That should have been the video we made for the 60 Seconds to Save the Earth Contest at Current T.V. and the Alliance for Climate Protection.
It really does help. Over two years ago now I made it my summer project to reduce our electric usage. We dreaded the bill each month and they were often approaching $300.
With $2000 in new appliances, our bills are always at most two digits and have even been as low as $35.
Now when I see the bill, I smile.
What a change from three years ago.
It does help my mood to be sure, but that wasn't the focus of our video.
I got an email from Al Gore Friday night telling me to put in an "all nighter" if I had to. And before you are terribly impressed that Al Gore is emailing me, he would email you too if you sign up for his list.
The email came in the middle of our busiest work season ever. I have been working at least ten hours a day so focused on the computer screen that my eyes are starting to crust. I probably need to add a load of B vitamins to the regimen to get through the next month. But even in the midst of all of this, Sander and I took a day to make a video
It's hard to say no when you have a chance to win a Toyota Highlander Hybrid and get an email from Al Gore.
I haven't pulled an all nighter in a long time and, luckily, we didn't have to do so last night. However, we did have problems uploading and had to use the U.S. Mail to send in our entry.
Our video did focus on our electric bill success story, but with a unique twist. Our home was the first home in the Sequoia National Forest to have electricity. It continued to guzzle until we bellied up and put in the two thousand bucks. We paid back that $2000 investment in about ten months and now we make a return on it monthly. That $2000 also protects the forest from carbon emissions.
Back when we made changes in our appliances, I actually maintained a house blog and documented some of the changes there. I'll have to post an update one of these days because I expect our reduction is a bit better than the 68% in that old post.
Speaking of the impact on the forest, below is a picture of forest smog I took just yesterday.
