We weren’t actually trying very hard. I mean, we turned off lights and stuff but didn’t really do much to save energy. But then I looked at our utility bill for March (our reading is actually on the 10th of the month but whatever). When I “gave up,” I was looking at the bill for 2/10/07 – 3/9/07. Nevertheless, we used 67 therms (!) of natural gas from 3/10/06 – 4/9/06. We used 27 therms (also !) of natural gas from 3/10/07 – 4/9/07.

So we reduced our natural gas use by almost 60%.

We used ~520 (I can’t remember the exact amount but it was roughly that) kilowatt hours of electricity from 3/10/06 – 4/9/06 and 351 from 3/10/07 – 4/9/07. That’s a reduction of more than 30%. It helps that March was probably the worst month of ‘06—however, I know we’ve consistently been in the mid-400s since the baby was born so there’s a real reduction here.

We barely drive so I’m not counting that. Also, if I’m tallying my own personal fossil fuel use (as opposed to household use), I get a free pass on auto emissions because I almost never drive. The extent of my driving is basically moving the car across the street for cleaning, taking it into the shop for maintenance, or driving it to the station for a fill-up. Sara’s the driver in our household.

At work, last year I used a desktop Linux box, which I left on overnight, although I turned off the monitor. Now, at my new job, I use a Macintosh laptop, which I turn off when I’m not using it and unplug when the battery is charged.

So by some miracle, I’m moving this into the “done” category. Woo hoo!