Starting Point

I figured since we have pledged to reduce our use of oil and fossil fuel by 50% it would be helpful to know our starting point. So, I have taken a few photos to visually showcase this point until I complete a more thorough audit!

We bought our house in November 2008. It is in a great neighborhood within walking distance to two grocery stores, a library, parks, dining, plant nursery, and local shops. Its a modest house 3bdrm 1 bath, 1214 sqft (way bigger then my preference) with vinyl siding, an okay roof, minimal insulation, and older windows. It is East facing with some big trees in the front and in the back which provide nice shading in the summer.

We have a super old and inefficient water heater but our furnace is relatively new and a bit more efficient, though our ducts are not insulated so we lose a lot of heat that way.

Our kitchen appliances are older but work well.

I am a big fan of organic gardening!! One of the first things we did when we moved in was convert half of our backyard to gardening and backyard chicken (and two adorable ducks) space.

Here is a pic of our seldomly used lawnmower.

We recycle and compost much of our waste...

For transportation I have a 1996 Honda Accord badly in need of a new water pump and so we only drive it when absolutely necessary. We have used bikes...mine being the black single speed; which I got for $15, my daughter's being the smaller bike and the beautiful Schwinn 3 speed belongs to a friend (I am saving up for a Long Tail cargo bike!!).

I believe we are off to a great start!!!