How important is energy conservation at your house?

We heat our home in the winter primarily with a wood burning stove set into our fireplace. Our highest gas heat bill last year was around $100 while our neighbor told me hers was close to $600, yes $600!!! It really helps,you just have to have enough wood split and stacked outside to last.

We also have compact flourescents in our lamps,turn off lights when we are not using them,program the TV to shut off at night since DH sometimes falls asleep at night watching TV. What else? Can't think of anything else right now. That's about the gist of our conservation.

Heidi

This one was a little hard to answer. Right now we do what we can, but as we plan are new home, we make our decisions based on energy conservation.

I don't think we really conserve at our house, but just use more wisely. We don't ever leave the water running while brushing teeth or doing dishes, etc. Though I wouldn't ever turn the water off while waiting on conditioner in my hair in the shower because I'm still shaving my legs. LOL! I use much more water in the summer time because I MUST have a green lawn. But since we are on a well, it really doesn't affect the bill much.

I turn out the lights when not using a room (with exception of the kitchen. The flourescent light in there is on most of our waking hours). My kids, however, can't seem to get that rule down.

I guess the part I try to conserve most is fuel. It's 26 miles to town, so I try to just make the trek 2 times a week. More or less. I try to plan all my errands for one day. But it doesn't always work out that way, depending on what DH needs me to do for him on a day by day basis.

We have a heat pump for the house. In the summer the AC runs alot and the electric bill is around $200/month (that includes the electric meters for the house well and well in the pens for the cattle and horses). That goes down in the winter to about $130 because the heat part is also run by natural gas (which bill is about $14/month in the summer, but $40 in winter). We use a fireplace on cold days and nights, but it usually only heats one room (our livingroom/dining room and kitchen area).

When we were looking for a home to buy, we factored in the remodeling and adding on of insulation and energy efficient items in the purchase. Boy are we glad!! We still use gas heat (no fireplace), but our bill is pretty low (so far about $100 during cold month, $40 during the rest of the year), but we also have gas everything else--except fridge and dryer. We also have one of those new fangled auto adjust thermostats that keep the house at a constant temp so the heat doesn't run all day. We bought an old (built 1907) home that had been reinsulated and new heater and wiring and plumbing put in. We are glad we did, because our neighbor says that their first winter, they paid $600/mo in heat, then it went down to $400 because they sealed off some windows better. I was in shock because ours never hit that high, but I suppose I need to chock it up to the efficiency of our appliances. The sales guys aren't lying to you when they say energy star stuff pays for itself in the long run. Compared to our neighbor, I'm thinking our stuff paid for itself in the short run!! By the way, their house is the same age as ours, just across the street, only difference is insulation, and efficiency appliances!

We do recycle, but it's easy here because we have curbside and no sorting (all goes in one box), and we compost the yard waste. It's not much, but it's saving us pennies and makes us feel kinda good, too.

we heat with our wood stove and yes I can cook on it as well as the electic store in the kitchen we have compact flourescents they pay for themselves we have a well a recently replaced out water heater .. our light bill went down $45 the first month.. we have plastic on windows and they are covered by window quilts our wood cut on land and stacked I dont know of much more.