While Douglas and his wife Lucinda have taken active roles in their community to increase energy awareness and reduce energy use through their membership in the Sierra Club and through their local church’s ‘Green Team,’ they have also been particularly active in reducing their own energy consumption at home.

Douglas and Lucinda’s home’s primary energy source is electricity, so they work to keep up with cutting-edge energy technology—researching solar energy and even signing up for wind energy through their utility company for a portion of their electrical use. While Douglas and Lucinda have made some big changes in their home, they have also made simple and easy changes to their daily behavior that are just as important, like running the dish washer, clothes washer and dryer during the night when billing rates are lower. “We time our ‘heavy use’ appliances to run using the night rate,” says Douglas. While saving money is certainly a factor in any smart consumer’s work to conserve energy, Douglas emphasizes the importance of reducing waste. “We certainly agree that all consumers should be aware of energy costs,” he says, but it is also essential to “work to conserve and reduce energy consumption.”