I attened the Woodlands Home and Garden Show in The Woodlands TX.

They had a full convention hall of vendors, with many showing off energy saving products and ideas.   We picked up several great info pieces.  The biggest thing we heard was from a gentlmen that was setting up late.

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Here is South Texas, June was a hot month 27 days with over 100 degrees.  With July coming to an end I think we are only at 15 days or less with over 100 degree.

I was born here in the South Texas, and grew up with no AC most summers (broken) and no AC in school at all.  But this summer is HOT

Conservation: Energy, Water, Natural Resources. Everyone is talking about how the GREEN sales are down.  

Are we talking about true conservation  or the fact we are not buying all the new Green gadgets.

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I just returned from the 42 Annual Conference here is Houston TX,  It was outstanding and I learned so much, Last year was the first year I attended as a member,  I was overwhelmed to say the least,  But this year I went prepared to attend as many of the sessions as I could,  I attended with another board member from Keep Montgomery County Beautiful.

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It has been months since my last posting.  But I wanted to update on the recovery from the Hurricane and updates to our home.

On Sept 9 the last new replacement window was installed. During the the installation the crew where schocked how easy the windows came out and explained if the Hurricane does come in our direction we could have had a big problem with the windows not being able to handle much wind and we could would not have been safe, They called and checked on us after the storm.  

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During our recent Hurricane "IKE" down here in the TX gulf coast.  My home did not have electricity for 15 days.  That also means no water. 

As my husband and I talked about installing SOLOR panels on our home for almost a year now.  We chose to do some-other items on the to-do list first.

But on Sept 13 when the power went out,  I realized how much we depend on those wires coming into our home. 

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We put a Power Save Unit on our house in June,     August 1, 2008 was one year in our home.  So this was the first month we could really see if it made a difference.  we saw a savings of 430KW for August  we are very pleased.   As of Sept 8, we installed double pain windows with the or-gone gas.   We can feel a difference in our home the first day they where in.   Our old single pain windows have been sent to a good home at the local recycling center for the metal and glass.

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I have recently made a effort to watch several TV specials on Living green.   I am was stunned to see they are just about how much money can you spend on new gadgets.  And the whole special  should be viewed with rose colored glasses. 

I then put together a list of items you can do with out spending any money and printed it up and took the list with me to a convention/.  I was shocked at how many people wanted a copy of the list. 

1)  turn off lights when you walk out of a room.

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I have been in Irving TX attending the Annual Conference of Keep Texas Beautiful.  This is my first time to attend and participate in classes. This years theme was "Our Future Is Green". 

 At registration they gave each attending  a paper bag with a note on it.  Stating to use it for any paper that I need to throw away, they have provided containers in the lobby area to place all paper and glass and plastic. 

Also at the hotel they are letting each person decide when the linens need to be changed during the stay.

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We found a product that helps use all the power coming into your home.  We spoke to a licensed electrician to make sure it was a useful unit.  He confirmed the unit would help utilize the energy more efficiency that is coming into our home.  It cost 299.00+ installation. 

We expect that the reduced light bills will pay for the unit in about 6 months, given our summer bills in SE TX.   

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we have bought a older home and have already made many improvements that  have proven to help cut our usage of electricity.  We are looking at what should be the next step.  We have come up with 4-items that we would like to put into place but we can only afford 1- right now.  So out the following which makes the most since.

Windows- New LOW E replacement - 23 total - bid 10K

Solar Panels- at least enough to cut our bill (yearly) by 1,000.00  depending on how many could be as much as 10-25 K

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You can save energy just by turning off your computer and monitor each day.  Approx 50.00 per year per computer in your home or office. 

If eveyone turned off there office computer each day, Just think how many natural resources we would save.

One local school district saved $300,000.00 in one year.   What can you save at your business and home.

I challeange everyone to turn off your elecrtical equipment, and see what you save for our enviroment and money.

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We all have them.  Computers and Montiors. 

I attended a presentation at a local School District on the "Green" efforts and sucesses.  They told about the one thing that did not cost anything to put into place.  Everyone liked that idea.  They required the staff to turn off all computers and montiors each night.  In the first year alone they saw a saving of an avg of $50.00 per computer to a total savings for the year of $300,000.00.  They have around 6000 computers.

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How can you manage miles?

1)    Plan my errands on a weekly basis

2)    Car Pool with friends and nighbors

3)    How many trips t the grocery store in a week

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