High Desert Hoa

Energy Resource Plan Paper

High Desert HOA

Your Name

SCI/275

December 1, 2012

High Desert HOA

We have decided to live in a "high desert" region of our country. This region is the same as the low-lying desert plains. We have to conserve on our water use because we do not have a large amount of rainfall throughout the year. As a community, we should think about other ways to start conserving energy as well as water. The power plants operating in the western region of our state are using coal to produce the power that we use every day. The oil plants here in the United States and abroad will start to run dry because of the increase in demand for this fossil fuel. If societies do not come up with a plan for alternative energy, we may not have energy for our children. This is why I am suggesting that we start our own plan to conserve energy and start to look at using alternative and renewable resources to provide energy for our community.

The desert communities have an abundance of sunlight throughout the year which makes solar energy the most renewable source for us. When we burn coal to produce electricity, we are using a nonrenewable source. This means that we cannot replace the coal we use. The sun is renewable because it shines every day and can provide us with the electricity, heating, and cooling power we need. The water table here in the southwest is also very fragile and limited. If we consistently use water the way we do now, the table will also run dry. To help protect this, we should eliminate lawns and plants that are not native to this area. Lawns require a large amount of water to stay green. If we start to replace the grass with rock gardens and install drip-irrigation to water native plants, we will save our water tables.

If we were to have each member of our community install a passive-solar system to help with the heating and minor electric needs, we would all save hundreds on our electric bill every year. The panels that makeup a passive solar unit can be put on the roofs of the home and do not take away from the beauty of our communities. They can collect the sun's power even if it is cloudy or raining. There are other methods that all members of our community can do that are extremely inexpensive. The use of water-saving shower heads is one idea. The shower heads are similar to pressure fittings by giving the same or larger amount of water pressure and reducing the amount of water out-put. The CBS News reported that, "On average, showers account for 32 percent of home water use" (CBS news, 2012). This means that we may be wasting as much as 30 percent