Hi. I’m Jeff Vetsch and my family (the Mill Pond Minimizers) is going head to head with another Minnesota family (the Prairie Penny Pinchers) to see who can save more energy in the CERTs Family Energy FACE-OFF — and we need your help!
I recently sat down and added up our household energy bills for 2012. Turns out we spent just over $1,400 last year to heat, cool (a little, we let the shade trees do most of the work) light and otherwise power our house. I figure that’s not too shabby for a house that’s over 100 years old and has to put up with our cold Minnesota winters and hot Minnesota summers.*
But what I was really pleased with was the savings. We cut our energy costs over $400 from what we had spent in 2011. Now, I know $400 isn’t exactly striking it rich, but—like the Prairie Penny Pinchers—we’re saving for college too and it all adds up.
As our family looks ahead to this year, we are trying to find even more ways we can save. Just recently we made our first foray into LED lighting, replacing several bulbs in our downstairs bathroom. Though it can be difficult to get past the initial sticker shock of purchasing LEDs, they are still an economical option. I used CERTs Right Light Guide to help me find the bulbs I wanted, and the costs comparisons made shelling out the upfront cash for the LEDs justifiable. If you can find them on sale, or take advantage of a utility rebate, it becomes simply too good of a deal to pass up.
The next big challenge for our family is finding an economical way to keep the heat from escaping through our roof. We had insulation blown into the walls a few years ago, but the ice dams appearing this year are a testament to the lack of insulation over our heads. The upstairs rooms have vaulted ceilings leaving little room for adding insulation, so we are considering what our options might be when it comes time to replace the shingles in a few years, possibly adding rigid insulation to the top of the roof. While energy efficiency is pretty easy, after you’ve picked all the low hanging fruit the cost/benefit calculations like this can get a little more complicated. Nonetheless, the paybacks can be significant. To get a good sense of what is possible take a look at this 112 year old net zero energy home in Michigan.
As we close in on the end of the Family Face Off competition we need your help! The Penny Pinchers have been leading all the way, but we think there is still time to catch up. Energy efficiency is pretty painless and saves you money to boot. Check out the list of things you can do (or are already doing) to save energy and join the Mill Pond Minimizers today!
