seezar
01-25-2005, 01:39 PM
Hello everyone,
I'm new here and loving the site. Now that I'm a homeowner I'm looking for ways to cut expenses and save whenever possible.
When it comes to electricity I've always tried to cut my consumption in any way possible, even when I was living in apartments.
One way I have done this was by CFL lighting exclusively. It can be an investment upfront but can be a big payoff because the bulbs last about 10 times longer and use about 1/4 of the energy for the same amount of light. Whenever I moved into a new apartment I'd go around the apartment and replace all the incandescent bulbs with the flourescent bulbs I brought with me. When I moved out, I would replace the bulbs again with what was originally in the apartment and bring mine with me.
Also when buying CFL bulbs the best deals are normally when buying bulk packages. A couple months ago I was in a local home depot and they had 6 packs of 13-watt CFL bulbs (60 watt incandescent equivalent) for $6 which is an unbelievable deal.
Now that I'm in my home I've been able to keep my electricity usage to under 500 kwh a month. I keep an excel spreadsheet to track my usage every month and my new goal is to get this usage to under 400 kwh.
Anyway, my point of the whole thread is that the electricity suppliers in my area offer an option to have at least 50% of my supplied electricity to come from renewable energy sources (i.e. wind, water) for a small additional fee. I believe it comes out to about an additional .05/kwh. They call the program green power. Now on one hand being frugal might say that to save that additonal amount of money not to use the program but on the other hand it is something that I can do to be a little bit kinder to the environment in a time when pollution is really causing its damage.
Just wondering what everyones thoughts are on this and if they have or use the option for green power.
I'm new here and loving the site. Now that I'm a homeowner I'm looking for ways to cut expenses and save whenever possible.
When it comes to electricity I've always tried to cut my consumption in any way possible, even when I was living in apartments.
One way I have done this was by CFL lighting exclusively. It can be an investment upfront but can be a big payoff because the bulbs last about 10 times longer and use about 1/4 of the energy for the same amount of light. Whenever I moved into a new apartment I'd go around the apartment and replace all the incandescent bulbs with the flourescent bulbs I brought with me. When I moved out, I would replace the bulbs again with what was originally in the apartment and bring mine with me.
Also when buying CFL bulbs the best deals are normally when buying bulk packages. A couple months ago I was in a local home depot and they had 6 packs of 13-watt CFL bulbs (60 watt incandescent equivalent) for $6 which is an unbelievable deal.
Now that I'm in my home I've been able to keep my electricity usage to under 500 kwh a month. I keep an excel spreadsheet to track my usage every month and my new goal is to get this usage to under 400 kwh.
Anyway, my point of the whole thread is that the electricity suppliers in my area offer an option to have at least 50% of my supplied electricity to come from renewable energy sources (i.e. wind, water) for a small additional fee. I believe it comes out to about an additional .05/kwh. They call the program green power. Now on one hand being frugal might say that to save that additonal amount of money not to use the program but on the other hand it is something that I can do to be a little bit kinder to the environment in a time when pollution is really causing its damage.
Just wondering what everyones thoughts are on this and if they have or use the option for green power.