Are you a grasshopper or an ant? Just like the fable of the wastrel grasshopper and the diligent ant preparing for winter, people can be conscientious or careless, penny-wise or profligate about conservation and energy consumption.
Conservation and attitude go hand in hand. Environmentalist Peter Love cites a recent study from Sweden in which identical homes were equipped with the same heating and cooling systems and the same appliances, but one home consumed twice as much energy as the other.
"That tells me it's totally behavioural," says the man who served as Ontario's first chief energy conservation officer. "Do you take long showers? Do you leave your lights on? Do you have a flat-screen TV you leave on all the time? The light switch is right there and it's really cheap."
Love is in the business of changing Ontarians' attitudes and behaviours. His term with Ontario Power Generation is over; the passionate conservationist has returned to the private sector, where he communicates his green message as the head of Love Energy Consultants. He appeared at last weekend's International Home Show to urge homeowners to explore and implement energy-efficiency measures in their homes.
The timing couldn't be better. The federal EcoEnergy Retrofit program and Ontario's Home Energy Savings program offer up to $10,000 for green home improvements; the Home Renovation Tax Credit will kick in up to $1,350 more.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg: projects that increase energy efficiency also slash home energy bills. And with winter on the way, most homeowners would find lower heating and electricity bills a welcome improvement.
Love encourages homeowners to start with a home energy audit, which measures how well the house operates. The advisor lists and prioritizes actions that can be taken and shows the expected return on investment.
"Most people would be surprised to find out that just tightening the house - good old caulking and weather stripping - is probably the single cheapest and most cost-effective thing they can do," Love says. "The payback is in months."
That's because when you add up every crack and gap and leak, the average home has a two-foot-diameter hole through which heat escapes in winter and enters in summer. That's the equivalent of leaving a window wide open all year round.
"The other thing that's very important is what we do with what we've got," Love says. "We need to start thinking not only about our purchases but our day-to-day behaviours."
It's great to install a programmable thermostat, he says, but have you programmed it to lower the heat while you're at work? You've purchased a power bar, but do you flick it off? You held out for an EnergyStar washing machine or dishwasher, but do you run only full loads? These post-purchase behaviours greatly affect the amount of energy we use.
Love knows plenty of good tip sheets for consumers. For example, Ontario Power Generation's Count Me In (www.countmeinontario.ca) details a hundred different ways to cut consumption. But Love prefers his own simple list.
"The first step is to think about energy and electricity. And that's a hard one. But more and more people are starting to think about it and find out about it and do some research.
"The second step is to believe that if you do something, it will make a difference. It can have a huge impact throughout our whole economy to have everyone begin to participate. We've seen it with the Blue Box. We've seen it with young people's attitudes toward having a designated driver. Attitudes change when people believe it's important.
"And the third step is to act. This is not theory. It's not somebody else's fault. We're not going to leave it up to big government or big business. It's up to all of us."
So which will you be - grasshopper or ant? The choice is just three short steps away.
