Going green in our lodging establishment

[lynangel]

Being located in Alaska, our utility expenses are already high and it's important to us to be "green," so we've worked dilgently to reduce our carbon imprint which has reduced our costs. We've replaced all light bulbs with compact florescents; even the 3 way lamps on nightstands. On some of the models of lamps we had to invest in larger harps (the piece that goes around the bulb and holds the shade) to accommodate the 3 way florescents; but they were easily found at Home depot and only a few dollars each. We've also found the EdenPure or SunTwin electric heaters to be an amazingly affordable source of heat; we used to use diesel heaters, but when fuel costs spiked this last summer we switched, and now that fuel has come down, we won't bother switching back; these heaters are that good. An Alaska tradition is to put up outside lights in the winter, to help ward of the darkness; we usually have little white lights plugged 3/4 of the year; these are now all LED and with the holidays ahead we are happy to say that all the lights we hang from now on will be LEDs. Our electricity bills are 1/2 to 1/3 of what they used to be, with these simple changes.

[Breezy]

We've done the light bulb change also as well as switching to "green" cleaning products and laundry detergent & softener and things like not leaving the water running and doing several loads of laundry to save on drying. I'm interested in finding out more about the electric heaters lynangel mentioned - this house is rock and althought we make out like bandits in the summer (very low bills) we freeze in winter and I'd like to find a good way to heat that's not gonna break the bank.

[Lisa S]

I had an energy audit completed by our gas company when we first bought our house. I followed their recommendations to caulk and replace/replenish the insulation.

I keep our thermostat at 64 degrees and wear a lot of sweaters and cozy socks. Our energy bill goes down ever year ~ I'm very proud of that fact.

[Evelyn]

We intentionally started with a small home. The house is super insulated...so much so that the window have some vents on the top in case we feel that the house needs to breathe! We have one breech in our system here and that is the seal on the front door....need to get that fixed soon. We have forced air propane heat, and a small stand alone heater that actually heats the house. It does not require electricity so when the power is out, we are warm and can cook....just no water.

I think most of the lights have compact flourencents in them. I try to hang my clothes to dry and the give them a few final moments in the dryer....what else.......

Evelyn

[LindaLK]

Hello Everyone, :)


We also changed our light bulbs. We also made sure that there is one of those draft dodger things attached to each door. Weather stripping? We have all of the storm doors and windows closed. We put a piece of insulation on our little cellar window to block any breezes. Our house is very well insulated. We use a cover to block the fireplace when not in use, so the heat doesn`t go up the chimney. Lights that aren`t being used, are shut off.


We also have our furnace cleaned every year. A inefficient furnace burns more oil. My hubby is in the business, so he takes care of all of that.
I also time the kids now in the showers. I hang small items on a wooden clothes rack, and in nice weather, clothes go outside on the clothes line.
Our family has now been using Simple Green as our cleaning product. We also do recycling. Nothing here is wasted. In the fall, instead of bagging leaves, we mulch them. It saves on bags, and fertilizer.



Hugs,
Linda :)

[toolgirl]

I live in South Dakota and also use the EdenPure electric heater to off-set the heating cost. I have an older electric furnace and a/c combo. I haven't had any problems and it is really useful if you spend a lot of time in that room, like the tv room or great room.