Going Green and Saving Electricity

Mercia Tapping

I recently returned from the UK, where I grew up with solar panels, and where recycling wasn’t even a term—it was a way of life. We reused every piece of string and paper bag. Foil or cling wrap were carefully washed and reused, and we never went from one room to the next without turning out the lights. After living for 35 years in America, I realized just about a year ago that I had forgotten my roots; and was a greedily guzzling resources like many other Americans.

Turning the clock back has not been easy, and we have a long way to go before we are done greening our household. Among the many little steps we have taken, the first benefit we have realized has been a huge drop in our electricity bill—we have been tracking a 40% reduction in the last 4 months compared to last year.

This is what we have done:

1. I bought a Honda Accord hybrid and cut my gasoline bill almost in half.
2. Bought a Maytag front load washer to replace our top load model.
3. We stepped up our recycling habits and now recycle everything that moves.
4. I hound my husband mercilessly about turning off the lights as he leaves a room, and patrol the house each night for lights left on at bed time.
5. We no longer put on the outside lights unless we are having guests. This is not a sacrifice, as we normally enter through the garage.
6. We are making the switch over to compact fluorescent bulbs. Who would think there are so many light fixtures in one house?
7. Switched off the second refrigerator in the garage and will only use it for holidays and special events.
8. Turned off my dehumidifier in the unfinished part of our basement. It turns out that we don’t really store valuables there.
9. Used putty to seal up the drafty windows in our north facing room.
10. Installed an attic tent to keep the attic temperature isolated from the rest of the house.
11. Keep the shades down in our south facing windows during the day when we are out of the house.
12. Last but not least, I turn off the air conditioning for the weekend when we go to our summer home. My husband squawks about this one as it takes time to cool off the house when we come home. But since our electric bill has decreased, I have prevailed.

There is so much more to do, and these are some recent green accomplishments. I will keep you posted on the next wave of updates.