VO: “The average American home spends nearly half it’s energy bills on heating and cooling, about 1000 dollars a year. Homeowner Dennis Hyde was tired of paying high electricity bills, so he installed a ground-source heat pump for heating and cooling his home. It’s also known as geothermal. Here’s how it works: water is circulated through pipes to tap the stable 59 degree temperature below the ground reducing the electricity required to keep buildings comfortable for occupants. Geothermal is up to 70% more efficient than the standard air conditioner or heater.”
HYDE (Homeowner, Tullahoma, TN): “You know, I went from paying $200 to $220 a month for heating and cooling to around $52 to $55 a month, saving me about $2000 a year.”
VO: “Despite the benefits, Geothermal is rarely used in buildings today, but the demand is growing. In Savannah, GA developers are installing a system in a new residential sub-divison with 36 homes, and in Detroit, I found this.”
JOE BACH (Contractor, Crosswinds Communities): “This is a 62 unit building that we are designing with geothermal heating and cooling systems. We found it more cost affective, to go with the geothermal, and we use it as a selling feature also. People are attracted to buildings that are going to help our environment.”
VO: “The bigger the building, the bigger the pay back. In Sumner County Tennessee, I found this school district drilling for energy savings by installing a Geothermal system in a 260,000 square foot high school.”
ROBERT MCALISTER (Energy Manager, Sumner Country Schools, Portland, TN): “At this point in time, I’d just spot checking it shows that we’re saving in the neighborhood of oh, $5,000 a month.”
VO: “Because of the proven dollar savings, Sumner county now uses geothermal in all of its school buildings saving.”
Adds McAlister: “All the money you save can go back to your teachers, can go back to your operating costs of schools, so you can’t afford not to afford it.”
VO: “Saving energy translates to better education. Smith Middle School in North Carolina uses a technique called daylighting. Schools that are lit by the sunlight have been shown to improve student performance, test scores and behavior.”
TEXT: Smith Middle School, Chapel Hill, NC
JEAN SIMMONS (Teacher, Smith Middle School): “This is just wonderful because the room is flooded with natural light which I think just helps everyone’s spirits. We’re, We’re always looking for ways to make the classroom atmosphere better for kids and for learning and I think this is one very positive way of doing that.”
TEXT: Toyota USA Headquarters, Torrance, CA
VO: “At its headquarters Toyota built an energy efficient building with lots of daylighting. The result?”
SANFORD SMITH (Corporate manager for Real Estate and Facilities, Toyota Motor Sales, USA): This building is 60 % more efficient than the most rigorous energy code in the country. We’ve used motion control sensors in sections so that only the sections in the building that are occupied, uh, are illuminated. I have savings that accrue every year, and help to contribute to the overall success of the company.
VO: “Energy conservation is a wise investment. Did you know that schools in America spend more money on energy bills than on computers and textbooks combined? In East Tennessee, I found one of the most outstanding examples of an energy efficiency upgrade.”
JOE MIKE AKARD (Sullivan County Department of Education, Blountville, TN): “The old saying is, you can get something for nothing but in this case you are getting something for nothing, you’re getting all this new equipment, upgraded facilities with the money that you’re wasting right now.”
VO: “It’s called performance contracting, using energy savings to pay for improvements. This school district improved all 32 schools at once, spending $24 million upgrading heating and cooling systems, replacing every window, changing out every light fixture, and conserving energy whenever possible.”
AKARD: “We didn’t realize how much money we were wasting by computers being left on overnight, over weekends, over the holidays. We’re gonna save, this is hard to believe but we’re gonna save 35 to 40 thousand dollars a year just by turning off computers.”
KEVIN GOFF (Foreman, Sullivan County Department of Education): “Well the benefits are that we’ve gotten ah 24 million dollars worth of upgrades with no new tax dollars, ah everything’s been financed and paid for by energy savings.”
VO: “With all the upgrades in place, Sullivan county schools cut energy use 40%, saving more than $1 million annually. The benefits of saving energy are profound, and opportunities lie just about everywhere we look. Have you ever thought about traffic signals? I didn’t, until I learned about the city of Birmingham, Alabama."
LARRY RIGGS (Traffic Engineer, City of Burmingham, AL): “Up in the air here at 7th avenue north you’re actually looking at the green leds"
VO: “LED’s are super-efficient light bulbs with a wide variety of uses. Most cities are still using incandescent traffic lights which burn out every nine months or so. LED’s run for seven years or more, saving on costly maintenance, and they use 90% less energy. Birmingham went all the way with LED’s, upgrading 700 intersections in the city.
RIGGS: “We’ve ended up with a with a savings in electricity power costs of about $220,000 a year"
VO: “If Birmingham can do it, what about an entire state? Kentucky upgraded all signals statewide and now saves more than 3 million dollars in maintenance and energy costs and 30 million pounds of coal every year. Here’s food for thought. According to Facility Management.com, all the exit signs in America burn 35 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually. Converting to LED exit signs would cut that by 90%, saving enough energy to eliminate the need for 5 nuclear power plants in America.What are we wait’in for?
You may not have thought about this, but recycling is another way to conserve energy. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television set for more than 3 hours. In America today we only recycle about half of our aluminum cans. Recycling saves energy. Lots of energy.”