Luis Rocks

“Going green” isn’t easy. Over the past couple of months I’ve taken steps towards being a bit nicer to my host, otherwise known as planet earth. While reading The Monitor today I found out that a new wind farm is going up in Kenedy County and I think it’s great. So I decided to share some of what I’ve personally done to help clean up our increasingly mucky planet.

• I’ve switched to an all-renewable electric provider and there is A LOT of them to choose from and even if you’re simply trying to reduce your energy bill alone you should checkout www.powertochoose.org; which is a service by the Public Utility Commission of Texas which compiles info about electric providers, their prices and renewable energy content. Visit the site, compare providers and lock in a good rate and opt for 100% renewable energy.

If you’re too lazy you can visit Green Mountain Energy –they have decent prices per kWh.

• I’ve also gotten all my electrical junk and plugged them into power-strips and when I’m not around I’ll unplug the whole strip and kill all wasted energy. There are some disadvantages to this with some electronics being “reset,” but for the most part you don’t need all your junk sucking juice out of not only the grid but your wallet!

• I also unplug my PC’s when not in use, this one was hard to adapt to but once again a power-strip means only one thing being plugged in (ideally.) Any reduction in power use helps, even that damn light on your pc junk! I also realized I didn’t need my laptop plugged in and on all night, which means I don’t sleep within a few feet of a PC just waiting to be used for hours on end.

• Over a year ago I switched to energy-saving light bulbs, the switch took over 70 bulbs and was pretty costly but worth it. While on the bulb subject, do you really need a working bulb in each socket? Energy saving or not un-screw bulbs you don’t really need.

• I’ve also tried to reduce my use of my hand-dandy clothes dryer. While it leaves our clothing nice and fluffy… it’s an energy hog. I’m at the point where I’m using good old-fashion clothes lines and sunshine. While this is a pain in the –uh, neck. It’s really a great step to take and it’ll reduce your power consumption dramatically. I will admit towels were really hard to get used to, getting out of the shower and not having my usually fluffy towel was scary for a while, its worth getting used to. It worked for as long as people have had wet clothing (for ever,) so there’s nothing wrong with using nature to do your laundry drying.

• I also take it easy on the A/C, living in South Texas this is a major pain, but do you really need to have your home at a chilly 74 degrees or lower? 78, 79, 80 degree temperatures on the all feel fine in a well insulated home with ceiling fans and stuff. A programmable thermostat also goes a long way but I’ve been a fan of all digital for a long time and haven’t made that leap yet.

There are a few other small things I’ve done but those were the most important. Month after month I’ve gotten better and better at saving power. I’ve also gotten my family and friends to think about making changes in their life. Power consumption at home has gone down about 30 to 35 percent. Being a heavy PC user and TV addict I’m looking into getting solar panels for those items alone, a solar water-heater is also on the list.

While I’m not totally green and won’t ever be, I’m just trying to kick some bad habits and save some cash.