Green Energy

@dorannmwin (36392)
United States
August 26, 2010 12:06pm CST
So, I got our electric bill in the mail yesterday and it is more than I would like to pay so I was trying to look at things that would be able to save money for us if we continue to use the same amount of electricity that we've used during this hot summer. There was an announcement on the back of our electric bill about signing up for green energy. I thought, well this would be good for the environment and I bet it will save money as well. So, I did a little bit of research about it. It turns out that our electric company charges consumers more to buy blocks of green energy. They say that it costs more to develop this kind of energy. This made me angry because I know that we could generate some electricity out of our home if we had the time to do it. How about you, how do you feel about green energy? Have you thought about making your home more green? What are you doing to conserve electricity in your home?
1 person likes this
7 responses
@petersum (4522)
• United States
26 Aug 10
My general view is that green always costs more. But you can save sometimes. I use compact fluorescent tube lights instead of ordinary light bulbs. They cost more but last longer and eat up less electricity. Am I saving anything? I really don't know! Major electricity eaters in my house are the fridge and my computer! Well, I haven't seen any green refrigerators yet! I suppose there must be such a thing? I don't think I would buy a new fridge just yet as the old one is working fine. As for my rather old Pentium 3 computer, it takes less power than the newer ones, so... The real saving is actually quite simple. Turn off your lights and open your curtains! Yes really! We spend too much time shut inside, protecting our modesty or whatever. Let the sun into your home and sweat a little. That is going to save a lot of energy if everyone did it.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
31 Aug 10
You are definitely right about turning off the lights and opening the curtains. I try, especially during the longer days of the year, to not have the lights on at the house during the day. There are times that I will need a light here or there, but it actually drives my son insane that I am able to deal with less light to use the natural light.
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
26 Aug 10
Oh my goodness that is just utterly and morally wrong of your electric company. They are passing off this new revolution of greener homes and people (and I don't mean green with envy) and trying to make money from it. I'm sorry but there ARE cheaper ways out there you just have to find them. I just feel sorry for those who sign up for it because they think it's worth it when in reality how do we know it's truly green? My husband and I live with his parents still, but there are times we walk around turning off lights that are left on and unplugging things that aren't used all day. We've not done this in awhile admittedly, but it's a habit we will do when we get our own place. I'm not sure how much it actually saves, but I think it saves considerably over time. We're also considering moving in with a friend and his fiance, and if we do this we will need to figure out ways to save for us all, so of course that's where all the research I've done online will come in handy. Of course aside from electricity using excess water from a shower to put in your toilet for flushing, or to water your garden with. Using excess water from washing your hands in the sink in the kitchen to also do the same thing or to wash the car with even. Hmm dryer sheets to freshen the bathroom (put one in the trash can), using candles instead of those glade things or aersol spray, turning the vent on (if you have one) while using the bathroom can defeat the purpose of needing to purchase the candles or aersol spray which over time might get pricey... I've done a lot of research and thinking about ways to be more cost efficient, I just forget all I've learned.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
31 Aug 10
Over the past year, we really have become a lot more cost efficient. However, the summer threw us off by a whole lot and I think that is largely in part due to the fact that it was a lot warmer this summer than it was last summer so our air conditioning was running more. However, I know it could be a lot worse, we added a lot of insulation to our attic last fall and winter because we knew that the house wasn't properly insulated.
1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
8 Sep 10
The insulation is going to save in the long run I am sure. My grandparents have insulation in their attic but it's old, maybe as old as the house and so I am not sure how long the insulation is guaranteed to last. It's been 35 years at least since they've gotten the house.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
9 Sep 10
We've not yet been through a winter with it, but we have been through the summer and although our monthly electric bill was more, I also have to take into consideration that we had 30 more 90+ days than we had last year, so it isn't even a fair comparison.
@mimpi1911 (25464)
• India
26 Aug 10
That's kind of upsetting. I guess we need more and more people joining the green venture before we could actually save energy. I try my best to conserve energy at home. It may be little things but it helps at the end of the day. Like all power points go off when not working. We use the AC, washing machines, gadgets in electro saving mode and also I make sure to put off all power points and switch off the main point before going out. Regular checking of the faucets and water pipes helps in timely fixing of the leaking points. I think awareness is the main motivation towards living green.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
31 Aug 10
I do think that there does need to be more awareness in order for the green movement to truly take hold. I am completely in favor of green energy, but right now it is all we can do to make sure that our bills are paid on time, so I won't be paying more for blocks of green energy. In the future we will be able to do it for ourselves, but right now is not the right time.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
27 Aug 10
hi dorannmnwin when we were last in an apartment we did not leave lights burning all over the apartment.You left the room, you turned off the'lights.and we used the setting power saver on our air conditioning as we had a long seige of wildfires which filled the outside air with noxious particles of ash.We changed light bulbs to the screwy looking ones and saved a lot on our light bill. We also shut off the television and radios when we were not using them.We turned off our computers and monitors at bedtime to save on power and on the computer and monitor too.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
31 Aug 10
We do use he compact florescent lights in our house and I do believe that has made a lot of difference. However, I can't tell you how much it is saving because we have used those since we bought our house.
@savypat (20216)
• United States
26 Aug 10
I felt the same as you when I first investigated this. I wish I could afford to go solar but even that with the government footing some of the bill is to much for me.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
31 Aug 10
Right now I know that it is too much for us. However, once we've gotten our credit cards paid off, I really do think that it will be a possiblity for us.
@bounce58 (17387)
• Canada
30 Aug 10
I think I saw something about this topic on CNN the other night. I think it was small restaurant in New York. They did say that it was expensive to buy blocks of green energy. And the way they got around it was they banded together so they can realize the savings. I wonder if that would work in your area. In any case, you've got to get a lot of people involved and interested in doing this move. And I think that is the real hardwork in making the savings. For a single family, I don't know if it would be worth it. Goodluck to you! When we do our laundry, we hang them in one of our rooms and let it dry for a few days. Even if we had to wash 2 or 3 times a week, we don't put them in the dryer until the weekend. And when we do, we just do 5-minute batches just to take out the wrinkles because they are already dry. And we do the bacthes in succession. It greatly reduced our bill!
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
31 Aug 10
You're right, I don't think that there is a way that would make it cost efficient for a single family. As of right now we don't have any option but to use our dryer because we haven't a place to hang clothes inside the house and the outside is far too wooded to be efficient for drying clean clothes.
@dawnald (85129)
• Shingle Springs, California
26 Aug 10
We have the thermostat up to 80 when we're not home in the summer and down to 55 when we're not home in the winter. I think we need to switch over to some other form of energy (as opposed to those fueled by petroleum), but there is obviously going to be a cost to develop it and get it up and running. Still that will be hard to do if the costs end up falling on people who can't afford it. I'd love to put solar panels on the house, but just can't do it right now...
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
31 Aug 10
I do tend to adjust the thermostat at different times of the day. Right now I am setting it lower at night because I can't sleep in a hot room. However, in the winter we do keep it pretty cool because you can pile a lot of clothes on, but during the summer there is only so much that you can take off.