Our February 17th meeting features Alan Montemayor of San Antonio. He will discuss how he and his wife have achieved their goal of an all-electric home with energy consumption largely offset by renewable solar energy.

PROGRAM TOPIC: Alan Montemayor and Cheryl Hamilton have prioritized energy efficiency over aesthetic changes to their mid-century home during the past thirty years. While retaining the original kitchen, bathrooms and flooring, they have substantially reduced their carbon footprint. In the mid-1990’s they added attic insulation, double-paned external windows/doors, native plant landscaping and energy efficient appliances. Between 2000 and 2020, they added a standing seam metal roof, wide gutters, two 1600-gallon rainwater tanks, a raised bed garden, ten solar panels and two battery electric vehicles.

For the past five years, Alan and Cheryl have generated as much solar energy as they consumed from CPS Energy. This includes charging two electric vehicles for free in that time frame. They have recently added five more solar panels and replaced aging natural gas appliances and their furnace with a high efficiency heat pump air conditioning system, heat pump water heater, and heat pump clothes dryer.

In December CPS Energy removed the natural gas meter and reached their goal of an all- electric home offset by renewable solar energy.

SPEAKER: Alan is a lifelong San Antonio native and has been active with the Sierra Club since 1983. He has a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University and worked at Southwest Research Institute for 25 years, designing alternative fuel vehicles. He is an environmentalist, hiker and do-it-yourselfer. Before Covid, Alan and his wife loved to travel the world. He’s passionate about conservation of natural resources, clean energy, local agriculture, sustainability and improving the quality of life for not just San Antonio and Bexar County but the whole world. His efforts are directed towards local actions that will lead to sustainable energy, water, air quality and food policies for our region. Climate justice is a large part of that local work, and there’s plenty to be done. Alan is chairman of the Alamo Group of the Sierra Club and sits on the board of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance. He says, “I thought retirement would allow me to sleep late and enjoy life, but I’m up every morning at 6am, ready to save the world.”