Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Wednesday, January 23, 2013
What is the most creative way you conserve energy in your home?

The uncreative parts of conservation involve changing our habits and following “best practices:

• Set the thermostat and do not “adjust” except in cases of true sickness.  Because I work from home, we have two settings: 68 during the day/evening and 65 overnight (the lowest suggested with elderly pets.) When I worked outside of the home, it was 68 in the evenings and 65 the rest of the time. We have “snuggly” spaces everywhere for the critters.

I make this creative when I’m chilly at home or need a nap (head) or some such thing. I love to layer so that’s not a problem, but I also like to use pet warmth. So if I head up for a nap or to “take a rest” in the bedroom, I convince everyone to come with me and all those little bodies generating heat make a difference. Of course, they all pile up in front of the heat duct themselves … but I’m not above allowing the Chihuahua on the bed in the wee morning hours because I know she’s going to curl up around my cold feet! 🙂

In the winter, we tend to spend a lot of time in the bedroom where it is warm. So after dinner, we sprawl out on the bed with laptops, magazines, newspapers, cats and so forth. Since we don’t have cable, the only drawback is when we want to watch PBS – we have to head downstairs as the upstairs television doesn’t receive PBS. So that’s a pain. But it does help avoid the temptation to nudge the thermostat. It also cuts down on snacking. LOL.

I’m not sure there’s anything too creative otherwise. Mostly, it is diligence which isn’t that exciting.

Do you do anything creative?