A few simple tips to make your home more “green” that won’t cost a fortune.

By rerockstar • September 3rd, 2008

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Houston Street Lumonaria

Going “green” is not going away.

You hear it everyday on the news, talking to friends, and see it advertised when shopping for a home. Going “green” is not just good sense these days, its big business. Although many of the things we can do are a bit costly to the average working family, there are some simple things you can do. Here in San Antonio, our utility companies are providing ways for everyone to help make the environment better and cut our bills down. Its a win/win situation for us.

CPS Energy will give you things for free!

CPS Energy in San Antonio is doing their part to help get us all thinking a bit more green. From offering wind power to giving away rebates for everything from solar attic fans to electric mowers, there is a lot available to us to help us make our environment a better place. Of course, all of these will cost you some money, but one that won’t cost you a dime is their Peak Saver Programmable Thermostat program. Simply visit their website, fill out the form, and they will give you a free Honeywell programmable thermostat and send someone out to install it for you (also for free). In exchange, you agree to let them cycle down your air conditioner via radio waves for about 10 minutes during peak times. This cuts demand and lightens the load on our city’s energy needs. The thermostat itself can be remotely programmed by you as well, so hop on the internet and cool your house off before you get home from work or turn it off when you’re sitting on a beach during your vacation!

San Antonio Water System (SAWS) has programs for you too!

We all know we deal with getting water from the Edwards Aquifer here in town, so we know all about water conservation. A few simple tricks will help conserve a little bit more. If your home was built before 1992 and uses the old style water-wasting toliets, you can get two free toilets from SAWS. I know a lot of people are concerned about the flushing power of water-saving toilets, but these are great (I have them installed in my home) and their sleek modern style will look great in your bathroom. In addition to the free toilets, SAWS offers many rebates for such things as landscaping, hot water on demand systems, and energy efficient washing machines.

If you’re not using SAWS or CPS Energy, check your local provider’s website to see what offers they have. And check their sites often as the companies often change the programs based on the seasons.

(Interesting note – our hosting company, Dreamhost is carbon neutral!)

photo courtesy of Corey Leopold