Dominion Green Power & Project Plant It! Sneak Preview

One of the best parts about being a regular reader of the e-conserve blog is that you get tipped off to new and exciting offerings.

In just a few days, the Dominion Green Power program will announce that it’s partnering with Project Plant It! to promote both of these great programs. Dominion Green Power helps support the development of more renewable energy, and Project Plant It! is a Dominion program that provides 3rd graders with tree seedlings to plant each Arbor Day.

From October 1 to November 15, for each new Dominion Green Power enrollment in the 100% Option, Dominion Green Power will donate a tree to Project Plant It! to be planted in Virginia on Arbor Day in 2011.

For our readers who are in the Dominion Virginia Power service territory, you can enroll online at www.dom.com/VaGreenPower or by calling 1-866-DOM-HELP. But make sure you enroll by November 15th to get in on this great promotion!

Share and Save – A Win-Win Deal!

Dominion is partnering with home comfort company, Woodfin, to offer the residents of Central Virginia a free visual home energy inspection in exchange for helping someone in need stay warm this winter. When you make a $50 donation through the Share and Save, Virginia! website to EnergyShare between September 20 and October 30th you will receive a FREE visual home energy review from Woodfin - a $200 value!

Home Energy Reviews (also known as an Energy Audit) are a great way to learn where your house isn’t the most energy efficient, and the experts at Woodfin can help guide you in the direction of saving money by lowering your bills and increasing the comfort in your home. Woodfin will look at various home systems and appliances and identify areas where energy efficiency, comfort, health and safety improvements can be made. Financial incentives, such as tax credits and rebates, may be available to help pay for these energy-efficient home improvements.

EnergyShare is Dominion's energy assistance program of last resort for anyone who faces a financial hardship from unemployment or a family crisis. EnergyShare helps pay heating and cooling bills for those most in need.

Every cent of your contribution directly benefits those in need. Funds are distributed through a network of non-profit health and human service agencies. Last year, EnergyShare distributed more than $6 million to those in need.

Learn more and consider donating to EnergyShare to take advantage of this great partnership opportunity at http://www.shareandsaveva.com/.

On a more personal note, about two weeks ago I actually met Woodfin at my home. What I thought was going to be a broad brush of basic energy efficiency measures, ended up being tailored to my home.

The Woodfin technician, crawled up in the attic (something I hadn’t done except for the home inspection when I bought the house) and was able to recommend quite a few inefficiencies in and around the attic crawl space. They also reassured me that my household appliances, like the water heater, are still working and operating efficiently and also suggested I consider an upgrade to the heat pump (original SEER 10).

Overall, I think it was worth the time, energy, and money for Woodfin (just to have them crawl in the attic would be worth the donation to EnergyShare). Even though I consider myself “in the field” of energy efficiency, it is always good to compare and discuss household patterns and efficiencies with others.

Dominion Transmission Office Building Achieves LEED Gold Certification

Dominion Transmission’s new Northeastern Area Sabinsville office building in north central Pennsylvania is part of a growing green movement in construction.

The 12,000-square-foot office complex is Dominion’s and Tioga County’s first LEED Gold-certified building. The 31 employees who moved into the building early this year, plus others who attend meetings or receive training there, are receiving the benefits of a comfortable, environmentally friendly building. The gold certification was received in late July.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a certification program of the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED has a rating system for new buildings constructed to have less impact on the environment and offer a comfortable workplace for employees.

“It’s a very powerful tool for encouraging folks in the building industry to make buildings more sustainable,” said David Lamphier, superintendent-Northeastern Area and building project manager. “I’m excited to have a building like this in Pennsylvania and Tioga County. It’s such a huge achievement for a building to score a Gold certification on the LEED standard. Nationwide, it’s not very common.”

The building makes the most of the energy used. It was built using strategies aimed at improving performance in the areas of energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

Household Chores Leading to Energy Efficiency

This is the type of weather I like … cool and breezy, yet sun shining. Now that summer has come to a close —Labor Day celebrations are behind us and the kids are back in school— why not evaluate some of the household chores you can do before cold weather and big college football games set in?

Conduct a visual inspection of the home, and pay particular attention to the insulation levels which help keep your home warm in the winter (and cool in the summer). I recently climbed up into the attic to do a visual inspection in my own house. The levels of insulation were fine, but I realized I needed to seal up the attic access door. You can find out more about the proper levels of insulation and how to add more at the U.S. Department of Energy’s website. It's a pretty inexpensive task and will help to keep any draft out.

Another tip for entering into the heating months is to make a routine out of checking and replacing the air filters. Just like a college football player needs clean oxygen to perform at their peak, so does your HVAC unit. A dirty air filter slows down the air flow and makes your heating system work harder, thus, not as efficient. Cleaning or replacing your filter helps prevent dust and dirt from building up. My routine is to replace the air filter when I pay the mortgage bill. Find your own routine and you will see the savings.

Trendy Eco Friendly School Supplies

As the kiddos get mentally prepared to go back to school, the annual “I neeeeeeeed more stuff” conversation is inevitably going to happen (Persuasion 101).

But before you get the standard items, consider making more environmentally friendly purchases (Environmental 101). This will help conserve energy on a large scale (Macro 101) as well as make your kids look as cool as possible (Sociology 101).

We’ve collected some neat ideas for back to school items:

• Pencils. Gaining popularity on the market are pencils made out of old recycled newspapers. http://www.treesmart.com/ They’re hip, stylish, and are packed full of neat information!
• A staple-free stapler. Never worry about getting a refill of staples again. http://www.cb2.com
• Reusable lunch bags. You can pick them up for $1 at your local grocery store.
• Reusable water bottles. You can make a gallon lemonade and refill it throughout the week. www.theultimategreenstore.com
• A refurbished bookbag. Instead of getting the kids a new bookbag, why not put patches of their favorite fabric (like their favorite sports team) and sew them on to make it extra trendy.

And if you order these neat green products online, consider making a bulk purchase (with your kids friends) to cut down on the amount of shipping and transportation the boxes need to travel.

Have a great school year!