This article originally provided by The Birmingham Weekly

April 20, 2008

Considering Kilowatt Ours

High-powered doc explores multiple environmental issues

By: Carey Norris

I think we can all agree that the planet is getting warmer, that global warming is a reality, and that humans are the chief source of greenhouse gases. There is an overwhelming scientific consensus for this (suck it, haters), yet little is being done to fix it. Nashville-based filmmaker Jeff Barrie aims to change this with his new documentary Kilowatt Ours, in which he outlines some of the problems facing the environment today, as well as ways to fix them.

Barrie spends the first part of the film sketching a few of the problems facing the environment. For coal mining, a popular option today is the process of “mountaintop removal,” in which a mountain is basically blown up in order to get to the coal underneath it. One resident of West Virginia likens this to being “under attack.” In Appalachia, more than 450 mountains have been blown up in the last 30 years, and 2500 tons of explosives are used each day for mountaintop removal. Besides irrevocably damaging the landscape, the process can cause flooding after streams are buried in debris, and necessitates the building of slurry lakes (which sometimes fail) to contain the waste.

More than half of our country’s electricity is generated by coal-fired power plants. To produce one kilowatt hour it takes the burning of about one pound of coal. The average American home uses about 30 kilowatt hours per day, which works out to about five tons of coal burned each year.

The single largest creators of greenhouse gases are coal-fired power plants. But what are our other options?

The film rejects nuclear power, since the processing of uranium for use in nuclear plants creates radioactive waste for whose disposal we don’t really have a viable plan yet. And when considering the costs of plant construction and burying tons of nuclear waste underneath a mountain in New Mexico, nuclear power ends up being the costliest way to generate electricity.

A clip is shown in the movie in which Vice President Dick Cheney says that in order merely to keep up with projected demand for power, the country will have to construct the equivalent of one power plant per week for the next 20 years. But the film has other ideas.

Barrie says the worst thing people can do is to give up on helping the environment, thinking that the problem is too large for one person to change anything. The second half of the film lays out ways that average citizens can do their part, both by using energy more efficiently and by using green power. Through these methods, energy can be saved, which will lessen the demand for construction of new power plants.

You will likely have heard of many of the methods outlined in the film. Using condensed fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescent ones can save energy and money, as can using more energy-efficient appliances and sealing ductwork to prevent energy from being wasted.

The film also details ways in which institutions have saved money through energy efficiency. Through a process called daylighting, which uses skylights to light rooms during the day instead of electric lights, a school system in Blountsville, Tenn., saves over $1 million each year. Toyota’s corporate headquarters uses the same process.

Birmingham has a bit part in the movie through its LED traffic signals, which use 90 percent less energy than their incandescent predecessors and save the city $220,000 per year.

The city of Austin, Texas, sends teams of efficiency specialists to local businesses to educate them on how to conserve energy. Through this program the city prevented the construction of a new power plant.

Besides energy efficiency, the film also advocates the use of green power, which will lessen the amount of greenhouse gases created.

It has been said that methane from cow farts creates a surprising amount of greenhouse gases. Well, the movie shows a farm in Iowa that uses methane from rotting cow manure to power wind turbines and create power. A growing number of farms and coal mines are using this process.

The film shows a taco restaurant in Chicago that uses solar power to heat all the water it needs for cooking. Every rooftop is a potential space for solar panels, but incredibly few are used.

Of course, businesses aren’t the only ones who can do this. There are residences all over the country that use wind or solar power, and through these alternative power sources and an energy-efficient home, people can live independent of coal or nuclear power. This process of meeting one’s own energy needs is called net-zero energy.

The homemade vibe of the movie, with its no-budget production values and layout, gives it the feeling of something you would see on television or in a high-school classroom instead of theaters. However, Kilowatt Ours gets its points across convincingly. Its 55-minute running time sometimes necessitates a certain lack of depth in certain issues, but the film doesn’t feel like its skimming over anything. Barrie and the rest of the filmmakers have crafted an engaging piece of advocacy documentary that will make you want to turn the lights off and sit in the dark.
A free screening of Kilowatt Ours is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22. The program will be held in the Hill University Center Auditorium (1400 University Blvd.) and hosted by the UAB Green Initiative, an organization with a mission to promote environmental protection and energy conservation throughout UAB and the surrounding community.

UAB Green Initiative membership is open to the public and the organization does not collect dues. The Green Initiative’s primary project is to start a campus-wide recycling program to recycle paper, alumninum cans and plastics. The next meeting is Wednesday, May 14, at 5:30 p.m. in Room 435 of the Hill University Center. To learn more, send an email to UABgreen@gmail.com.