Driving Change with Electric Vehicles

A friend of ours recently purchased an electric vehicle and we found ourselves fascinated while looking at it and discussing the pros and cons to having one – will this be the way of the future? Since they were introduced in 2010, approximately 1% of all new vehicle sales in our province are electric. In B.C., driving an electric vehicle can make a significant environmental change as 98% of the energy generated by BC Hydro is clean as opposed to other places in the world that may use coal or fossil fuels. What are some other advantages?

Being Power Smart and Saving Money

As a biologist and frugal mama, the combination of saving money and the environment are things that I really care about. Several years ago we learned about the Team Power Smart program which provided another incentive to try and reduce our energy usage as there are cash rewards. We were successful in the first year and continued to maintain that usage and therefore the rewards continued. How were we able to decrease our overall energy usage by 28% in that first year? BC Hydro has a fantastic list for saving electricity and these are the ones that we follow:

1. Blankets. The temperature in our home is a little lower than most in order to save but also because we have a very active family who always seem to be warm from running around. We love having extra blankets on our couch. Not only does it make our home look cozier, it sure feels that way too! We will often cuddle under them to read books or watch a family movie. Don't forget that slippers are awesome, too.