VO:”This is how the energy picture looks today in America. What if we replace some of the coal and nuclear we currently use, with 30% energy savings. Look at it this way, and saving energy becomes one of our most abundant and clean sources of new energy. It’s the quickest and cheapest way to save money, cut air pollution and save entire mountains of coal. I can think of at least one person who would be very happy if we could save a mountain of coal.”
STEPHEN SMITH (DVM Executive Director, SACE): “And if we were to get really ah innovative and embrace efficiency we could even begin to see some of these power plants retired or taken off line.”
Imploding cooling towers
TITLE: Step two: clean energy
VO: “Saving energy is the first step in building a clean energy economy in America. As we lower our demand, wind and solar become more affordable and effective. I continued my journey in search of green power being used today.”
JOHN AND CATHY GENT (Hog Farmers, Southeast IA): “I’m John Gent, this is my wife Cathy. We’re on our hog farm in southeast Iowa. We have just a private wind turbine for our own use here. The electricity bill was costing us anywhere from 600-1200 dollars a month. By putting a wind turbine here, we’ve reduced it to virtually nothing.”
VO: “Wind power is one of the fastest growing sources of electricity today, and turbines are sprouting up across America.”
MAHKIJANI : The potential for wind energy alone, in the Midwestern states and the Rocky Mountain states is equal to 2 and a half times the entire electricity generation in this country today.”
GENT: It might be a bad hair day today, but it’s a great day to make electricity.
VO: “This dairy farm gets milk and electricity from its cows.”
DEREK DECKER (Dairy Farmer, West Gate, IA): That’s the digester, and that’s the gas line goin’ to the turbines.
VO: “Here’s how it works: cow manure is dumped into a digester tank beneath the ground. Methane gas from the decomposing manure is captured and fed into turbines where it is burned to generate electricity.”
DECKER: It takes a waste product, and uh, creates something useful.
VO: “On this dairy with 700 cows, the digestor produces enough electricity to power 50 homes a day.”
DECKER: “The methane digestor has really been a good investment for us because we save about 1800 dollars a month on our electric bill. So that’s a real huge item for our cash flow every month.”
VO: “In Chicago, I stumbled upon one of the best kept green power secrets today.”
SALVADOR LAMAS (Co-owner, Taco Burrito King, Chicago, Illnois): Welcome to Taco Burrito King where all our salsas are made with solar hot water.
VO: “Hot water is one of our biggest energy expenses for businesses and homes. What if we could get that hot water for free?”
LAMAS: We proudly present our nine panels.
VO: “This restaurant was one of the first in America to use solar hot water.”
LAMAS: Water circulates through the panels on the roof, ah, the heat is collected water presently is 160 degrees. In the long run it will pay for itself. It was the minimum we as a small business owners can do to help out mother earth.
VO: “Solar hot water can work anywhere.”
TOM BENSON (World’s Largest Laundromat, Berwyn, IL): “In a laundry mat we have to produce hot water all the time. My decision to go solar was based on the numbers making it a good business decision
VO: “Solar hot water is one of the most affordable but under utilized renewable technologies in America. It is one of the best energy investments that can be made.”
BENSON: I can pay the system off in about six years. The system will last 20 years at least.”
VO: “So for 14 years his hot water is free. The average home could save”
BENSON: “I feel good that I’m pointing a direction for business owners in this industry to take. To save them money, and at the same time do something responsible for the environment.”
VO: “It is good for homes too. The average home could save 100-200 dollars a year by using solar hot water. And if just half the homes in America were using this technology, our nation would replace the need for 20 power plants. When we look at the world from a new perspective. We’ll find clean energy available to us in abundance.”
CHRISTOPHER FLAVIN (President, Worldwatch Institue): “If you do an aerial survey of the ah flat roof space in a typical city, you’ll find that as much as half the electricity in that city could be supplied by just covering that flat roof space with ah solar collectors.”
VO: “Every rooftop is potential energy. And today solar panel systems are being installed across America.”
BRAD BELLO (Director of facility Operations, Saint Francis Winery): We are on the roof of the Saint Francis Winery production facility looking at our 457 kilowatt solar panel system.
VO: “Like most industries, wine making uses a lot of energy. This company demonstrates that solar energy is affordable and reliable even for big business.”
BELLO: “This provides roughly 40-50% of all our usage, saving 10-20,000 dollars a month of our electricity bills.”
VO: “Today, only a small percentage of America’s electricity is produced by the wind and the sun, but this is changing. (TEXT: FedEx Distribution Center, Oakland, CA) The use of renewables is growing in many states. This is fueled in part by the adoption of renewable portfolio standards. Maine has a goal of producing 30% of its power from renewable sources. More than 20 states have created similar standards. Within 2 decades these states will generate a large portion of their power from clean energy. Hopefully someday soon, every state will.”