The wurster, the better

I had a phone solicitation from someone who wanted to talk to the person of the house who paid the PECO bill. He said he was from North American and wanted me to lock into their rate of .0899 to save some money before PECO raises their rate in January and then again in March. January will be .0992. Don’t hold me to these number because I didn’t record them immediately.

So, I guess I haven’t been paying attention lately. It would seem from what the gentleman said that there may also be other companies offering PECO customers better rates.

So, I sent an email to my friends on Crum Creek Sustainable Community and dvs to see if anyone could help explain what’s happening?

I did get some help and you should read these comments as well as checking out the links. We don’t want to make the wrong choice.

Now, I have a thought. Even though I am a concerned citizen and feel I do everything I can to help save our planet by recycling, conserving, composting, etc., I obviously am not up on what is currently happening. I would hope that the groups I belong to like Sustainable Delco, GPEN, Crum Creek Sustainable Community, DVS (Delaware Valley Sustainability), Transition Town Media, GreenDrinks, etc., would have it as one of their goals to make sure that the public is informed.

Along with my many other interests, especially environment related ones, is cohousing. I think of days to come when I would like to retire to an eco village type environment. Reduce my utility bills to zero, if possible, if the construction is a zero-waste design. Reduce our living expenses, if possible, hoping for the day I can retire. But is this realistic for me? Perhaps not.

There is always a cost associated with everything we do. We have about 5 years left on our current mortgage. By that time, I really hope I can start considering retirement. However, I do love my job. As long as I am valued and can help, I will continue to work. But I don’t want to feel that I have to work. I don’t know if I want to get involved in a cohousing or eco village community, if the cost/expenses will be beyond my capabilities. One of my concerns is my disabled daughter. Things are moving forward with ensuring her future, and maybe when that happens I can think about other things.

Maybe I can then think seriously about solar panels for our house, as long as the cost will not exceed our capabilities. Will it work? I’ve been told so but the cost of $20,000 to $40,000 is not feasible for me now or never.

I was invited to attend a PennFuture conference at Wilson College in Chambersburg, PA this weekend. I just wanted to jot down my impressions.

Our trip started from Sarah’s house in Downingtown. There were 4 of us, me, Sarah, Jackie and Rick. The 4 of us mature adults had similar interests and had supported PennFuture for a while. One was a lobbyist at one time and a consultant for all of the organizations who I routinely donate to (Defenders of Wildlife, National Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, etc.). One was a retired EPA employee. All of us had a common interest and concern with global climate change. How do we spread the word? How do we get people to believe and be serious about what’s happening to our planet? How to we fix it?

At dinner I met new people who seemed to be more open in how they help out, much more than I which got me wondering why I was here. I seemed to be just a regular concerned citizen, not one who was on a government committee, or who wrote a book or who made a movie. Not a professor who teaches about this. Not a consultant who advises organizations. Not a pastor who imparts this philosophy to his congregation. I’m just a guy trying to do what’s right, something at my personnel level and local community level. Just sharing knowledge and learning from others.

It was surprising to learn the backgrounds of this rag-tag group of concerned citizens. It is something we hope to share with one another after we parted our ways yesterday. We need to take advantage of each others skills and knowledge in leading good, productive lives helping mother earth and us survive the future, as well as the present.

During the social hour, I met some whose jobs were therapists. One was interested in all of this from a universal perspective, having mentioned Thomas Berry at one point in her conversation. I had read one of his books and knew where she was coming from. It was one of my many interests, too and so we chatted. Then I spoke with someone from Allegheny College having been just hired as the Coordinator of Sustainability. She had much to do and was a 2002 graduate from the college. Her friend who also just got a job at the college as a psychologist/counselor was also a BSC and so we related at that level since my daughter has been getting wraparound services for 5 years. And so we chatted. Many, all of us, had our own “stories” to tell. I hope we get an opportunity to get these in writing so that we can all share the knowledge.

This word “story” seemed to be important in many of the discussions I heard that night. We need to make this problem/solution/what we’re doing/how it impacts us shared amongst all. Sharing on a personal nature, face to face, if possible, is important. The internet and technology has it’s place but up close and personal is much more meaningful.

When I got up the next morning after sleeping soundly, I saw a bunch of fishermen and women and children in the stream behind the dorm. They must have been locals who know this was a good place to fish. They certainly weren’t students.

Here are just some random thoughts I need to followup on:

• Rick referred to a link to a website explaining CO2
• He also referred to a video on the earth and faith which he has used in many talks
• Amy hadn’t heard of transition towns and I did my best to explain it to her – I need to send her a link
• What about education at the community level? I need to followup with someone.
• What about sharing knowledge and stories at Borders, at a school, at adult classes?
• We got PennFuture totes and I mentioned to Sharon about my idea to get the disabled involved in making these bags from recycled material. I need to followup.
• clean energy jobs 40,000
• climate change advisory committee -> state global warming action plan
• check on PennFuture’s website for committee and sub-committee meeting dates – we the public can attend and / or call in to listen and comment
• http://www.realclimate.org
• IPCC provides data used by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
• Will PECO rates go up? Maybe not since things will be competitive.
• Announcement of the mega mega large power plant in India.
• List of grants for solar installations is on PennFuture website.
• Reduction is not the key in percent by 2020, but rather the total amount of CO2 produced. This means we could hit the proposed percent, but exceed the amount that is now being identified as the critical issue.
• What about CCS? Will it be good? Much discussion and concern.
• Send Gabe an email about getting a copy of the “Sisters of the Planet” video.
• http://www.350.org
• http://www.wiserearth.org
• How will PennFuture share the resources and information gained at this summit?
• Read the book “Plan B 3.0” by Lester Brown. A slide show presentation is available free for download.
• We also shared initiatives that each region of the state remembered at this time and made a list. We need to share this will all of us and keep it updated.

All in all, I had a great time and a great experience.

Every month we get our water bill and I wonder “how do we use so much water?” Are we the same as the average family or are we worse? Our average daily usage is 246 gallons. And that’s mostly for just 3 of us as our oldest daughter is away at grad school in Baltimore MD and only comes home every other weekend.

So, I googled and found some things. On one site I found that the average household with 4 people has a daily average usage of 243 gallons. Then, I found that in San Diego, the daily average was 150 gallons per person. Then I found a water use calculator. You answer a bunch of questions and it calculates your usage. However, no matter how badly I answered the questions, I couldn’t make it calculate any where near 246 gallons per day. So, what is right? I’ll keep looking and add new information as I find it.

Here is a kid’s calculator. And another calculator. And another.

I found some tips at Treehugger for conserving.

I decided to calculate my global footprint, or should I say our household. Since I am a member of The Nature Conservancy, I visited their site and used their link.

I also got an email from Kilowatt Ours Net-Zero Network to use their new site to calculate energy savings. And so I did. Based upon my answers, I got:

Here are your projected monthly savings…
_______________After Changes_____PA Average Usage
Dollars /month______20.07_______________81.19
KwH /month_______203.8_______________824.3
LBS Coal/month____203.751_____________824.293
CO2 /month_______146_________________589
SO2 /month_________1.632________________6.592
NOx /month_________0.816________________3.296

This was based upon my current PECO bill and with minimal changes I’ve done in the past 6 months. I’ll try to remember to do this mor frequently.