Green Living by Janet Marchant: Reducing Your Natural Gas Usage for Heating

With Old Man Winter around the corner, you are probably wondering how you can cut down on your heating bills. The natural gas bills from PG&E are so confusing (especially since they only deal with gas here in Alameda) but the reality is that we all go way above their "baseline" every month, and if we want to save the planet, we have to do something about it.

Here is my suggestion: Run, don't walk (OK, really Drive, how would you carry this stuff home?) to Paganos, and buy an electric heater, one for each room in your house. (Don't forget the bathrooms.) I especially love those parabolic heaters that blast a ray of heat at you just like a Science Fiction Laser Gun, but any electric heater will do.



Instead of turning on the thermostat when the weather starts to turn, just use the electric heaters. Just go around to every room and turn on each heater. You want all the heaters going at once, to equalize the temperature in your house; otherwise you are just wasting energy.

Next month, when your PG&E bill arrives, check out your savings — I predict you will have saved 70% or more on your gas usage! Mark that occasion as a time to write into the ADN and say "You're Welcome" since we are all thanking you for doing your part to save Planet Alameda.