A nice young college age guy knocked on our door yesterday. He was a representative from Green Mountain Energy spreading the real gospel (good news). I used to have a very nice contract with Direct Energy in Houston, but it expired last fall. Now I'm getting probed deeper than I ever have if you know what I mean. It was on my to do list to find an altenative, so when the GM guy showed up I sat down with him and we went over my bill.
I had heard maybe a year ago that wind power was beginning to be cheaper than coal, or was going to be in the very near future. It seems that this has finally come to pass.
Last spring I upgraded my attic insulation to R39, which started at a pathetic R9, and put a reflective radiant barrier foil under my rafters througout, including the garage (Radiant heat is exactly that; the air in the room may be cool, but the you will feel the heat if it is not blocked from your skin in spite of the cool air). The attic stays cooler. The garage stays cooler. This is Houston, the change in that uncooled space is very noticeable. My house is just under 2000 sq ft. The total cost for all of this was around $1300. It was partially tax deductable, and there was rebate from Lowes for the insulation, so the actual cost was around $1000, maybe less. My cooling bill has dropped at least $150 per month in the summer months. By the end of this summer I am going to do better than break even on the deal. The level of comfort has increased substantially. It was for only few nights work in the attic (It was miserable work here though. Someone had spread paper insulation in years before that has decayed into dust. If you can't handle a normal attic you're a wuss). The cars are cooler in the garage.
I have two large picture windows, one in the dining and one in the master bedroom that are only single pane. This year I am going to try something I grew up with in the north and cover them with clear plastic. I have purchased new patio doors for two rooms, but haven't installed them yet.
There are no incandecent lights in my house. They are all fluorescents. You can find them in any size now. They paid for themselves years ago. Don't tell the "conservative" idiots though. Let them believe Rush Limp Baugh that they are oh so expensive to buy. And the damned incandecents give off heat. Some of you may know clearly I am a Yankee, and I HATE heat.
But I digress. This diary is about how you can save money and do almost nothing to do it (since most of you are wusses).
My current rate is .1589 kWh. This is stated in some out of the way place as the average price I paid. It says I pay .1547 where I normally look, but the GM guy explained that there are fees tacked on and when they are accounted for I actually pay the .1589.
In my area Green Mountain is now at .143 kWh. It's a flat rate, and there are No fees.
I work out of my home. I do alot of distributed process programming, so I run several computers intensely. (Actually I have moved on to something new and exciting. stay tuned!) My usage last month was 1660 kWh. If I had Green Mountain I would have saved $28.
It's not even summer yet. Summer usage increase, and summer rates increase too. At that rate, 12 times that for the year I'll save over $400. With summer factored in probably well over $500.
Please take a few minutes this week to look at your energy bill and compare it with some of the Renewable Energy companies if they are available to you.
Update: A few old diaries about the topic.
dyspeptex tried to tell us this before! - Losing the Battle, Winning the War
Neverknowsbest tells you how to find cheap alternative power in Texas - Texas: Want green energy? Here's how