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Top 10 ways to save on air conditioning

As the temperature rises, so does your electric bill. But there are plenty of ways to keep your cool and your bill low. Here are ten ways to save.

1. Set the thermostat at the highest comfortable temperature: 76 degrees or higher.

2. Clean or change air conditioner filters monthly. Also, make sure that air vents are clear of furniture.

3. Use fans to keep air moving.

4. Close the drapes and window blinds on the sunny side of the house.

5. Shrink the amount of space being cooled by closing the vents and doors in rooms you're not using.

6. Don't use ovens, clothes dryers, and dishwashers to heat the home you're trying to keep cool. Cook your meals and do the laundry during the cooler hours of the day.

7. Check your windows and doors. Weather stripping is cheaper than electricity.

8. Make friends with your microwave. It uses up to 70 percent less energy than a conventional oven and keeps the kitchen cooler.

9. Get the kids involved. Turn off lights, computers, televisions, stereo equipment, and other electrical appliances that use electricity and generate heat.

10. Use exhaust fans to remove humidity from bathrooms and kitchens.

Sun storms could cause power and communications outages

Experts are predicting that this year could be one of the worst for solar storms. Surges of charged particles could knock out satellites, power grids and even garage door openers. This isn't some kind of sci-fi joke. During the last solar maximum in 1989, Quebec's power grid was knocked out completely.

The sun is at the height of its 11-year cycle of storms. Most of northern Europe and North America can be impacted by sun storms and both government and private industries have geared up to prevent the most serious disturbances.

For example, now NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft, orbiting a million miles (1.6 million km) from Earth, has a magnetometer and a particle detector aboard that can warn of the solar bursts about 45 minutes before they reach the atmosphere.

Its information can help to protect not only electricity networks, but also satellite users ranging from broadcasters to automated teller machines and even pager companies. In 1998 the Galaxy IV satellite was disabled by a solar storm, silencing 80 percent of North America's pagers, knocking financial services offline and stopping credit card transactions.

Solar storms disrupt electricity grids by causing extraneous currents that cause the flow to fluctuate. Careful management can prevent this from knocking the grid out, but power system managers have to know it is coming.

See you at the fair

Illinois' Touchstone Energy co-ops will be at both state fairs this summer. The Illinois State Fair will run August 11-20 in Springfield and the Du Quoin State Fair will run August 26-Sept. 4. The co-ops' booth will feature new technology like the geothermal heat pump and new fuel cell technology currently being tested by electric cooperatives.

A live-line safety demonstration will also be featured as well as the new Touchstone Energy hot air balloon. Be sure to come to the fairs and visit the co-op booth.

Students win co-ops' scholarship

This year the Illinois Electric Cooperative Memorial Scholarship Fund committee received 151 applications. The three winners of $1,000 scholarships are:

Lauren Hottes of Pickneyville, daughter of Perry and Doris Hottes, members of Egyptian Electric Cooperative Association; Jonathan White of Kinderhook, son of Donna Cotter, members of Illinois Rural Electric Cooperative; and Brandon Fisher of Winchester, son of Randy and Phyllis Fisher.

Lauren and Jonathan were selected in the category for sons or daughters of electric cooperative members, and Brandon was the winner in the category for sons or daughters of electric cooperative employees. His father is Pearl Power Plant Superintendent for Soyland Power Cooperative.

For more information on the IEC Memorial Scholarship Program, contact your local electric co-op, or ask your local high school guidance counselor. Candidates are judged on the basis of grade point average, college entrance exam scores, work and volunteer experience, school and civic activities, and a short essay which demonstrates their knowledge of electric cooperatives.

6 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING • JULY 2000

Grants available for rural school music programs

Has a music program at one of your area elementary schools been curtailed for lack of funding or commitment? Could that program benefit from $25,000 worth of musical instruments? Is your answer to these questions is yes, you can tell your school district about the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. The foundation, a partnership dedicated to improving the quality of public school education by restoring music programs, will contribute $25,000 in instruments to four rural schools for the 2001 - 2002 school year.

This is the first year that the VH1 Save The Music program, now five years old, will contribute to schools in rural areas. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative are co-sponsoring the program.

"The rural electric cooperatives have a long history of close involvement with the local communities they serve," said Bob Morrison, executive director of the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. "Together, we can help reinstate valuable music education in many of these schools."

VH1 is a music-video television channel. To obtain VH1 Save The Music applications and program materials, contact Cynthia Shelberg, NRTC vice president of programming and affiliate relations, at (703) 787-0874 or visit www.nrtc.org or www.Cooperative.com.

Regional meetings in July gather farmer input

The Illinois Department of Agriculture is looking for grassroots input from farmers and others involved in the state's food and fiber industry. Illinois Agriculture Director Joe Hampton announced the first-ever Ag Assembly will begin with a series of regional meetings, which will be followed by a statewide meeting in Springfield this August.

Regional forums in July will be held in Rock Falls, Malta, Urbana, Jacksonville, Ina and Glen Ellyn. To find out more, visit the department's website at www.agr.state.il.us, call (800) 273-4763, or write to the Illinois Department of Agriculture, State Fairgrounds, RO. Box 19281, Attention Ag Assembly, Springfield, IL 62794-9281 to request a registration form.

JULY 2000 • ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING 7

Co-op sponsored solar car finishes in grand prix

Carl Painter, Lincoln Land Community College faculty advisor (right) tells John Freitag, Association of Illinois Electric Cooperative's rice president of operations, the proton exchange fuel cell being installed in the solar car will provide 500 watts of power. The car is capable of highway speeds and is licensed by the state to drive on public roads.

Lincoln Land Community College's engineering students battled back and forth with students from Purdue University and 13 other colleges during the Formula Sun Grand Prix in May. Sponsored by Illinois' Touchstone Energy® cooperatives, the car placed 5th in the "stock" division and 8th overall. Lincoln Land was the only community college in the race.

Last year the students competed in a 10-day trek from Washington, D.C. to Orlando, Fla. Now the students are concentrating on demonstrating fuel cell technology with the car. Carl Painter, faculty advisor, says the team will drive the first of its kind vehicle from Springfield to Madison, Wis., to a national energy conference this summer.

A shortcut to GFCI safety

You know you need ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) around any water sources, such as sinks or bathtubs. If you've been putting off making the change because of the trouble and expense involved, you don't have an excuse anymore! You can buy GFCI adapters, which plug into existing outlets, in most hardware stores for S20-S30.

Source: National Safety Council (www.nsc.org)

Ten water saving tips

1. Test for a leaking toilet by adding food coloring to the tank. If any color appears in the bowl after 30 minutes, your toilet is leaking. Leaking toilets wastes 200 gallons of water a day.

2. Use water conserving plumbing fixtures and water flow constrictors on sinks and showers. If you don't have a low-flow toilet, place two half-gallon plastic bottles filled with water in your toilet tank. This saves one gallon of water each time you flush.

3. Run your dishwasher and wash clothes only when you have a full load.

4. Take short showers instead of a bath. Baths can use 30 to 50 gallons of water. Showers use five gallons of water per minute, and even less if a flow restrictor is installed.

5. Check your water meter while no water is being used. If the dials are moving, you have a water leak.

6. Don't run water continuously when washing dishes, brushing your teeth, washing your hands and face, or shaving.

7. Avoid using a garbage disposal. Disposals use a great deal of water. Add your garbage to the compost or trash instead of putting it down the garbage disposal.

8. Choose plants that are native to the area you live in or plants that are drought resistant for landscaping and gardens. Native plants are used to the natural amount of precipitation that occurs in the area they are found in and normally do not require any additional watering.

9. Water lawn and gardens during the coolest part of the day. Use drip irrigation to apply water slowly exactly where it is needed. Collect rain from the gutter system on a house in a rain barrel to use for watering.

10. Use a bucket of water and a spray head on the hose to wash your car. A running hose wastes over 100 gallons of water in the time it takes to wash the car.

8 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING • JULY 2000