Capital Electric Cooperative First Leased Its Electric Vehicle, a Chevy Bolt, in 2015 to Better Understand the Technology for Its Members. Photo Courtesy Greg Wheeler/basin Electric Power Cooperative

Why should I care about my energy footprint?

Energy keeps us comfortable in our homes, and our monthly electric bill is the associated cost for this energy use. Your energy footprint not only affects your wallet, but your local electric cooperative, too.
A kilowatt-hour (kWh) is a measure of how much energy you’re using. Despite the name, 1 kWh is the amount of energy you’d use if you kept a 1,000-watt appliance running for an hour, not the number of kilowatts you’re using per hour.

Photo Courtesy N.D. Tourism

In the November 2018 issue of North Dakota Outdoors, the monthly magazine published by N.D. Game and Fish, fisheries chief Greg Power reported that 2019 precipitations helped curb a declining lake level trend in the state.

“If you compare today to last year at this time, the difference is night and day,” he said. “In many of our new lakes, we lost 1-3 feet of water per year for the past three or four years. So, some of the lakes were down 6-8 feet from their highs.”

A decent spring runoff and wet summer and fall helped waters rebound.