Total Solar Energy

There are many good reasons to conserve energy. If we use less gas, oil and electricity we will save money, and the pollution associated with extracting and using fossil fuels will decrease. Reducing greenhouse gas production may help to reverse global warming. In a nutshell - conservation of energy has both personal and societal benefits. Most people are concerned with making their money last longer and energy conservation can help by reducing our energy costs. Homeowners can do many things to cut down on their energy needs. Perhaps the best thing they can do to is to install better insulation to retain warm and cool air. Heating and air conditioning are the biggest energy consumers of the average household. Much of the heat and cool air escapes because of poorly insulated roofs, walls, doors, and windows. In fact in a lot of cases heating and cooling is responsible for around 50% of your energy costs. Improving insulation will result in greater conservation of energy and lesser energy costs. Small changes in this area can result in dramatic reduction in your monthly payment to your utility company. Old cooling and heating appliances should be replaced with newer models which are more energy efficient. Other large appliances like refrigerators can also be replaced with newer models that are designed to conserve energy. Always make sure you read the energy label, if you do, you will often find that a cheap product in fact can be expensive in its every day use because of its energy consumption. Traditional light bulbs are inefficient because much of the energy they consume is converted to heat. Replacing all your incandescent bulbs with compact florescent bulbs will provide the same level at light with less energy consumption. Even though the cost of these bulbs is greater than traditional bulbs, they last up to 20 times longer, resulting in significant overall savings. Using alternative energy sources such as solar panels or wind turbines can greatly reduce the amount of energy needed from traditional sources. The electricity produced by these devices can be fed back into the local power grid if it is not immediately used by the household. This reduces the power bill even further (the power meter runs backwards) while supplying clean power to your community. Conservation of energy is not just for homes, cars and trucks are available with more energy efficient engines and some can run on alternate power sources such as hydrogen or electricity. Conservation of energy is something that everyone can contribute to. By being careful in how we use our resources we are building a society for our children and grandchildren.