SustainYou

Hypalon roofs. Hypalon membrane roofing uses a highly reflective surface and increased insulation to improve energy efficiency. Hypalon roofs are EPA Energy Star approved and, when combined with increased insulation, reduce overall building heating and cooling requirements, compared with buildings with standard roofing materials. Verizon has installed more than 600 Hypalon roofs to date in company buildings in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Texas, and is studying the value of expanding the program throughout the company’s service territory.

I would like to report on our experience in replacing incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs. We began doing this in early 2006 and really accelerated this process last summer when it was so hot. We went back and created entries for electricity use for 2005 from past electric bills. As you can see savings are often very dramatic, and as you can see from May through December 2006 we saved an average of 28% on electricity use. We have an electric range and dryer, but gas hot water.

Our total investment was probably less than $300.  At $.10 per kwh we will probably recoup our investment in about a year. We also have a 2004 Honda Civic hybrid and have averaged 46.7 mpg over the past 3 years.

• Bottom line: these things really do work.

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