Step it Up

If there’s anything we’ve learned in recent months, it is that we should be energy smart whenever possible. Conserving energy in our homes and driving is very worthwhile. Even though oil prices have come down to half of their peak in mid-2008, we know that they could go up again in a hurry.

I drive a large Yukon XL, which is basically a Suburban. Mileage is not so good, but I’ve cut back to making three trips to the office weekly whenever possible. That has helped my fuel budget. I would get a smaller car, but this baby is pretty useful for carrying loads and large groups of people on a trip.

Several years ago we put in extra insulation in our home, and we use a whole house fan to reduce the amount of air conditioning we use. When we hear so much energy talk on the news, it does have the effect of getting us to at least think about ways to cut back on energy usage.

Talk about a waste of energy—the fuel spent on airplanes, helicopters and trucks in fighting wildfires in California is insane. Also, think about all the gasoline used by folks vacating their threatened homes. I found some discussion about wildfire prevention and other fire safety issues at the Minutemanfire site. It is amazing that homes could be destroyed even with tile roofs and a swath where the vegetation had been removed.

There’s a lot of wasted energy in the work involved in rebuilding homes demolished by wildfires. So there is a relationship between energy conservation and fire prevention, that we often don’t think much about.