Springtime is the season of colors: Hummingbirds and Morning Glory, Daisies in clay pots, Super Models in the latest fashion. This year, the "in" color for spring is green!
Go Green Energy!
Sign up for renewable energy for your home. The utility companies in many states provide plans for its customers’ that use energy produced through renewable energy sources. Arizona Public Service first began offering “green energy” to its customers in 2007. In order to meet increased demand in the future, they are continuing to explore all renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hybrid of solar and wind, biomass and biogas, landfill gas and hydropower. Their goal is to add 45,000 mega-watt hours of available green energy per year to its customers.
APS customers can use green energy to replace all or part of their energy consumption. The cost? They offer 100 KWH blocks, at an additional .01 per KWH. So, for 5 blocks, a customer will pay an extra $5 per month.
Go Green - Paperless Statements!
Turning off paper statements protects the environment by saving trees, wastewater, solid waste, and energy. By estimate, the average household receives seven monthly statements, totalling 19 pages monthly per household, or 228 pages annually.
The Population Reference Bureau reports that the estimated number of households in 2006 was 111,617,402. Using that three year old consensus figure, if just 50% of the households in the U.S. are still receiving all their statements via U.S. Mail, approximately 12,724,373,828 pieces of paper are created and thrown away annually! Now, that’s a lot of shredding!
Go Green Lighting - Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs
Install Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs in all high use areas such as kitchen ceiling fixtures, living room lamps, and outdoor coach lights. The average life of a CFL bulb is 7 years and the estimated energy savings for the life of each bulb is $30. That savings does not include the savings that CFL bulbs provide in cooling costs. (CFL bulbs emit less heat than standard bulbs) But be sure to recycle, since they contain trace amounts of mercury.
Go Green Before You Go On Spring Vacation
Before you leave:
- Turn your thermostat up to 85 or 90 degrees. (Each degree reduces your bill by 2%)
- Turn up refrigerator thermostat.
- Turn off all lights, except for a few security lights set on timers
- Close shades and curtains
Go Green With a Crock-Pot Recipe!
Every family has a favorite crock-pot recipe. This spring, share your recipes with neighbors and family or on the Crock-Pot® website to help reduce overall energy consumption.
According to the Blue Egg website, “Per week, if you replace one meal cooked in an electric oven with a meal cooked in a crock pot, you could save nearly $10 per year in energy cost—just from the cooking. You'll save even more energy during the summer months when the oven isn't heating up an air-conditioned house.”
Likewise, the Crock-Pot® website states, “a Crock-Pot® slow cooker, only uses approximately 75 watts of electricity on LOW and approximately 150 watts on HIGH. It cooks all day for only a few cents!”
Go Green Habits - Replace Bad With Green!
This year, start an annual spring tradition in your family to implement at least one new green habit. Ideas might include: planting a green plant and keeping it alive, start using biodegradable cleaning products, unplugging all cell phone chargers when not in use, using cloth napkins for one meal every day.
Start this spring and, eventually, the world will be a greener place! And, as one famous frog once said, "It's good to be green!"
Jan Peterson - I'm a retired banker, published songwriter, cyber journalist, and member of the advisory board for the Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall ...
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