I’m a pretty environmentally friendly person; I believe in conserving as much water and energy as possible, and try not to be wasteful with my food or lifestyle.
There are plenty of easy things to do to help our climate, like turning off lights when you aren’t in the room or at home, taking short showers on a limited number of days per week, and walking instead of taking the car on short trips. However, some things aren’t so easy for me. I truly struggle not to use my HVAC system. I know that it’s extremely energy inefficient to use air conditioning or central heating as often as I want to, and I feel immensely guilty every time I touch the thermostat; however, I can’t stand being uncomfortable in my own home, and I like having temperature control at my fingertips. That’s why I started looking into alternative energy sources, and landed upon solar power as the most reasonable option on the market currently. Solar panels have gotten much more affordable in recent years, and they can power your entire HVAC system, or even your whole house! The only caveat is that you need to have direct sunlight in order for the solar panels to collect enough energy on any given day. This isn’t a problem in most suburban settings, but in older neighborhoods with tall trees it can be hard to get enough juice to run your HVAC often. I’m lucky to have a big sunny patch in my yard, so I’ll be switching to solar panel power for my current heating and cooling system as soon as possible!