There certainly are more than four people in the state of California making an effort to go Green and reduce their footprint. ...we need to rally.

No kidding!! I think we're doing a great job!! Keep it up!!

Hey! Looks like we're getting up there on the leaderboard again. Not bad for just a couple of people.

very nice ;)

The degree is in Metaphysics and Spiritual Counseling. My paper is on using dissapointments in life as a catalyst for personal growth.

So what are is your Masters in? I'm working on mine as well...just a thesis for one & mid way through another

Yeah, we have lazy appliances too...an extra mini fridge & i want a wine fridge ;) The TV gets left on by the kids a bit to much, but the lights are pretty much always off. I guess thats a start...

Our biggie is electricity. We have appliances that we really need to unplug, or things (like extra fridge, mini fridge) that are in use just out of convienence and lazyness. And the tvs... We keep the tvs and lights on in the living room just to keep the bird company. We are seeing a difference though. Our usage since last year is down, and other areas (like how much crud we waste and just toss in the garbage) has been drastically altered. There's much room for improvement, but definately a difference.

The gas bill is what we pay a lot on. I want to get all electric appliances, but we'd have to replace our brand new furnace, water heater and dryer. ugh...they just keep getting us don't they!! Here's my facebook page if you want to join-or if you're on there too http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?sid=1726f6ad635fe7e369b734c035340eb9&id=694932311&hiq=jennifer%2Cwallace&ref=search

The link was eye-opening... but probably because there were things that I thought were bigger energy hogs than they actually were. I can't wait to see the energy bill for the last month. I started looking at how much was spent compared to the same month last year. With the exception of the month when we had company over (really, what's so difficult about turning things off when you're done with them???), we're saving anything from 10 to $70 a month over last year's bill.

Check this one out http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/at-home-with-the-energy-detective/

I think the next time we replace our hot water heater we're going to get a tankless as well...they are a lot cheaper now than they were when we last replaced our tank. Every little thing you do to the house makes a huge difference. We are doing the same with our energy bill & we saved $70/month with just turning off our computers everyday & turning down the heater more. Our PG&E bill is $150 now, for a family of 4-that isn't bad (the boys are 2 & 5 but they are super hippies already :)

Hello!! Yep I'm already on the Smart AC program, we enrolled last year. I haven't noticed any difference at all with our ac in the summer, even on the hot days.

Last year we changed all the windows. This year, we're looking to better insulate the attic and possibly get a new water heater. I'm crossing my fingers for an under the sink unit just because we get absolutely no hot water at the far side of the house. I'd even use my vacation fund to pay for it if I had to... For now, all showering is limited to the shower that is one thin wall away from the water heater. Did you get a flier about the thermostat from PG&E if you sign up for their Smart AC program?

We came up with a plan to reduce our energy bill over the next month or so (we're using the March bill as our "results"). Our energy bill is rediculous... my grandpa doesn't want to get an energy meter/reader just because he's afraid to see exactly how much we're wasting. I did get to see the LEDs at Costco... to my suprise, they also had a clasic Solio charger for about $60 (costs $100 online). I was extremely happy, given that I have little cousins who hide my chargers (or just take them) and now I can charge my phone with the solar charger. Yay! No more forgetting to unplug my charger after using it.

I agree, we have a little group but we are doing great!!

No I didn't see the show...but I'm going to google the Kill-a-watt devices, we don't have a smart meter so the google thing won't work for us. Did you know that Costco now sells LED light bulbs? Either 1 flood light for 13 or 3 small blubs for 13. I bought 1 flood light, to see if it would fit, which it dosn't but I don't care-it's LED. We're going to replace all of our burnt out light bulbs (CFL's of course) with LED's. Our house is pretty efficient, with 4 people our PG&E bill is about 180-200. We made a bunch of changes that lead to a huge energy savings, insulated the attic, new ac/furnace, new water heater etc. Between those, we save 100+ a month!!

I'm looking at the leaderboard and specifically at the groups in the top 5... For being a team of three people, we do a pretty good job. The teams with bigger numbers also have a significantly larger team roster (For instance, East Greenwich has 78 people) If you break the numbers down to "average CO2 reduction per person"... well, we do an awesome job. I guess that's my point of this rant... That we're doing an awesome job! :)

I've been saving for one of those Kill-a-watt devices (probably have enough if I ever cash in my recyclables). The google thing sound like the same thing (telling you how much energy an appliance is using). Speaking of energy usage... have you seen the documentary "Kilowatt Ours"? I was only able to catch a small part of it the other night, but it showed examples of small changes (like using natural light, or switching to cfl bulbs) and how much it was saving in energy consumption and bills. Some places only switched out their bulbs, while others changed the way they heated buildings. Not just homes either... they had an example of a school district completely changing the heating on all 30-something school buildings they had. Pretty neat.

Check out google's new project http://blog.google.org/2009/02/power-to-people.html you'll be able to track your energy usage at home, and they'll tell you which appliances are using the most energy.

Yay!!! We just keep making leaps in our CO2 reductions.

Great job!! We are on the first page for the month!!

Err... Seven... We're number seven! ...Seven is good as well :) *high fives for everyone*

WooHoo!!! We're #8! We're #8! ...Eight is a good number.

peacey P's gonna get you!!!! just kidding though