- #1
pattylou
- 306
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One of the Earth's resources is oil (and other fossil fuels.) Prices are going up! Up and up and up! We are consistently over 60 dollars a barrel now, electric costs are rising as a result, and so is paying at the pump.
How do we stretch out resources to ease the strain on our pocketbook? Share you ideas here. How are fossil fuels used? How can we use less?
Personally, the four biggest changes we have made in the last year include:
(1) photovoltaics to provide our home energy needs. THese pannels will pay for themselves in 5 - 7 years, and will continue to function for another 15. We calculate a savings for our family, of 15,000 dollars over the life of the panels.
(2) We're driving a hybrid now. We pay about 20 dollars to fill the tank, and we can drive about 400 mileson a tank. We haven't calculated when the savings will start to pay for the car, but it sure feels nice to pay 20 bucks to fill the tank.
(3) We're growing more of our own food, and using cloth bags at the stores. Our grocery bills are down about 100 dollars a month because we grow our own potatoes, salad greens, some fruit, tomatoes, squashes...and so on. This saves on packaging (the packaging requires fossil fuel consumption, as does transport of foods to grocers.) And, since we are tending slightlty more towards vegetarian (because we have so much coming in from the garden) we are saving on main courses as well - not buying as much 5 dollar a pound meat, for example.
How about you? Have your habits changed as oil becomes more expensive? Where do you think the largest use of this increasingly expensive resource, occurs? I have heard that air travel uses an inordinate amount of fossil fuels. Will we see plane tickets rising with the cost of a barrel of oil? Some friends of mine sign on to deals with the electric company - either opting for wind power, or opting for two different rates per kWh depending on time of day, or opting for Edison to be able to shut off their air conditioner in the summer as needed, during peak demand. Have you involved yourself with anything like this?
How do we stretch out resources to ease the strain on our pocketbook? Share you ideas here. How are fossil fuels used? How can we use less?
Personally, the four biggest changes we have made in the last year include:
(1) photovoltaics to provide our home energy needs. THese pannels will pay for themselves in 5 - 7 years, and will continue to function for another 15. We calculate a savings for our family, of 15,000 dollars over the life of the panels.
(2) We're driving a hybrid now. We pay about 20 dollars to fill the tank, and we can drive about 400 mileson a tank. We haven't calculated when the savings will start to pay for the car, but it sure feels nice to pay 20 bucks to fill the tank.
(3) We're growing more of our own food, and using cloth bags at the stores. Our grocery bills are down about 100 dollars a month because we grow our own potatoes, salad greens, some fruit, tomatoes, squashes...and so on. This saves on packaging (the packaging requires fossil fuel consumption, as does transport of foods to grocers.) And, since we are tending slightlty more towards vegetarian (because we have so much coming in from the garden) we are saving on main courses as well - not buying as much 5 dollar a pound meat, for example.
How about you? Have your habits changed as oil becomes more expensive? Where do you think the largest use of this increasingly expensive resource, occurs? I have heard that air travel uses an inordinate amount of fossil fuels. Will we see plane tickets rising with the cost of a barrel of oil? Some friends of mine sign on to deals with the electric company - either opting for wind power, or opting for two different rates per kWh depending on time of day, or opting for Edison to be able to shut off their air conditioner in the summer as needed, during peak demand. Have you involved yourself with anything like this?