Saving Money by Going Green: Knowing Your State’s Incentives

Did you know that many states are now offering incentives to residents for energy-efficient upgrades to their home? To determine what’s available in your state, one great resource is the online Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (http://www.dsireuse.org). This website continuously updates their listings, so check it often to see what programs and rebates you can benefit from.

From the DSIRE homepage, click on your state for a comprehensive list of state policies and incentives. For any particular rebate, it’s important to consider the available details. Click on the name of the rebate program to review the specific terms, deadlines, and application procedures to make sure that you can get the most money back for your conservation investments.

With all of the incentives out there, choosing the best energy-efficiency investment decisions and green product purchases can be a challenge. Making sure to follow the correct steps in obtaining your rebate can also be overwhelming. Your local Green Irene Eco-Consultant is the perfect local resource to help you make sense of your state incentives and determine the best path for you to follow on the road to energy efficiency. Your Eco-Consultant can also introduce you to Green Irene’s full line of green products, including products that qualify for local rebates! For instance, there is currently a rebate available in Arizona and Nevada that offsets much of the cost of the low-flow shower head that Green Irene offers. Contact your Eco-Consultant today, and take advantage of your local energy-efficiency incentives while they last!

Building a Foundation for Energy Conservation

Want to get the most bang for your buck in going green? High profile projects like home solar panels may not actually be the best first step. Check out Minnesota Power’s energy conservation pyramid above, which can help in understanding the best choices to get the highest return on your investment.

As the pyramid shows, changes like reducing vampire power and switching to energy-efficient lighting can make a big impact for your home without the significant cost of more complex projects like replacing windows or installing a home wind turbine. This means smaller purchases like CFL bulbs to replace incandescents or power strips for electronics can be the best way to start conserving.

Even more importantly, the pyramid shows that the base for energy conservation is information. Understanding your energy usage, potential steps, and appropriate products and tools is fundamental to any other conservation measures you may take.

A Green Home Makeover from your local Green Irene Eco-Consultant is a perfect first step in determining your best path to energy conservation. Your Green Irene Eco-Consultant is your local green friend who can help in making sure you get the best possible return on your investments. They can also provide you with more information on Green Irene’s wide selection of products for energy conservation and more, making sure that you choose the right products for greening your home. Contact him or her today, and start building the foundation to your family’s energy efficiency.

Staying Warm in Minnesota

Anyone who lives in a cold climate knows that the only thing that can chill you more than Old Man Winter is that energy bill in February.  About eight years ago, the first winter in our home was quite a learning experience; the February gas bill was over $350!  We didn’t realize just how much it would cost to heat our home, and we didn’t sign up for a budget plan with our utility provider.  Even though it balanced out with lower gas bills in the summer, we still needed to do something to reduce that winter bill.

Two years ago, our monthly budget for natural gas averaged out to $103 ($1,236 per year). We then started on our green journey and made small improvements around our home; a little here and a little there. Last year our budget dropped to $64 monthly ($768 a year).

Last summer when I became a Green Irene Consultant, I decided to challenge my family to bring down our energy consumption even more without breaking the bank on home improvements.  So my first makeover was our own house, and just by doing the simple things and modifying our habits we were pleasantly surprised when our utility company sent us our budget amount for the 2009-2010 winter.  We now pay only $41 per month or $492 per year!

That’s over a 60% savings, and we did NOT replace our furnace, windows, doors, or any other major gas appliances.  Our house is a toasty 69 degrees when we are home and we use NO space heaters!

Just goes to show that you don’t have to invest a ton of money to save money!

Chris Hughes
Green Irene Eco-Consultant
Minneapolis, MN
http://www.GreenIrene.com/MNGreenteam

Google PowerMeter: The Path to Smarter Power

How much does it cost to keep your bathroom light on all day?
Which uses more energy, your washing machine or your dryer?
How in the world can you find out?

Thanks to Google, this information may soon be close at hand. Google is providing a free web service called PowerMeter that consumers can use to track energy use in their house or business as it is consumed. Google PowerMeter receives information from utility smart meters and energy management devices and provides customers with access to their home electricity consumption right on their personal iGoogle homepage. To get access to a home’s electricity information, the home either needs an advanced electricity meter (a “smart meter”) or a consumer-owned electricity management device. But smart meters need to be coupled with a strategy to provide customers with easy access to detailed information on their energy usage. Google PowerMeter, combined with your utilities company, will be able to provide you with your home’s electrical information in the form of a secure Google gadget.

Knowing my home’s electrical information and power usage is great, but how can this help lower my energy bills? Google claims that their studies show that access to your household’s personal energy information is likely to save you 5-15% on your monthly bill.

Google PowerMeter features functions such as an analysis that will provide better information about how your home uses energy. It will suggest ways for you to be more energy efficient and will propose ways that you can lower your energy bill. The application even has a sharing function to see how your energy consumption compares to that of your friends and neighbors.

For now, Google PowerMeter is only available to a limited group of customers because it is still in beta testing mode, but it will be free to both utilities and customers.

Google hopes to work with as many utility companies as possible to deliver this data to anyone with a smart meter. Their current utilities partners include Glasgow EPB, JEA, Reliance Energy, San Diego Gas & Electric, Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited, TXU Energy, White River Valley Electric Cooperative, and Wisconsin Public Service. Google has also joined forces as an integration partner with Itron, which serves over 8,000 utilities clients.

For more information, please visit the Google PowerMeter FAQ page by clicking here.

Article and image excerpted from Google.org.

Saving Money on Batteries

Batteries. You need them for plenty of home devices, ranging from your remote control to your smoke detector. Batteries don’t just require a lot of energy to manufacture, but they also create significant amounts of waste that, if not recycled, end up in landfills and can leak toxic chemicals into the environment. What’s more, every time your non-rechargeable batteries reach the end of their lifetime, you have to buy new ones, making you spend more money on batteries.

Your local Green Irene Eco-Consultant says this is not necessary. In fact, he or she can show you that you can save money, reduce your footprint, and save time buying batteries. Your local Eco-Consultant can show you how much money you will save annually with the Battery Savings Calculator. After determining your potential battery savings, you can purchase the Green Irene Hybrid Rechargeable Batteries Kit to replace non-rechargeable batteries and save up to $13,000 over the lifetime of the batteries, in addition to reducing your footprint. And this will only cost you $69 for the kit, which includes the battery charger itself.

With a little guidance from your local Eco-Consultant, you can determine how much money you are wasting in disposable batteries and how much you can save with Green Irene Hybrid Rechargeable Batteries. Why bother buying disposable batteries and waste money when you can take a different strategy? Don’t wait any longer. Ask your local Green Irene Eco-Consultant today to find out more!

Rosamaria Caballero Stafford
Co-Founder and the Original Green Irene

There Are Vampires In Your Home…

You’ve probably seen those movies where vampires appear in the dark of the night. As a grown up, you also probably think the story is not real. In fact, as you see where this is going, you probably think this is a joke. But the fact is that your local Green Irene Eco-Consultant can tell you there are vampires in your home! Instead of sucking your blood like real vampires do, these “energy vampires” suck your money by consuming electricity unnecessarily. Many people don’t think about energy vampires, but they can have a significant toll on your energy bill. Energy vampires are power losses from devices and appliances due to a stand-by mode. While the device or appliance is “off” but plugged in, it is consuming a small amount of power that overtime adds to a lot of power.

You can easily save $100’s per year and reduce your carbon emissions by asking your local Green Irene Eco-Consultant to help you not just reduce your energy vampires, but practically eliminate them. Your Eco-Consultant will walk you through my Energy Vampire Calculator to show you how much you can save annually in reduced energy bills because of simple changes you can make to finally make vampires history for sure. Want to learn more? Your local Green Irene Eco-Consultant is ready to help you out!

Rosamaria Caballero Stafford
Co-Founder and the Original Green Irene