Taking the Next Step

This last year, I took a large step forward and bought my first house. Very exciting, and I love it! But wow, what a difference a mortgage payment is from rent. One of the crazy things about buying a house is all of the "knocks on your door" that you get -- unfortunately, not from neighbors welcoming me to the neighborhood with freshly baked cherry pies (but that's what happens in the movies!), but people wanting more of my money. For some reason, there is a misconception that after you buy a house, you have lots of extra money to spend. Some of these people who described their products sounded like major scam artists, but there was one product that I found interesting and agreed to let the seller come back and give me a demonstration.

This man told me that he was going to assess the insulation of my house, and let me know what upgrades I qualify for to be paid by The Gas Company. Yes, this sounded great, but too good to be true?

I decided to do some research before I let this optimistic stranger back into my house, and what I found was surprising and promising! My Google search led me to the Flex Your Power website (www.flexyourpower.com), which is California's energy efficiency marketing and outreach campaign, initiated in 2001. Now whether you live in California or not, this site is helpful because it gives you lots of energy saving tips and tools. However, if you do live in California, they provide a "Rebates Incentives and Services Locator," where you type in your ZIP code and they give you a list of all rebates and incentives in your area. This is where I learned that by upgrading my attic and wall insulation, I would get back a certain amount of money per square foot. Now this man who knocked on my door had no association with Flex Your Power except that he was informing people about the program and how they can get some financial help while installing upgrades in their house by using his product and services, which will also save them energy (money) in the future. So he benefits by getting a job, the customer benefits by saving money now and in the future, the earth benefits because it saves energy and reduces global warming, and all inhabitants of the earth benefit because it is helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I was inspired by this smart man's campaign for his small business!

The attic/wall insulation is not the only item for which I qualified. Because I just bought a new energy efficient washer and dryer for my house, I learned that by simply filling out a form and mailing it into the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) I would get cash back; because I recently bought an energy efficient tankless water heater, I would get a tax write off in 2008; and I qualified for free residential shade trees from the LADWP (and all I have to do is take a 20 minute online course then order them)! Of course, there are many other incentives/rebates that I qualify for as I make upgrades to my house, but these were just some of my favorites. And please note that you qualify for free upgrades of various items whether you live in an apartment or a house. Also, please note that they allot a certain amount of funds to each item, so the sooner you act, the better chance you have of qualifying.

So this is nice -- finally, someone out there understands that after buying a house, you don't have more money to spend, but you need some money back! And the best thing about this is that I will continue to be saving money and helping the planet throughout my time in my new home. And you know what? It was pretty easy.

As I continue to learn more and more about climate change and how to reduce my carbon footprint, it is easy to get overwhelmed. Am I doing the right thing? Am I making the right choice? I want to make a difference, but how? There are so many programs and websites like Flex Your Power that are there to help give solutions. One of my favorites is our Climate Policy Program Director, Terry Tamminen's, "20% in 20 Days Challenge" (http://www.terrytamminen.com/assets/pdfdocs/speeches/TopTen.pdf). And although at times we can be afraid of changing our lifestyles, quite often it can be really easy-- and there are people out there willing to educate and help. So I'm trying to improve my lifestyle choices by taking one step at a time.

If I put one step forward, I will be ready to take the next step, and the next step -- leaving a trail of diminishing footprints.