Energy By The Numbers

Part 1
1.  What is a calorie?
A calorie is a unit of heat energy.  It can also be defined as the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water to 1 degree Celsius (now usually defined as 4.1868 joules).
2. What is a BTU?
BTU stands for British thermal unit.  It is a traditional unit of energy equal to about 1055 joules.  It is the amount of energy or heat needed to heat one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit.
3. How many calories are in 1 BTU?
There are 252.164401 calories in 1 BTU.
4.  What is a QUAD? (hint lots of BTUs)
A QUAD is a unit of energy equal to 1.055 × 10¹⁸ joules.  
5. The USA uses about 1 QUAD of energy about every 4 days. So approximately how many quads does the USA use in a year? (hint 365 days in 1 year)
The USA uses approximately 91.25 QUADs every year.

Part 2
6. What is a cubic foot?
A cubic foot is the volume equal to a cube one foot on each side.
7. Natural gas is measured in a cubic foot. One cubic foot of natural gas contains about ______ BTUs of energy.
One standard cubic foot of natural gas produces around 1,028 BTUs.
8. Texas homes used about 8 million BTUs of natural gas, so how much is that in calories (use question 3 for help).
2,017,315,208 calories

Part 3
The numbers for the USA and Texas energy usage are very high, so what do you think can be done to reduce the demand for energy? Write a one summary with 4 sources that describes what you think can be done.

Sources:
http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/reduce.html
http://www.epa.gov/greenhomes/ReduceEnergy.htm
http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/documents/suca/consumer_fact_sheet.pdf
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_save_energy_at_home

The easiest way to reduce the demand for energy is to make good energy decisions.  Using less energy means power plants won't have as many greenhouse gas emissions.  There are several ways to make good energy decisions.  About half of all energy used in homes goes to heating and cooling.  Insulating houses better will cause less cold and hot air to escape which will cause air conditioners and heaters to have to work less.  Using ceiling fans is an alternative to turning on the air conditioner.  Typically ceiling fans use less electricity than air conditioners.  Window fans can also cool down houses using less electricity.  When building a house, lighter-colored "cool roofs" with high reflectance and emissivity can stay up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than houses with dark-colored roofs.  Wood stoves are also another way to heat houses without using electricity.  Changing air filters regularly, about once every three months, is another way to be more energy efficient.  While energy efficiency is being more stressed, many people choose not to make energy saving choices for a variety of reasons.  Sometimes they are not aware, sometimes they find it hard to locate more efficient products, sometimes they cost more, and sometimes they do not have easy access to qualified energy efficiency experts to help them review and take advantage of opportunities for energy efficient investments.