Word: useful
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Proper house insulation is the first prerequisite for the effective use of any energy-saving device. The newly designed $1,400 Blueray furnace, for example, captures as much as 90% of the energy that is locked in a gallon of heating oil, vs. the 70% recovered by a conventional furnace. But it makes no sense to install highly efficient equipment in the basement if all the additional heat generated escapes through leaky baseboards, wall sockets, attics, exhaust fans and chimneys, where up to 85% of a home's heat loss occurs...
Electricity monitors. Even if a homeowner has reduced electricity consumption to a minimum, there is always an other watt or two that can be saved. That is the theory behind electricity monitors, which use microchip technology and digital display to calculate the dollars-and-cents value of the electricity being used in a house at any given moment. The idea is that once a homeowner sees what he is actually spending for electricity, he will become far more conscientious about turning off lights and, in the case of electric heat, lowering the thermostat. According to tests by the University...
...body work most effectively. With that in mind, Americans are reviving traditional cold-weather wisdom. Natural fabrics are in demand again; wool, cotton and silk are most comfortable because they breathe, allowing perspiration to evaporate. No one any longer laughs at "snuggies," those sturdy thigh-length undertrousers that Grandma used to wear. Fur has begun to shed its politically uncool image (the American fur industry does not use pelts from endangered species such as leopard and baby seal), because "it's an organic, renewable, nonpolluting resource," as Ernest Graf, president of Ben Kahn Furs, explains. In Alaska...
Since Americans use much more oil than anyone else, they need to cut back the most. As the Senate last week approved the outlines of a windfall-profits tax on the oil industry, Jimmy Carter was considering a steep new federal tax on retail gasoline. His economists argue passionately for it, but his political advisers worry about a backlash at the polls in November. Illinois Congressman John Anderson, a dark horse Republican presidential candidate, submitted a bill calling for a tax of 50? per gal., with the revenues to be used to chop Social Security taxes approximately in half. That...
...because of a highly complex tax break. The company pays Saudi Arabia the fixed price for the oil that it extracts and then collects a production fee of 25? per bbl. But 85% of its payments are considered Saudi income taxes, which Aramco's four parents ultimately can use to reduce their U.S. income taxes. Every time Saudi Arabia increases its oil prices, Aramco's local tax payments rise, and so do its benefits under the U.S.'s so-called foreign tax credit. President Carter has vowed to tighten up on the credits...