Sunday, October 16, 2011

The Dreaded Electricity Bill

It was never an aim of Footprints to save money. It would be great if we could but our two aims have always been to try to reduce our impact on the environment and increase our impact on humanity - in a positive way, of course. Our expectation was that financially the net effect would be zero. We would reduce expenses in some areas and increase them in others.

Having said that I was pleased with our most recent electricity bill. There was a reduction in the cost but what pleased me more was the graph comparing our emission output from the same time last year to this year. I don't remember all the whys and wherefores but the bar from this year was significantly lower than it was for the same period last year. For that to occur at the end of winter means that all the seemingly small things we began early in the billing period paid off.

We don't know how we're doing with all this. As far as I can tell, my rubbish and recycling bins are as full as they've ever been and I seem to be driving as much as before. Furthermore, it's difficult to learn which companies actually source their goods ethically. It's easier with groceries and I love getting to the supermarket check out with a basket mostly full of goods produced by ethical and/or eco-friendly companies. So, to receive a bill that can chart our progress was very gratifying and another indicator that we may be reducing our Footprint.

No comments:

Post a Comment