Austin makes it easy to be green

Its pretty easy to be green in Austin, all things considered. There are a lot of rebate programs out there offered by Austin Energy and the Austin water utilities and even the natural gas company here in town. All these rebates make it pretty affordable to make your home greener. You can get the city to replace your old toilets if you agree to use new low flow models with you do so. You can also get good rebates on solar powered water heaters, they produce the same hot water, but don't take as much energy to run. Rebates are available for rain barrels that will help you capture water off your roof and use it later to water you plants so you don't have to turn on the hose. Austin Energy has a whole host of rebates for different things. You can get rebates to add insulation to your attic, or spray some radiant barrier under your roof to reflect summer heat.
With all these different rebates available it is curious why Austin isn't a more environmentally friendly city. Everyone thinks of Austin as a progressive town that should be at the forefront of our state's push to be more environmentally friendly, and that is certainly the idea behind the rebates. The fact still remains that austinites just aren't taking advantage of the programs and actually living greener. For example Austin's percapita water use exceeds the state recommended maximums and we aren't even that close to meeting that goal. Other cities like San Marcos and San Antonio are already below the recommended percapita water use. What gives Austin? Get out there and take advantage of the great rebates Austin is offering you. Its free money to help the environment, what could be wrong with that?