As the days get shorter and the wind chill starts to register, I am beginning to focus on the things I love about winter. One is turning on the heat at my house. That might seem odd. After all, for many people, heating season means waking up to clanking radiators, skin tortured by desert-like conditions, or a thermostat that defies human control. But in my house we have energy-efficient radiant floor heating! Every morning we wake up to warm floors (hot water runs in tubes underneath them) and consistent comfort. And we have the lowest energy bills on the block. Yes, what seems like a luxury is actually one of the smartest home-economy investments you can make.
Here are some other great things about radiant floor heating:
- I paid my local contractor to install it, so more of my energy dollars are staying in my community instead of going to Canada or Russia to import natural gas. (For those of you with oil heat, your energy dollars are going to less friendly places such as Iran and Venezuela.)
- I burn less fuel every day of the heating season, which means I’m putting downward pressure on natural gas prices for all my neighbors, and creating less pollution for my two-year-old’s little lungs.
Who doesn’t want things that make our lives better, save money, create jobs and reduce pollution?
No one, that’s who. Everyone wants a better life for themselves and their kids. But as things get ever more politicized in Washington and our nation’s state capitals, it’s easy to lose sight of the good stuff that most of us want for our families, our communities, our country.
In a tiny effort to keep that good stuff in focus, I’m launching a series of blog posts that illustrate the clean energy economy that is sprouting all around us. I’ll showcase the kinds of innovations that are already happening but that we want to see a lot more of — like radiant floor heating!. And I’ll focus on the steps governments, businesses and individuals are taking to realize them.
I’m calling these my “Better Life” posts. You can read my first one here. It highlights how New Jersey’s forward-thinking energy policies have delivered very tangible benefits to residents of the Garden State.
To a better life!