This commentary was submitted to the Vermont Sierra Club by Peter Grant, a Sierra Club member in Bristol, Vermont, and is posted here with permission.
One thing the Club can do is help people go solar. I keep hearing that solar costs so much. Solar might be cheaper than the 18 cents per kWh we now pay for electricity. Maybe heat pumps can be cheaper than gas for home heating
About 5 years ago I was paying an average of $85/ month for electricity. 15 solar panels to generate that much electricity cost $15000. A bank loan to cover this cost could be found that cost less than $85/ month. This means that those who bought panels were immediately saving money. For about three years my electric bill was zero, I owed the electric company no money for that time. Unfortunately, I got an electric car which raised monthly use rate enough to have to start paying a small amount. And climate makes more cloud cover and less solar energy. Solar panels are still a big plus, so check out panel costs and maybe the Sierra Club of VT can ask banks, or my Credit Union, for a group discount for loans to purchase panels and pumps..
And now we have heat pumps. Get one for $5000 and cut your gas bill by a big chunk. (saving $2000/year of gas bills can again pay for a bank loan for purchase.) During the summer, fans can blow cool air air from one pump around your most used rooms. In the cooler days warm hear pump air can be blown around. Heat pumps use a small amount of electricity to run fans and condenser. but no where near the cost of rising cost of LP gas. Keep your LP gas furnace for the really cold days of January, even though it wont be needed for the other 11 months. (Or keep your wood burning stove ready to fire up.)
Take a close look and maybe alternative energy can be cheaper than what you are using now. And maybe more prepared for global warming. Costs for electricity and gas keep going up but sun energy still costs the fixed cost of the collectors (panels ans pumps) you have bought stay the same