727 Forest St: Environmental Scorecard

722           Therms of natural gas saved relative to the 2004 IECC standard
5892         Kilowatt hours of electricity generated by the photovoltaic system
1364         Energy savings from the Coolerado air conditioner (kwh)
7256         Total electricity savings in kwh

$1,448      Estimated annual cost savings (@ $1 / therm, $0.10 / kwh)

In addition to the direct economic benefits from these energy savings, are these environmental benefits:

1.8          Cars not driven, or
949         Gallons of gasoline not burned every year, or
6.94        Acres of pine or fir forest storing carbon every year, or
2.8          Tons of waste recycled instead of landfilled every year, or
8.71        Metric Tons of CO₂ not released into the atmosphere every year.

Another way of thinking of the economic benefits:

These financial savings are like getting a bond or certificate of deposit worth $24,127 that yields 6% per year and whose value is indexed to the retail cost of electricity and natural gas. If the blended cost of electricity and natural gas were to increase say 50% over the next 10 years this hypothetical bond or CD that is bundled with the house would be worth $36,190. The environmental benefits above are all gravy on top of these economic benefits.

Sources:

Energy Information Administration, 2001, www.eia.doe.gov,  Residential Energy Consumption Survey; US-Climate Technology Cooperation Gateway website www.usctcgateway.net, www.Xcelenergy.com, pre-construction Energy report done by EnergyLogic