Go Green Tips for January 4th

Gotta tip you want to share with Sarah and the Go Green Ride at Five? Email her: sarah@921wvtk.com!

Here Sarah's groovy green tips for Tuesday, January 4th:

• If you thaw frozen food before cooking, you’ll take about 15 minutes off your cook time and save energy.
• Your drier will be more effective if you make sure to check the lint filter before each use. Clothes will dry quicker and the drier will run less.

Talking this week about ways we can counter the impending rise of our electric bills pending the recent rate hike by CVPS. To be fair, I do have say that according to the Edison Electric Institute, what we pay for electricity is substantially lower than other areas in New England. Here’s an inflation reality check: our power bills have increased by 20.8% since 1999. And we’re not alone. Other Vermont utilities have received rate increases ranging from 3.11 % to as much as 30.76 % in the past eight months. Whatever small comfort you derive from that…more power to you (no pun intended). So, the first step is a family meeting. We did ours yesterday. It’s time to put everyone on the same page. Now, I’m not talking about the “we don’t own the power company” lecture, unless your intent is to put them to sleep. Instead, a straight talk about what the power increase means to everyone whether it’s limiting the amount of time spent on the computer, or perhaps installing a surcharge for lights left on. My Dad’s idea, he put one in place when I was a teenager. I pretty much ended up handing my allowance right back to him the first month! It taught me to be more aware, that’s for sure! Lesson learned on the Go Green Ride at Five on 92.1 WVTK!