Don’t know how many of you use cold water for your laundry… but you should.  Most laundry detergents today work just fine in cold water, and you will save energy by not having to heat the water for your wash.  For a family, this can really add up – and not heating the laundry water can really reduce your energy bills.  By all means switch over.  We did so long ago (maybe 20+ years), and I couldn’t even begin to tell you how much money we are saving this way – but I know it helps!

As you combine these savings with compact fluorescent or L.E.D. bulbs  your energy savings – and the savings on your energy bills - will continue to grow.  (I have been changing over to CFL bulbs for years, and we now have more than 30 CFLs in our house.  I’ll continue to change them over until almost all of them are converted.  Because of the slow “coming up to full brilliance” of CFL bulbs, especially as they get older, you may find it necessary to leave a few bulbs as regular incandescent, but get as many over to CFL as you can.  You’ll save energy for the planet, and save on your utility bills.

And if you are interested in learning about how to add solar and wind power to your home, here is a great book.  I especially like this one because Michael shows you great sources for solar panels, generators, batteries, etc. and many of them are at very low or even NO cost – cool!

In case you think I am a tree hugging nut who believes Al Gore when he says New York will be under water shortly, I’m not.  I just advocate the efficient use of the world’s natural resources.  Consult the preamble to the U.S. constitution where is says, “… for ourselves and our posterity,” (emphasis mine).  We owe it to our children and their children to leave the world, hopefully, better than we found it.  This means using the most efficient transportation that is practical, and using as little energy as possible.  If each of us does as much as possible, it all adds up.  Don’t let the government regulate us to this – they’ll ruin it - let’s do it ourselves!

Dan