Reply #38: Manure. [View All]

The affluent can afford newer, more 'energy efficient' homes and appliances. The poor often live in rentals where they're required to pay their own utilities but the property owner is unwilling to make the investments in insulation upgrades and furnace upgrades that would lower the energy consumption. When one is living at or close to a subsistence level, it's nearly impossible for them to 'front' the costs of longer term savings. It's an economic trap -- a bit like a Chinese finger puzzle.

At the same time, large commercial (think World Trade Center) and industrial (think Alcoa) consumers of electricity pay at rates that're between 40% and 80% less than what's paid by a single mother of two who lives in a "low rent district".