[Pops]

Electric – grid, member owned cooperative, gas generator backup. Mostly coal-fired (I don’t know the exact proportions) but recently started construction on a wind farm up north.

We average between $40-70 per month, which includes a well, computer with a huge color-corrected CRT monitor and some shop work.

We installed a new well pump when we moved in and our frige and freezer are fairly new Energy Star units. If anything we have expanded our electrical usage by wiring the shop and outbuildings.

Heat – propane / wood. Approximately 150 gallons in the last year, maybe a cord and a half of wood – but an extremely mild winter.

Our house is 100 years old this year and has had some retrofitting, which we continue – insulation, windows, doors, etc. We are also increasing south facing glass and west facing shade. The nice thing about many old houses is that every room can be closed off, including the entire upstairs.

We mainly heat with a small, efficient woodstove, which we installed in front of a double layer of drywall and heavy tile for mass. Though we do have some timber we would probably need to supplement if it were our only source.

The small central heat/AC unit is sized and ducted for only the downstairs – upstairs its electric blankets in the winter and windows and fans in the summer. The thermostat is set to off, it gets turned on in the morning to take the chill off then it goes back off - sometimes when the stove gets real hot we use it to circulate the heat. If we are going to work outside we just close the kitchen doors and turn on the oven (propane) for a few minutes to get dressed.

In the summer the AC stays off unless the humidity is really bad.

In remodeling the kitchen we are switching to a tankless water heater and installing a small amount of infloor radiant heat – located for solar gain. Also we’ve converted a small garage into an unheated (except for a seed starting mat) greenhouse and enclosed the south facing loafing shed with plastic to keep the baby calves warm.

Transportation – 2 V8 pickups. Just guessing, maybe 10-20 gallons a month?
I work at home so my commute is small, but the nearest store is 6 miles away and one of any size is 20 miles so we don’t go to town very often. Also a 40hp diesel tractor, various tillers, chainsaw, etc – maybe 40-50 gallons a year? We could cut down on propane and pickup fuel but I’d hate to loose fuel for those things!

Local food - about as local as it gets. We are producing all of our beef, pork, chicken and eggs; most of our vegetables and a little fruit.

It’s with the Other that we could have problems if costs rise sharply. Although we try to buy from local merchants as much as possible, I doubt that 1% of the Other items we purchase have traveled less than 100 miles – or a thousand for that matter.

Having said that, we aren’t big consumers of Stuff or Services, the great percentage of the things we have bought in the last year are of the Durable variety – lumber and building materials, fencing and animal-keeping equipment, etc. I really try to buy fewer things that will last instead of a bunch of junk.

[Revi]

I really like the one or two tanks of oil we use to keep the house warm when the woodstove isn't on. I figure any piece of wood that I cut will be put into the woodstove where we can watch it burn and derive nice heat from it.

The thermostat is set at the lowest setting at night and when we aren't there. It's pretty much at the lowest all the time, because the woodstove is burning most days. Friends have spouses that don't work, and they earn almost as much as they would have by keeping the home fires burning and tending the kids that are at home.

I think we are slipping into the low energy future even as we speak.

[julianj]

You unpatriotic commie wierdo hippie scum! Don't you know capiitalism needs your consumption?


I've half a mind to find the Patriot Act Shop-A-Traitor line (0800-Rove) and get all you Enemy Combatants sent to one of those nice new detention camps
Arf arf!