SAVING $$$ ON GREENHOUSE HEAT
We all know about sky-high heating costs and we are reminded each month when we receive our statement. But what do you do if you own a greenhouse operation with an acre of greenhouses? Without getting into details about the actual cost, we tried the “budget plan” with NIPSCO, which simply means the bill is the same each month of the year. This wasn’t going so well, especially with the very large increase as of January 2006. So we stopped the budget and have noticed a measurable decrease for the last 2 months.
Ways of saving money included shutting down 14,820 square feet of greenhouse space after Christmas, which left us with only 180 square feet to heat. And now that cuttings and seedlings are arriving, we are only opening one section at a time. In our garage area we have started the practice of turning on the heat at 7:00 am and only running the 2 heaters until 9:00 am, just enough time to take the chill out of the air. Programmable thermostats have been installed in areas where the furnace is completely shut off or at least, turned down to 50 degrees just before workers go home. And on the weekends, they are turned down until Monday morning.
Saving money during the winter months takes some imagination and a little bit of work such as plastic over your windows and the simple act of turning down the thermostat when you leave home, especially for long periods of time. Some people think that it costs more to reheat your home when you get back but I do not believe it. When my heat is turned back on, it only takes 20 to 30 minutes to warm right back up. Of course, it hasn’t hurt us at all by having this extra warm winter season and remember the money saved at this time will more than make up for a higher bill if the weather turns extra cold. We really only have a few dangerously cold weeks left for this year.
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