Project Envolve is a program sponsored by PPL Electric Utilities. I am a Project Envolve Ambassador and have been provided with complimentary products and/or payment in exchange for sharing these ideas. The opinions in this post are 100% mine.
I’ve spent the last almost 2 years on this blog sharing energy efficiency ideas with you guys every month. These posts don’t always have the flashy pictures that you come to expect on blogs, but they’re some of my favorite posts for a number of reasons:
- They’re relevant to everybody. It doesn’t matter if you own, rent or room with someone, we can all benefit from saving energy.
- They will help you save money! I’m all about living frugally, and these are ideas that will save you money immediately!
- They include MANY ways to get the kids involved!
- Unlike a thrift shop piece that I quick paint or a craft that gets forgotten after a season, the tips in these posts have a lasting impact. I have learned things at the beginning of this 2 year process that I am still practicing today, because IT WORKS! It’s not a fleeting whim. These are things that change the way you live!
Today I want to talk about my trip to New York City last week where I learned about the future of energy efficiency!
Some other fellow Project Envolve ambassadors and I, were invited up to NYC to meet with some reps from HiccupNY and PPL Electric Utilities.
The employees at HiccupNY are hip and fun, and I love how those characteristics are applied so enthusiastically to the concept of energy-efficiency! Saving energy doesn’t have to be boring! In fact, there are lots of products out on the market already that can not only make people excited about saving energy, it can save them money as well!
We were fortunate to see some of these products during our visit, and I wanted to share with you a few that were my favorites.
BioLite Campstove
Do NOT judge this product by the quality of my picture! This little guy was ah-mazing! It’s a lightweight (only 2 lbs.), campstove that you can easily store in your backpack. It burns sticks, pinecones, even the box that it’s packaged in! Here’s the cool part, though… as it’s burning, you can plug your USB cord in and charge your phone! 20 minutes of burn time = 60 minutes of talk time on most phones! So, you’re out camping and your phone is dying. No worries, you might be in the woods but with this BioLite campstove, you’ll have a charged phone, boiled water, heat and even s’mores! Dual purpose is the future of energy efficiency, I’m tellin’ ya!
Side note: Your purchase also helps this company provide these stoves to 3rd World Countries where deaths from indoor fires are prevalent.
Bedol Water Powered Clock
This water-powered alarm clock from Bedol saves money in an obvious way… it runs purely on water! You only have to refill the water once every 6 months! This is great if you live in an area that’s prone to black-outs! No more resetting your clocks every time the power goes out or oversleeping because no alarm went off. I can’t wait to send this to camp with my kids since there is no electricity in their cabins.
Belkin Wemo
The Belkin Wemo is a pretty impressive little guy in a small package! Plug whatever gadget you want to have remote access to into the outlet and then download the app on your smart phone. So if you leave before your kids in the morning and want to make sure they turned their lights off, check the app on your phone and you can turn them off from work! Think you forgot to unplug your curling iron? Check the app and turn it off without having to call a neighbor to ask her to run down (not that I’ve eeever had to do that!).
The Future of Energy Efficiency
It’s so exciting to bring gadgets like these home and watch my kids ooh and aah over them. I want my kids growing up consciously thinking about how to save energy. We were talking a bit up in NYC about how to make this 2nd nature for people. There was a time (that I can remember!), where nobody recycled! Then suddenly there were little symbols on certain packages and bins provided by your town, and now it just seems like auto-pilot to recycle. We don’t even question it anymore! How can we reach that point with energy efficiency? It’s hard, because “energy” isn’t something tangible you can hold in your hand the way a soda can is. But it truly is just as important to our environment!
Just PPL Electric Utilities customers have saved more than 2 billion kWh per year! That’s the equivalent of removing 295,00 cars from the road!! That’s enough energy to power 160,000 homes!! As if those numbers aren’t huge enough, just by implementing some of these energy efficient practices, PPL customers’ bills were reduced over the course of a year by approximately $228 million!! That is jaw-dropping. Seriously. I gasped.
These are real numbers provided by just 1 electric company here in the United States! Just imagine if these practices were implemented in every home!
What is your family doing currently to become more energy efficient?
Where do you see the future of energy efficiency heading?