I’m not a big spreadsheet guy, but my friend Ron Calcaterra is.
During the 2000s, Ron, being the numbers-minded engineer he is, created one of the most powerful spreadsheets I’ve ever encountered.
At that time, much like today, electric co-ops were balancing the need to meet members’ growing energy demands, the call to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the mission to provide affordable and reliable power. Ron was the CEO of Central Electric Power Cooperative, the electricity provider for all 19 of South Carolina’s distribution co-ops. And Ron’s spreadsheet was the key to a program that would improve the lives of hundreds of South Carolinians.
What makes Ron and his spreadsheet unique is that it’s about more than just numbers. Within those rows and columns, Ron accounted for the people who would be helped, particularly older residents in the rural parts of our state. Many co-op members live in homes that were built in the mid-1900s. These homes often have a common set of problems: air leaks, substandard insulation, old electric furnaces or inefficient HVAC systems. Those inefficiencies often add up to huge, expensive spikes in energy use in the cold hours of winter and the heat of summer.
That’s an especially cruel reality for seniors living in the homes where they grew up, raised their families and now hope for frequent visits from their children and grandchildren. Seniors say their home’s emotional value is more important than its monetary value, according to the American Society on Aging. Many of us have seen our own relatives’ physical and mental well-being deteriorate when they’ve had to spend their final years away from the places where they’ve experienced their happiest memories and their deepest peace.
In practical terms, Ron’s legacy boils down to helping people afford to stay in their beloved homes.
With his spreadsheet of calculations, he determined that improving the efficiency of South Carolina homes would greatly reduce energy use while cutting the state’s carbon dioxide emissions by 6.7 million metric tons over 10 years. Ron’s spreadsheet eventually led to the creation of the Rural Energy Savings Program Act, a federal program that allows people to pay for many energy upgrades through low-interest loans, which are then repaid by their monthly energy savings. In our state, electric cooperatives partnered with Central to create KW Savings, which acts as the borrower of those loans.
Ever since, co-ops such as Aiken, Black River, Tri-County, Little River and Santee electric cooperatives have offered the Help My House program, which allows members to improve their homes’ energy efficiency with no upfront costs while cutting their utility bills. And Berkeley Electric, with its similar HomeAdvantage program, has made a huge difference in the lives of many Lowcountry members.
I’m certainly not claiming that energy efficiency upgrades will extend anyone’s life. But they can improve people’s quality of life, in part by helping them stay in their homes.
Aiken Electric member John Johnson says that without his co-op’s Help My House program, he would have had to go without heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer. The work even covered other health and safety repairs he didn’t know he needed, such as installing a carbon monoxide monitor and a kitchen exhaust fan.
Douglas Lambert frequently had to repair the HVAC unit that cooled and heated the home he built for himself and his wife in Andrews—that is, until he was told that parts for the 35-year-old unit were no longer available. But Santee Electric’s Help My House program helped him get a new HVAC unit and put in new attic insulation.
Over the years, Ron’s spreadsheet has produced thousands of similar stories across the country. Just in South Carolina, some 1,200 homes have been improved by electric co-ops’ Help My House programs.
Microsoft Excel allows input of more than 1 million rows and 16,000 columns. That’s a head-spinning amount of data. But to me, it’s not nearly as impressive as the far-reaching impact of Ron’s spreadsheet.