What benefits do the recent surge in green energy sources and electrification have for me? How can you save money, breathe healthier air, and reduce operating costs of transportation? How much will the 2024 decrease in electricity standard offer save me?

Two generations ago, American cities weren’t car-centered, and people took electric trams, buses and trains to get around and between towns. In Dublin, Ireland, in 1966, masses of bicycles moved year round thru downtown intersections, since Europeans always had expensive gasoline, and therefor small cars.

Wildlife loving Mainers can accept our responsibilities to steward other species, by greatly reducing our driving, and reduce heat loss from our houses by having an energy audit and following the recommendations to fill leaks and add insulation. Historically Maine had an extended train system with tracks still in place that could be upgraded if we demand much less energy intense travel from our state and towns. Now large businesses can use federal grants to pay for vans or subsidize electric bicycles for workers. With the success of Amtrak service south from Brunswick, extending regular Amtrak service from Brunswick to Rockland is being considered. Maine’s Department of Transportation could provide greater incentives for inter town bus routes and fund a coastal bus route from Rockland to Lubec’s many wooded coastal access properties for workers and tourists.

Americans are the largest consumers of both oil and electricity in the world, and continue to emit fossil fuels in manufacturing, private vehicles, construction of roads, bridges and housing that are causing run away climate warming worldwide. Facing these continued threats to living species of animals, corals, whales, forest fires, and plants, how can we greatly reduce our waste of resources and become better earth stewards?

Brunswick residents already have the benefit of a regular, 6 months free public bus system that goes hourly between Baribeau Avenue, downtown and Midcoast Hospital. Bath also has a bus that goes almost to the hospital. With inter town cooperation, these two bus systems could have a schedule and location to travel between towns. Western Maine Transportation operates 3 bus routes each workday from Lewiston taking workers to Gagne Foods in Wing Parkway and downtown Bath, early morning midday, and late afternoon. These could be expanded to hourly routes and larger buses with funding from Bath and Topsham to bring shoppers comfortably to our malls, medical services and entertainment. Regular, frequent bus routes would reduce rush hour traffic, and allow young and older people to travel more affordably and safely. Taking a little extra time to plan travel around bus schedules, and be willing to walk a few blocks, would save money and earth warming gases, since buses are much more efficient than 1 person passenger cars.

Solar can be used both to heat water, a room or to produce electricity, with varying levels of technical sophistication. Orienting a new room or house towards the south and putting in double pane windows allows direct heating, even during our short daylight winters when the sun is at a low angle. We heated our Phippsburg A frame with direct solar through double pane polycarbonate, pulling up curtains at night and on cloudy winter days when we used the wood stove. We switched from passive to active solar heating when we added a rock storage bed under the floor of our greenhouse and pumped extra hot air down from the attic.

For domestic water, my husband built a system that ran copper water pipes through a black box on our 60 degree sloped roof. This filled a preheater which fed into an electric water heater. We are currently expanding a similar solar collector on our greenhouse that feeds solar heated water through 3 barrels to give off heat to the room at night or on cloudy days.

In Topsham, we are delighted to have a heat pump water heater that both dehumidifies the basement and provides reliable, inexpensive hot water. If you receive LIHEAP, Maine Care or SNAP benefits, you can get a heat pump water heater installed in an enclosed basement for free through Efficiency Maine. Go to EfficiencyMaine.com to learn about their programs for energy audits, and rebates for insulation, filling air leaks, better windows and doors. Rebates are greatest for limited income homeowners, with the homeowner paying only 20% of weatherization costs up to an $8000 rebate. Middle income homeowners can receive 60% of a project cost and higher income residents receive 40% rebates up to $4000. You may also benefit from the Infrastructure Repair Act which gives $1200 federal tax credits annually for these energy-saving house improvements. Efficiency Maine has a search engine for contractors in your area and what services they provide.

Most of our electricity is purchased through a share in a community solar project run by Sunraise from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which we joined during Maine’s boom in solar farm developments in 2021. Maine provided good incentives for solar farm developers, for the purpose of encouraging growth of solar electric projects to lower fossil fuel emissions in line with Maine’s Climate Plan. These incentives have been lowered, giving less profit margins to solar developers. Next Era is accepting new applicants, but the wait period in 6 to 9 months until you would be receiving lower cost solar electricity. We receive 10% less than the standard offer for electricity, which has decreased Jan. 1 from $.1663 to $.1083 per kilowatt.

The majority of Maine customers who use the standard offer will receive a 20% lower bill starting in January 2024, since CMP’s transmission and distribution cost has not reduced from $.105 per kilowatt. The Public Utilities Commission has information on licensed alternative electric suppliers, the length of their contracts, and prices they offer. The lowest price for this year of all electric suppliers is the standard offer.

The Recycle Bin is a weekly column on recycling and sustainability. Nancy Chandler studied Animal Behavior and Anthropology at Stanford University, then received her master’s in biology education in her home state of North Carolina at U.N.C. Chapel Hill. She is passionate about teaching energy conservation and hopes to get you thinking about how to use energy use efficiently to save both money and reduce greenhouse warming gases.

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