Joe,
I hope I didn't offend you with my "conservation" thing. (And I sincerely mean it, I wasn't really thinking about the biz). I just thing in general that it's stupid to put up a roof blocking natural light and putting in synthetic light.
The best way to conserve energy is to live like a caveman, but who wants to do that? We do need a balance. Yes, installing central air is a good thing, but maybe run it at 75 degrees instead of 72. I'm just saying there's things we really don't need. Personally, I'd love to have an air conditioner, but since I'm still a student, I'm on a very limited budget. I have to choose whether I want to be cooler or if I wanna eat.
I'm NOT advocating throwing every high-power device out. I still use power tools to fix up my friend's house (I'm renting a room off of him, but he lets me pay less than our agreed rent because I'm always fixing up the house. Sorry, back to the point.)
For example:
When I wired our kitchen (permitted and inspected. Inspector didn't believe me when I said i did it myself.), we put in 6 circuits. 2 small appliance, 1 fridge, 1 microwave, 1 coffee maker (industrial size), 1 dishwasher. I'm not saying let's limit the number of circutis we put in, let's just not use them if we don't need them. Turn off the lights you're not using, etc.
Electricity is a tool. But think about it, how many pairs of kleins do you have? Do you use a pair for every room? If you did, that would be wasteful. Same with using electricity, or any other energy. Central air, for example. If your customer works every day 9-5, why not suggest to use a digital thermostat with a timer. Same labor, and therefore same money (plus whatever markup on devices), and then they have a nice money saving feature that the $30 or whatever markup you charge, they will save in energy bills and gain convenience. It will be worth it. It can be off from 9:00 until 4:30. It will be cool at all times they are at home.
Use whatever you need, but don't waste it. Do you take the scenic route to your job? No, because you'll waste gas.
