What will you commit to in 2020 and what world do you want to create for the next decade? Over the coming days I’m going to be sharing a variety of ways that you can commit to have a meaningful impact on your own personal/family footprint and in the world around you. I'm starting with energy investments today, but keep an eye out for other personal, political, and systemic changes in future posts.
🌟4 Investments to improve your energy footprint🌟
✅Make your home energy efficient
✅Switch to 100% renewable electricity
✅Install solar and battery storage at your home
✅Drive an electric vehicle
Who else is feeling worried and sad about escalating climate change, species extinction, ocean acidification, and human misery?
Are you ready to start to make positive changes that go beyond bandaids like recycling and bringing reusable bags?
While I’ve been confronting this stuff my whole life and professional career, it doesn’t get easier and I still completely lost it a few weeks ago when I read that Koalas have become functionally extinct in the wild from the fires in Australia this year.
My vision for 2030 is that this coming decade was when humanity truly woke up spiritually and not just slowed the pace of ecological and social destruction - but actually worked together to remember our true spiritual nature, reverse climate change, and build a new foundation for a world of peace, abundance, and balance.
But…right now, we are running ourselves off a cliff rapidly and we need to make massive changes to just about everything to change course. These changes will lead to better lives for us and for everyone - but they will involve sacrifice, inconvenience, stepping outside your comfort zone, and investing your money into projects and changes that matter.
I'm an energy healer and spiritual guide and I’ve been a conscious business and sustainability consultant to corporations, industry, and utilities for over a decade.
What I see is a lot of people and business getting overwhelmed by the pace of destruction and angry by inaction by the federal government. When they act, they end up focusing on tangible, small solutions like banning straws/plastic bags, buying packaging with recycled content, etc. But these changes only have a small impact on the enormous challenges humanity faces and can be a serious distraction from making the big systemic changes that are necessary.
We need more than technological and practical changes.
We need humanity to wake up to our interdependence - and this takes deep spiritual work. We need nothing short of complete spiritual, environmental, and social evolution - and I want to invite each of you to be part of it! What will you commit to in 2020 and what world do you want to create for the coming decade?
Here are 4 Investments I'm making that can make to dramatically reduce your energy footprint! Two keys here are to use less energy and when you do use energy, use better and cleaner energy.
✅#1. Make your home more energy efficient: Get an energy efficiency home audit to guide your way. This is free through MassSave in MA and through many other utility programs in other states. A contractor will come and do basic improvements for free during the audit (like LED light bulbs and low flow shower and sink fixtures). You’ll walk away with a list of of other opportunities like getting a smart thermostat, insulation, heating, cooling, and windows and cash incentives to install them. If you are in MA, you are eligible for a $0 down 0% interest 7-year loan up to $25,000 to implement any recommended improvements you choose. We used this to install a high efficiency heating and hot water system in 2015. If you rent, you can still get the audit, though how much your landlord wants to implement can take serious discussion. There are no “catches” with these - they are paid for by charges you already contribute to every month on your gas and electric bills so all you are doing is asking for your money back! http://bit.ly/masssavehomeenergyaudit
✅#2. Purchase Clean Electricity: if you live in a state where you can choose your electricity supplier, you can choose a supplier that provides 100% renewable electricity. We get ours through our city (Somerville) that has negotiated cheaper rates, but you can do this without your municipality! Check out https://www.greenenergyconsumers.org/greenpowered - you can quickly sign up to purchase green electricity through a program that costs an extra $10-20/month and the costs are tax deductible. You can also compare options in MA at http://www.energyswitchma.gov/#/ - be savvy and careful of offers that are really cheap and then have automatic renewals as the companies use these to jack up rates while you aren’t paying attention.
✅#3. Home Solar: we are having solar installed this spring at our house along with a Tesla Powerwall battery. The incentives are slowly going away, but they are still sweet! We will still be getting:
1. 26% federal tax credit,
2.$1000 state tax credit,
3. payments from the utility for both the electricity produced and to use the battery during peak load times (this keeps the dirtiest power plants off the grid in the summer when everyone is using air conditioning).
When you add all the incentives together plus a special solar loan, we will be paying more, but it mostly it is for the battery - just the solar would be close to net-neutral! My two favorite companies in MA are SunBug and Revision Energy (I’ve used SunBug for corporate clients and Revision for our home). The federal tax credit is slowly going away as are the additional utility payments that make this sweet. You can easily compare solar offers at https://www.energysage.com
✅#4. Drive an Electric Car: when you can, walk or bike but when you need to drive, there are amazing options coming onto the market in 2020 for plug-in hybrid cars and fully electric vehicles where you can get great tax credits (up to $4500 for plug-in hybrids and $7500 for fully electric). The size of the federal tax credit depends on the car maker, whether its fully electric or a hybrid, and how many units they’ve sold already. Combine an electric vehicle with purchasing 100% renewable energy at home and, voila, you have a renewable energy powered car (whenever you charge it at home). You can view basics of cars and the tax credits for them here (along with state incentives if you live in MA or RI): https://drivegreen.greenenergyconsumers.org/form_cars.php
Want to learn more about changing the world and increasing your impact? Let’s have a chat!
**I do not receive any kind of commission or payments from any of these links
