Think Green

I'm not a particularly green-minded person, I'm embarrassed to admit. I do my share of recycling because frankly, the garbage company requires clear bags and will leave our garbage sitting at the curb if there are cans, bottles, glass jars and that sort of stuff included. I do make a very moderate attempt at turning off lights, not running the hot water too long and that kind of thing, but if it's too inconvenient, I really don't do my part. And if it's not comfortable---let's just say I neeeed the heat set at 70 in the bitter cold winter.

I did decide to begin experimenting a year ago with the fluorescent lights that have become increasingly popular. That's the only conscious change I've made in our power consumption and even though our temperatures have been 8 degrees colder this month compared to a year ago, our power consumption is down 24 kwh on a daily average. When I first began the switch, I noticed a drop in our power bill, and now that we've been using them for a year, our monthly bill is about $60 less than it used to be.

Since we've made such a noticeable difference, I'm going to continue to switch out to fluorescents as my incandescents burn out (I'm about 75% switched) and I might even be inspired to put on a sweater & turn down the heat.