May 25, 2007

Electric Bill

I just got our electric bill from last month. And it's low! That’s right – it can be done!!! We have successfully lowered our energy usage in our home to its lowest point since 12/2005 (I can’t see back before then).

05/17/2007 - 343 KWH
04/17/2007 - 513 KWH
03/17/2007 - 556 KWH
02/17/2007 - 752 KWH
01/17/2007 - 645 KWH
12/17/2006 - 518 KWH
11/17/2006 - 558 KWH
10/17/2006 - 414 KWH
09/17/2006 - 440 KWH
08/17/2006 - 918 KWH
07/17/2006 - 686 KWH
06/17/2006 - 443 KWH
05/17/2006 - 517 KWH
04/17/2006 - 586 KWH
03/17/2006 - 565 KWH
02/17/2006 - 647 KWH
01/17/2006 - 751 KWH
12/17/2005 - 539 KWH


Now - I'm hoping this trend will continue. We've switched out 90% of our lights to CFLs. I'm line drying as much of our laundry as I can without the DH protesting, and the stuff I can't line dry I'm combining into one load, using dryer balls instead of dryer sheets, and have lowered the temp from high to medium. Suprisingly the drying time is about the same, even at a lower heat level.

Obviously we haven't switched the air on yet, and we've had the fans running at night, so next month may see a jump again- but I was super excited to see this decrease!

May 24, 2007

Hybrids

Ok - so I've been toying with the idea of trading in my relatively new Saturn Ion for a hybrid. While the Ion gets incredible gas mileage (around 32 highway from what I can tell), I’m interested in a hybrid because I spend so much time in stop and go traffic, that I’m hoping it will be better all around. **If anyone knows anything about hybrids and stop/go traffic, any input would be appreciated.**

The rub with all this is that I’m really torn between getting something like a Prius – well known for it’s mileage, etc. – and a Saturn hybrid. The indecision lies in the whole mess of not wanting our car payment to go up. If we go with a GM or Ford hybrid we’ll get some kind of discount because of where Tom works. Which is awesome – add that to the tax credit for buying a hybrid, and it sounds great. Here’s where it gets sticky – the Saturn hybrid I like is an SUV. Having a hybrid SUV seems like an oxymoron. Especially when the whole premise behind getting a hybrid is to get better mileage, but having the hybrid Vue keeps me at about the mileage we have now with the Ion.

Which brings me right back to being interested in the Prius because it has SUCH high gas mileage… oh the indecision.

I’m trying to set an appointment for Friday to talk with someone at Saturn. We’ll see how that goes.