I don’t huff and puff as much hiking and I recover faster. The areas where I found I was weakest from not doing this work was my rear deltoids, quadricep, gluteal and low back muscles.
Now every week I try to swim 2 days for 40 minutes, workout
in the gym 2 days for an hour, take a 3-4 mile walk or hike on 1 or 2 days, and
practice yoga and mat Pilates on 1 or 2 days. I also continue my morning
Qigong/Tai Chi practice and teach 3 classes a month.
I credit this routine with bringing me fully back from two total hip replacements and a third surgery to remove a cable from around my right femur. I can easily do everything I want to do now with ease. When I look back at how disabled I was 4 years ago, it feels like a miracle. I am so grateful!
I compared our mid-April to mid-May NV Energy bills for 2019, 2020 and 2021 to get an idea of how our new hot water heater affected our energy use. The good news is that we used 59% less natural gas! We used an average of 34 therms in 2019 and 2020, and only 14 in 2021! So, it made a huge difference in our natural gas use.
Our use of electricity was up about 130 kWh from this time last year. The new hot water heater likely made up about 80 kWh of the increase. The other 50 kWh was likely due to a colder May this year and increased travel in our LEAF. It was about 9 degrees colder in May, 2021 than in May, 2020, so we used more of our booster electric heaters this year. Our parents are needing more help these days, so we are traveling more in the LEAF to assist them.
We are loving this new hot water heater! We’ve pretty much left it on the Heat Pump Only setting, which is the most efficient. This gives us the same hot water we are used to having with our old system. It works fine for the two of us, as long as we don’t take back-to-back showers, which we don’t usually do. If we have a higher use day, or have guests, we can set it to Hybrid or Electric mode. If we set it in Electric mode, it will automatically revert to Heat Pump Only in 12 hours.
An extra added bonus as we get into the warmer months is it keeps the garage cooler, because it takes the warm air from the garage to heat the water, expelling cold air out of the tank. It does make a bit of noise when it is in operation, so I can see that you may not want it inside your house. It works great in the garage. So far we haven’t noticed any condensation coming out of the unit in our dry climate.
Our next adventure will be adding a heat pump heater and A/C unit, so stay tuned!
Isn’t she a beauty? What? You don’t think water heaters are sexy? Oh, but she is hot and super-efficient! I bet you’re wondering what is a “hybrid heat pump water heater”?
A hybrid water heater, or heat pump water heater, uses heat from outside air drawn into the appliance’s evaporator coil. The evaporator coil contains refrigerant, allowing it to absorb heat from the air. Finally, a heat exchanger heats water within the tank to the desired temperature before it passes from the heater tank into your home’s showers, faucets, and large appliances.
This electric water heater uses heat from outside air drawn into the
appliance’s evaporator coil. The evaporator coil contains refrigerant, allowing
it to absorb heat from the air. Finally, a heat exchanger heats water within
the tank to the desired temperature before it passes from the heater tank into
your home’s showers, faucets, and large appliances. It’s helpful to think about
this process as being like that of your refrigerator, but in reverse. Instead
of expelling hot air to cool the contents of a refrigerator or freezer, a heat
pump water heater pulls hot air in to heat the water. Because it moves heat, it
is over 50% more efficient than a standard electric water heater.
Our water heater is a Bradford White Model #RE2H50S10. It has three
settings: heat pump only, hybrid, and electric. The most efficient setting is
the heat pump only, which works when the ambient temperature is higher and hot
water demand is lower. The hybrid mode will use the heat pump and when it can’t
find enough heat to move, it will create heat through heating elements (like a
standard electric water heater). That is why it is called a hybrid. The
electric mode is useful if you have a lot of people taking showers at one time.
This mode uses the heating elements to keep up with the demand. Afterwards, you
can reset it to hybrid or heat pump only, or it will default back to hybrid
within 12 hours if you forget to reset it. It is expected to use 958 kWh per
year of electricity.
Did you know that your water heater is one of the most energy intensive
systems in your home? According to the EPA, “If every residential electric
water heater in the country were replaced with a heat-pump water heater, 140
billion pounds of annual greenhouse gas emissions would be prevented,
equivalent to the emissions from more than 13 million vehicles.” Here’s a good
article on the subject if you want to learn more: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/plumbing/21015567/all-about-heat-pump-water-heaters.
We chose this water heater so we could use more of our solar power and less
natural gas to heat our water. This meant replacing our old natural gas system
with an electric one. We were waiting until our 20-year-old gas water blew up,
which it did over the winter. Fortunately, Scott had a backup on hand to get us
through until our hybrid could be produced and shipped to us (took about a
month due to Covid, but you can get one from another manufacturer at Home Depot
or Lowes immediately). Thankfully, Scott was able to install the 220-volt
circuit himself and our friend, Brad helped with the installation of the tank. So,
our labor costs are less than normal for making this switch.
Brad and Scott celebrating a successful installation Bruce and Peggy joining us for a toast This baby is so efficient, she falls off the bottom of the range!
Here are the costs:
$1,428 Bradford White Model #RE2H50S10
+$600 Labor for Installation
=$2,028 Total
-$700 Less Cost to replace with a new gas water heater
-$300 Less Federal Tax Rebate
=$1,028 Additional cost of switching to a hybrid electric water heater
We will add this to our solar installation costs and see how long it takes
us to recover our investment. However, our main reason for choosing this system
is to reduce our carbon footprint by burning less natural gas to heat our
water.
You might be wondering what a heat pump water heater can save your household. For a family
of four, the Energy Star website estimates you would save around $330 a year on your electric
bill, which adds up to a savings of around $3,400 over the life of a typical heat pump water
heater. An average new electric hot water heater costs between $300 and $600. If
you already have an electric hot water heater, the additional cost (less the
federal tax rebate) is only $500-$800 more. This would be paid for by
your savings within 1.5-3 years. Plus, it’s so much better for the environment!
Next month, when we get our utility bill, I’ll post our gas savings from
making this change.
Additional Information About Our Hot Water System
We are lucky to have a circulation pump system in our home, which helps us
use less water. This system gives us instant hot water, so we don’t have to run
a lot of cold water through the pipes, waiting for it to get hot. In our desert
climate, where water is so precious, it is nice to have. Depending on your
home’s construction, it can be added, but it is easier to do during new home
construction. If you are building a new home, this is something worth
considering.
Here’s Scott’s explanation and diagrams on how this works:
Traditional Plumbing Diagram
This is our house if we had a traditional hot
water system. The hot water heater (HWH) is in the garage and there would
be plumbing that extends, one way, from the HWH to wherever hot water is
needed. In our case, the master bathroom and the kitchen. (For simplicity
forget that we have a laundry room and a guest bathroom.) If we turn the
hot water on in either of these locations after not using it for an hour or
two, the water coming out is cold, so we have to run the hot water for a minute
or two before it becomes warm then hot.
Circulation Pump Plumbing Diagram
This is how our house was built. There is
an extra hot water line (in yellow) that runs from the Master to the
Kitchen. This creates a hot water loop. There is a hot water circulation
pump next to the HWH (red device in this “Circulation Pump” picture):
Our Circulation Pump
It continuously circulates the hot water
through the loop and then through the HWH. Anytime we turn the hot water
on in the Master or Kitchen, the hot water is piping hot. We do not have
to wait. This system is good in deserts like Nevada where water is not
abundant. We do not want people to let precious water run down the drain
waiting for it to get hot.
Scott has the timer set so the pump is off at
night when we are not using hot water.
IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER! We continue to enjoy the thrill of driving the cars of the future, greatly decreasing our carbon footprint, using the sun to power more of our home and transportation, and watching the savings pile up. Of all our home improvements, going solar has been our best decision.
Our gratitude to Travis and the guys at Great Basin Solar (https://www.greatbasinsolar.com/) for the awesome job they did designing and installing our system!
Here’s the summary for this year with cumulative data:
We produced about 13 megawatts of electricity in 2020, about 1 megawatt more than originally estimated. We saved almost $3,000 between our utility bills and the lower costs of driving electric and hybrid vehicles. At this rate, we will recover our costs in 2.5 more years. We also saved over 22,000 pounds of CO2 from entering our atmosphere, and a total of nearly 45,000 pounds over the 2 years since we installed the system!
This year I added in our CO2 savings from burning less natural gas in our home, due to using electric zone heaters during the winter. Next year we plan to replace our aging water heater and air conditioning unit with super-efficient electric heat pump models. The A/C unit will include a heater that extracts heat from the air to warm our home in the cooler months, reducing even further our use of the gas furnace. It will be fun to see how much more gas we will save in the coming years by making those two simple changes that we need to make anyway.
It is definitely driving the cars of the future that saves the most. For a fun read on what you can save by driving electric or hybrid vs. gas-powered vehicles, check this out: Article on cost and climate savings of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles. It includes information from MIT on a variety of different cars–the cost of driving them and their carbon emissions.
THE DATA
Electricity Production and Accumulated Credits
Our panels produced 12.9 megawatts, almost 1 megawatt over what Travis estimated when he built our system. We only slightly increased our banked electricity with NV Energy to 2.66 megawatts from 2.60, so we used almost all the electricity we generated this year. The difference was caused by (1) using electric zone heaters in the winter to reduce our gas usage, (2) plugging in a second refrigerator for most of the year due to stocking up to weather the pandemic and keep our parents supplied with groceries, and (3) running more A/C at night in the summer.
Averaging our 2017 and 2018 utility bills, we paid $1269 annually for electricity and gas. This year we paid only $614 for a savings of $654! We decided to look at our total utility bill, since we are now using electric heaters to lower our use of natural gas to heat our home in the winter. Next year we expect to use even less gas when we install the new heat pump systems.
The Natural Gas Log is a record of our gas usage in therms. It went down 18% in 2020 for a savings of 110 therms and 1320 pounds of CO2. We are excited to see how much it will change when the new systems are installed!
Above are the SolarEdge graphs showing our total production in 2020 and the comparison of 2019 and 2020. Our system didn’t go online until February 19, 2019. You can see that our lowest production months are November-January, which is when we are using the electric zone heaters and running Christmas lights. It’s during these months that we tap into our banked power with NV Energy. In the higher production months, we send more power into the grid, which is used by other households and increases our banked power.
This is our December NV Energy bill showing our banked credit of $212.71 (line right above Meter Information). Divided by the 8 cents per kWh charge, the bank equals 2.66 megawatts of stored power. We used less electricity this December than last December, because we switched from incandescent to LED Christmas lights for the exterior of our house. We couldn’t believe it when we learned that 1 incandescent bulb uses the equivalent of 2 STRINGS of LED lights! OUCH! So, we ought to use a lot less electricity for the 6 weeks of Christmas lights.
The changes we made this year saved natural gas and used more of our solar power. Once the new systems are installed in 2021, we may start tapping into our bank. We’ve decided to monitor our electric use for a year and if we need to, we will install more solar panels.
2016 Nissan LEAF
We are still loving driving our LEAF! We used BeeBee even more than the Highlander this year, since we didn’t travel long distances as much due to the pandemic. However, the total miles driven (6084) was about the same as last year. We used 1.5 megawatts of electricity to power her. If we didn’t have solar panels, it would’ve only cost us $123! That is a savings of around $713 over my old Subaru! (So, it pays to have an EV whether you have solar or not.) But, because we have solar panels, our savings is actually $836! Plus we saved 5800 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere (290 gallons X 20 lbs/gallon of gas).
We also saved money on repairs and maintenance. I have driven 100,000+ ICE vehicles for most of my life and they have high R&M bills, about $900 per year on average. This year the LEAF had her 30,000 mile check up, which is a big one, but it only cost $410. So the LEAF cost $490 less to maintain than my old vehicles. This brings the total savings of driving the LEAF for a year to $1,323! (NOTE: This will decrease as the car ages and the R&M bills get higher.) In future years, I will keep a running total of savings so you can see how owning an EV plays out over time. Most EV’s cost about 1/3 of an ICE to maintain due to not having engines and transmissions, and saving the brakes with regenerative braking.
We did lose one bar on the battery indicator this year, meaning that the battery pack is beginning to degrade. This is a normal occurrence and actually I’m surprised we haven’t lost more than one bar given that the car is now 4 years old. We have not noticed any change in our range, so that’s the most important thing. Nissan says to expect 10 years of battery life or 100,000 miles. Our LEAF has only about 34,000, so we should be good to go for long time!
The best part for us has been the pure joy of driving this car and knowing we are powering it with Nevada sunshine and emitting zero carbon and no pollution. We use it most of the time, saving the Highlander for when we need two cars or will be traveling out of the LEAF’s 100-mile range, which wasn’t much this year as you’ll see below.
2019 Toyota Highlander Hybrid
We also still love our Highlander–what a luxurious and smooth ride with lots of fun bells and whistles! We drove 4526 miles during 2020, significantly less than 2019, because we didn’t do long trips and used the LEAF more around Reno. We used only 159 gallons of gas, a savings of 124 gallons and $356 over the 4-Runner for the same mileage, and 3180 pounds of carbon emissions (159 gallons X 20 lbs/gallon). This savings does not take into account the fact that we drove less this year because of the pandemic. So, technically there was even more savings than the formulas above show. I think that was true for most of us. I loved all the data coming out this year that showed how much better our air quality was and how much less carbon we produced worldwide. It gave me hope that we can change our habits and have a healthier planet, which in turn makes us (and everything else living on Earth) healthier too.
The Highlander was still on its 2-year free maintenance contract with Dolan Toyota, so we saved the $590 average, inflation-adjusted cost we used to spend maintaining the 4-Runner. This brings the total savings of driving the Highlander to $947! Hybrids cost about 2/3 as much to maintain as regular ICE vehicles, due to the use electric motors and regenerative braking. We will see how this averages out over time.
This is our all-around vehicle and it continues to do everything we need it to. It is way more comfortable and pleasurable to drive than our old 4-Runner. The combo of the Highlander and the LEAF is perfect for us. We saved $2,273 and nearly 9,000 pounds of carbon from entering our atmosphere. We are thrilled with our decision to replace our old internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles with the cars of the future!
Stay tuned for updates when we add in our hybrid heat pump systems this year!
