Electric Bikes

Electric bikes sell briskly as gas prices climb

Price largely determines weight, quality and battery type. A few hundred dollars gets you an IZIP mountain bike from Amazon with a heavy lead-acid battery. For $1,400, you can buy a 250-watt folding bike powered by a more-powerful, longer-lasting nickel-metal hydride battery like those in a camera or a Toyota Prius. At the high end, $2,525 buys an extra-light 350-watt model sporting a lightweight lithium-ion battery similar to a laptop’s. Most models can go at least 20 miles before plugging in to recharge.

Goal #1: reduce electric use

Goal for the summer: reduce our electric consumption by 10% KWH. That should be easy in July when we are gone for three weeks -- except we were also gone for half of July last year. August really oughta be easy, because we are gone for one week, and we weren't gone last year. September... is September.

Let's see last year's usage:

July 2007: 1684
August 2007: 1971
September 2007: 2122 (this was our peak bill in 2007)

So we should see:

July 2008: 1684 - 168 = 1516
August 2008: 1971 - 197 = 1774
September 2008: 2122 - 212 = 1910

Ways I hope we can do this:

* Unplug Wii, TVs, computers when not in use
* Turn out lights
* Turn the A.C. a notch warmer
* Not heat the pool
* More grilling and more cold/uncooked meals
* No baking
* Dry some clothes on a line

This isn't just about saving money -- as the electric companies are raising rates anyway -- but practicing a little bit of "doing without." If a storm hits or something worse, the shock will be 10% less....? In theory.

Anyway, we've got to start somewhere.