VO: “This is the home of the Schiller family near Clarksville Tennessee, living completely off the grid. In other words, coal and nuclear free.”
JOE SCHILLER (Homeowner, Clarksville TN): “Well we have a 2400 square foot house and um most days this ah solar array provides all of our energy needs and actually surplus many days so we’re that we’re able to store up energy in batteries to use when the sun’s not shinning at night or during cloudy spells for a few days.”
VO: “Schiller’s home takes full advantage of free energy from the sun.”
SCHILLER: “Well the house is designed where most of the windows are on the south face.
VO: “Southfacing windows capture the sun’s warmth in winter months helping to heat the inside of the home. It’s known as passive solar, and Joe gets his hot water for free.”
SCHILLER: 3 seasons of the year we get most of our hot water from the sun”
VO: “Joe is smart. Before spending any money on solar panels, he made the inside of his home energy efficient, and reduced his usage to one-third the average American home. So when it came time to buy the solar panels, he didn’t need to buy as many. Instead of spending $60,000, Joe’s solar system cost less than 20,000, and it provides all the electricity his family needs. In other words, for the price of a new car, Joe Schiller has bought his family energy independence. In east Tennessee, I found a more affordable example of green power and efficiency working together in what may be the home of the future. In this habitat for humanity subdivision, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a team of volunteers are building energy saving homes for low income families. They start by building highly efficient structures that minimize wasted energy. Then, they add solar panels.”
JEFF CHRISTIAN (Building Technologies Director, Oak Ridge National Laboratory): "This is a net zero energy house. It has all the amenities of any house, except very efficient appliances, good windows, mechanical ventilation, and on the roof, solar collectors. At this moment in time, the house is actually producing more energy than it is consuming. You can see the meter for the solar going pretty fast, and ah net meter actually going in reverse. What that’s telling us is that the solar energy is now being pushed across the grid and hopefully displacing some small amount of coal in a TVA power plant somewhere."
GLEN MCCULLOUGH (Chairman, TVA): “Over the next three years, TVA will sponsor five habitat for humanity homes for what will become a zero energy neighborhood. In other words, the homes will have technologies that will enable these people that live in those homes to produce as much energy as they use essentially, net zero. A tremendous advantage, not only residentially but also commercially and industrially.”
VO: “This is proof that net zero energy communities and a clean energy nation are possible… but it left me wondering what Heather and I could do today, on a tight budget, living in an apartment. We’ve cut our electricity use in half, but we still consume about 500 kilowatt hours a month from coal and nuclear. We can’t afford solar panels, but we want to do our part. So how can we accomplish our goal? Not one to give up, I continued my search and found my answer… (TEXT: TVA Solar Power Facility, Chattanooga, TN). In Chattanooga, Tennessee, TVA turned this parking lot into a power generator, with solar panels. And one hundred miles away on top of Buffalo Mountain, (TEXT: TVA Wind Facility, Buffalo Mtn) I found this large scale wind farm. These generate electricity for TVA’s green power switch program, which gives me a choice.”
GARY HARRIS (Gary Harris, Green Power Switch Manager, TVA, Nashville, TN): “Green power consists of wind, solar and methane gas. We also have a methane waste water treatment facility near ah Memphis, Tennessee which we extract methane from the waste water and use that as part of our generation mix. Participation is the key to the whole thing. You have to have folks willingly and in our case voluntarily purchasing blocks of green power to make the program grow.”
VO: “Converting America into a clean energy nation begins with each of us, and now anyone in America can make this choice. It was an easy choice for me and Heather. We called our electricity provider and they sent us a green power sign-up form. With the money we saved from our efficient lights and refrigerator, we could afford five blocks of green power. For twenty bucks a month we get the peace of mind knowing that all of our kilowatts are generated from clean sources. Finally Heather and I reached our goal.”