ENERGY TIMES
ENERGY CONSERVATION

When I think back on those wonderful years of college at Jordan Energy Institute, my mind always puts those two dominate words right to the frontal lobe; ENERGY CONSERVATION (EC). It seemed every class I took preached EC long before we talked about the subject I wanted to learn. After a while I got the message, EC is the most important part of any renewable energy system.

There is a certain satisfaction in turning on a light switch and knowing that your meter isn¹t spinning wildly, feeling the warm sun as you luxuriate in your sun room when it¹s below zero outside, taking a hot shower heated by the sun, or how about the ultimate; watching that electric meter spinning backward and knowing you have become an energy producer for others (or if you¹re Dutch like me, knowing the electric company is helping to pay for the investment. That last is still a fantasy of mine, but someday...)

Before we do any or all of these things, we must first look toward energy conservation, because the less energy we need, the smaller our Renewable Energy (RE) system needs to be. It is very proportional. If you have priced an (RE) system, you know the benefits of a smaller system. The cost can be quite prohibitive, so we need to keep our energy needs to a minimum. It is much easier to do that these days thanks to the development and availability of products that have come on the market.

So, take a look around your house to determine the possibilities to save. Most of us know about compact fluorescent bulbs, but have we taken full advantage of them yet? There are a lot of higher wattage options out there (we are in America after all), but we really need only use the amount of light appropriate to the task. One of the best ways of doing this is to get a couple of different sizes and try them out in different places. Remember the life cycle costs of these bulbs are much cheaper than ordinary bulbs, so think of it as an investment. Hey, what a great use of that famous tax rebate.

I have much more to say on this subject, so if you are interested, let us know at GLREA or VOSNRGCONCEPTS@msn.com. I shall return.

Dan Vos
Vos Energy Concepts

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