Conserving energy was a noble fad on two occasions in the 1970s when international politics created shortages and skyrocketing prices for gas, heating oil, and electricity. Americans traded in their Cadillacs and muscle cars for little Japanese autos; employers turned down heat and air conditioning and installed locked thermostats to keep their employees from turning them back up and homeowners installed wood stoves in the family room and solar panels on the roof.
But that pretty much defined the limits of energy conservation and before long the oil producing countries kissed and made up with the energy consuming countries, supplies went back to normal, prices went down, not as low as they were before the shortages, but to levels acceptable to the American people; and energy conservation became quaint; something practiced only by "tree huggers" and people who lived on communes in Vermont or California.
And, quite honestly, we were glad to see the movement go. There was a certain novelty to drying clothes on a line rather than letting GE do it or to showing off the ugly panels on the roof, but energy conservation was a sacrifice and it lacked style and chic. Keeping the wood stove stoked was a lot of work.
This time around we not only have mind-boggling oil prices, but we have also been sensitized to the harm our rampant resource gobbling is doing across the board. We've heard the alarms for years but Al Gore finally made us believe in global warming and that we might play a large role in causing it. Suddenly we are truly serious about being green.
In 2008, however, being green means more than putting on a sweater. It is a whole mindset that involves not only saving energy but conserving a whole host of other resources. Fortunately American free enterprise is up to the challenge and, in the last five years, an amazing assortment of new "green" products and processes have come on the market, old ones have been retooled and improved, and homebuilders, architects, and engineers have signed on to the cause as have schools and sometimes entire communities such as Austin, Texas.
Maybe it is another fad that will disappear along with $4 per gallon gas, but this time it feels different. Consumers have bought into conservation in a big way and it is reflected not only in the availability of green products but in the media - there are now at least two cable channels devoted to the topic - and the attitude of retailers and other corporations.
In this space we will take an ongoing look at how to green up the home front. We will talk about energy and resource conserving products for homebuilding and remodeling, the possibilities and benefits of being green, sources of information, and innovative ideas for things both large and small that homeowners and renters can use to save money while doing good.
If you have used a green product and have some thoughts - pro or con - or have a topic you would like us to explore, please post on this blog. And please come back often to find out what is new in our growing green world.