My husband and I have been trying to be more environmentally friendly over the past several years. We rarely use disposable plates, cups, utensils and napkins. We use white cloths in abundance for napkins, cleaning and many other things we might use other paper products for.
We further looked into how we could cut down on our carbon footprint electrically in our lives. We replaced over three-hundred light bulbs in our house with LED or CFL alternatives. There was an upfront cost, but we'll recoup the entire amount in less than three years. That being said, it wasn't about the dollars, it was about the right thing to do. We know we're using less electricity every month as a result and will continue to do so, for years to come and we won't have to replace light bulbs to do so.
We then looked at an electric car and if you read this blog, you know we purchased a Tesla Model S. Buying an electric car is a wonderful thing, but it's not something you do to recoup the full cost of the car. Even the most economically-priced electric car will take over a decade in fuel cost savings to get close to repaying the cost of the car. Our car, which we love, would take significantly longer to recoup in cost. That's not why we did it though—we did it because we believed it was the right thing to do. We're not burning fossil fuels in an inefficient internal combustion engine vehicle. We are, instead, charging the car on the more efficient energy sources provided from the electrical company's power grid.
We did a calculation on the car and it's usage of energy. The cost of charging the car is like adding seven weeks of electricity usage on our power bill each year—a dramatic savings from the gas costs we were incurring in prior years.
The thing we've most wanted to do of late is add solar panels to the house. We would very much like to defray the entire burden of our energy consumption by solar energy production from panels on our roof. We looked at solar as an option last year before we purchased the Tesla and were disappointed in what we found out. First, we don't have an ideal angle on our house. We're east/west facing whereas north/south facing with the southern face at the back of the house ideal. Second, the pitch of our house is such that any solar panels on the back of our house go into shadow after three o'clock most days as the sun sets into the west. There were trees and we also had a broken up roof line. All things that made the number of panels and the production numbers on the panels not ideal.
So we decided to wait. It was hard to wait in part, because state and federal incentives were so alluring. Sixty-five percent of the total cost of the implementation was covered via eligible tax credits from federal and state government. Those incentives remain this year, but legislation is in play that may change this.
The next concern I had was panel technology. What if we bought something this year and next year there's a new product that has far higher production capacity per panel? My husband is well-read and he's been following the solar technology in both past, present and predicted future. There have been advances, but they've been slow increments in production over time. Doing nothing because, "next year there might be something better," will always be true. Having breakthrough paralysis won't put solar panels on the house and we'll keep burning fossil fuels. The panels today are excellent. They perform well and produce significant amounts of energy and we have enough roof to make it work.
The question is, what are we going to decide to do? I'll let you know when we figure it out.
The Big Boy Update: "Rayan is Stupid!" My son was angry yesterday because his sister and his two best friends didn't do exactly what he wanted them to do when he wanted them to do it...so he called them all stupid in turn. I was in earshot and snatched his arm, walking him quickly in the other direction. He was immediately contrite, but that was only because he got caught. He hears these things at school and realizes words are powerful. It took a while before his attitude was adjusted enough to join his friends at the graduation party he desperately wanted to attend.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter was eating he salad with ginger dressing at lunch at our favorite sushi and Thai restaurant when she dropped her "tweezers" as she calls them. She is getting good at eating with chopsticks with the child attachment.
Fitness Update: I've decided our trainer, Don, is trying to either kill us or train us for the Donathalon. I'm hoping it's the latter, but sometimes my muscles think it's the former.
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