Saving The Planet With Little Dents – Update

On August 9 I encouraged everyone to not only turn off but also to unplug appliances and electronic devices not in use at that moment to help save some money and the planet.

Since that time, some have asked for an update of what my personal results have been, so here goes:

2007 2008
MONTH KWH BILL KWH BILL COMMENT
July 250 $49.65 265 $61.41
August 303 $58.18 211 $50.21 Dent chg 9th
September 262 $51.18 110 $29.27 Fridge 26th

OK, the data above which so nicely fits in a table in Word, or even into tab-created columns, is a mishmosh; so here’s the detail in words. In August, I began turning off and unplugging anything I could that was using electricity when I wasn’t using it. Last year, usage went up for the month of August by 53 KWH (kilowatt hours) over usage in July. This year, it was almost the reverse. August went down by 54 KWH over July usage. The net difference from last year to this was a savings of 92 KWH.

I haven’t checked out the weather bureau to see if this August was a lot cooler than last August, but I don’t believe that would have made this much of a difference - I don’t use air conditioning in my home, and usually only use one window fan, at night, and it has a thermostat built in so doesn’t run all night long most nights.

On to September! I purchased a new Energy Star rated refrigerator on tax free weekend (8/18) which was delivered on 8/26. My old refrigerator, goddess bless it, had been a refurbished model that I know I had purchased prior to 1987. Although it will take many years to recoup the purchase price in energy $$ savings, I am happy to note that the carbon footprint of my home has been reduced by this amount. My usage was reduced by 152 KWH for the same month – yeah!!

Just one more thing: the local energy company I purchase electricity from is NSTAR. During the summer they offered the opportunity to sign up to have either part or all of your electricity generated using wind-power. I chose to go with 100% green generation. There is an additional cost for this (it’s about 3 cents per KWH), but hopefully as more customers choose this option that will turn around (pun intended!)

We can all make a dent – hope you’ve been inspired by reading about what I’ve done recently to make some changes yourself.

Peace to all, Judi

Shameless Self-Promotion Day!!

New Eco-Friendlier Photo Presentation Product:

Well, today I launched my new product – Jewel Of A ReUse – using an empty, recycled CD case to hold a picture that can be wall or table art. Hope you’ll click here to take a gander, only one posted so far, but more are on the way.

Etsy Treasury Inclusion:

I was also one of the members included in a POE treasury today. The image chosen was my Mini Fenway Park – I’m very excited. The treasury is the Photographers of Etsy Showcase. Treasuries only last a couple of days, this one will expire on Wednesday 2:34 PM July 16. I’ve got a screen capture of it here on Flickr.

I am feeling very blessed that these events occurred at all, and doubly so since they are on the same day.

Peace to all, Judi