We don't expect our place in Montgomery County to be like the Bahamas. It's cool here from time to time. We call it "refreshing" rather than chilly. We wouldn't dream of not wearing insulated underwear or dressing in layers at this time of year - cool fashion, we call it.
In 1998, we installed solar panels. They now generate more electricity than we use. We sell all the electricity we generate to the Energy Cooperative of Pennsylvania for 12 cents per kilowatt-hour, paying Peco a small amount for whatever we need from it.
Our system cost $26,000, but business tax credits and depreciation brought the cost down to about $20,000. If you installed solar panels now, you could take advantage of a rebate of up to $25,000. We didn't have the rebate when we added our panels.
We heat our home office with a natural-gas hot-water boiler, but it turns on only for a half-hour in the morning and 45 minutes before we go to bed. It also comes on whenever any thermostat senses temperatures falling below 60 degrees Fahrenheit. At other times, we burn scrap wood (which would otherwise be thrown out) in a wood stove in our living room.
Our boiler is oversized, but it is fairly efficient. We have heating zones for our third-floor bedroom, the basement, and the remaining two floors. We replaced some of our windows with LowE windows, and we blew recycled foam beads into some walls to insulate them.
My wife, Joyce, and I shower together each morning. It's romantic and saves water. When we stepped out into the refreshing bathroom air a couple of weeks ago, I asked her how she was doing. She said, "Well, honey, I just pretend it's stinking hot outside, and we have the air conditioner on full blast." I thought to myself, "Wow, what a woman!"
