We have all become armored against advertising and the claims 
of “save $26” (or more) on a CFL package are hard to believe. In addition, in our culture, we focus on the cost to buy (CTB) rather than the cost to own (CTO). Thus, in a weird perversion of Benjamin Franklin, we focus on the $0.99 purchase price rather than the cost through the years that we might use something. These factors combine to make it difficult for most Americans to pursue energy efficiency choices, such as CFLs.
This reality of condominium structures worsens this situation. With shared utility costs (electricity, water, gas), but individual owners controlling purchases within their own units, it is hard to capture savings opportunities. This is an example of a very common Catch-22, where the person “buying” something doesn’t directly pay for the “cost” of running it. It is time to break through the Catch-22 and arrive at sensible solutions, to work for real solutions to real problems.
Continue reading
Now “Power Vote,” a national non-partisan effort spearheaded by the Energy Action Coalition, seeks to elevate the issue of climate change in the 2008 election by mobilizing one million young “climate voters.” To do this, the Energy Action Coalition and its more than forty partner organizations are organizing young people across the United States to pledge their vote “for clean and just energy.” 
In a fiery speech made today at the Clinton Global Initiative,
Let’s do it now! 