Money Saving Green Tips

Air dry your laundry. If the weather allows you to, after you wash your laundry, instead of running it through the dryer, dry it on a clothesline outside. Let the sun and wind dry your clothes for you. Using an electric dryer will only use up energy, and if the weather is nice, you can save energy easily. In addition, your clothes will last longer.

When building your home, pay attention to its orientation. An ideal home should be protected against overhead sun during the summer and be oriented so that it gets low-angle sun in the winter. This is a good way to save money on your heating bill and will keep your home cool in the summer.

If you are repairing or replacing your roof, and you have good sun exposure, look into having photovoltaic (PV) cells integrated into the roofing material. Modern PV cells are much less noticeable than older styles. If you don't use all of the electric generated by your home, some utility companies will even let you feed it back into the system for credit against your bills.

If you are planning on switching to green energy, it can seem too discouraging to jump in and do it all at once. While an entire home and land can be overwhelming, try narrowing your efforts to one room at a time. A good first step is a bedroom, where you can use solar power for just a reading lamp and a radio or alarm clock. Then work up from there!

Try using energy efficient light bulbs or even LED lights in your home to cut costs for lighting. Turning off the lights when you are not in the room also helps to save energy. Keep this in mind when you are leaving home, as simply turning off the lights saves a lot of energy!

Contact your current energy provider and see if they offer an option for you to use renewable-energy sources. Many providers harness renewable energy through solar or wind power and therefore, have this option available for their clients. However, you should keep in mind that this may cost a little bit extra. 

Try heating your home with a wood pellet stove. The pellets burned in a pellet stove are made of highly compact sawdust. They burn so cleanly than they are not required to get an EPA certification for emissions. Be aware, however, that the cost of the pellets may be high in some areas.

Propane Prices. What Affects Them?

Propane prices can fluctuate quite a bit. This article will discuss the basic reasons why propane gas prices move and what to look for to anticipate price moves.

Propane prices change based on several factors. It can be influenced by the simple supply and demand of fueling barbecue grills, producing petrochemicals and using propane for transportation fuel. Prices are depend on the distance propane has to travel to your market, the amount used by a customer and competing fuels.

Factors that influence propane prices:

Crude oil and Natural gas prices. Propane gas is a by-product of crude oil refining and natural gas processing. Propane prices generally mirror the price movement of crude oil, since it mostly competes with crude oil based fuels.

Basic supply and demand.

While propane production is not seasonal, the demand for it is. There is usually a build up of inventories during the summer months when demand is low. Depending on the winter weather, inventories can be drawn down to meet the heating demands of winter. If it is a very cold winter, it can put a huge demand on supplies and will having to import supplies. Importing propane from foreign sources can take several weeks

Location of supply.

Most propane is produced in the Midwest, hence making current propane prices higher on both coasts due to shipping. There are no propane pipelines to ship propane to various states like you can with crude oil. So to the further propane needs to be shipped, the more expensive it will be.

Markets that need propane.

Demand for propane comes from the residential markets (heating, and such) and the commercial sectors which need propane to produce petrochemicals and the agricultural sector uses propane to dry harvested crops. The commercial sector has a little more flexibility in whether to use propane or other fuels. In the winter, residential propane use increases. The commercial sector anticipates that every year and is positioned to use an alternative fuel so as not to compete for propane.

Now you have a quick look as to why propane prices fluctuate.