But at the same time, there has been a fairly exponential rate of recycling over the last 10 years. In 1990, Boulder County's recycling rate was only about 16 percent. Callahan hopes the future brings even more progress by eliminating some of the waste in packaging materials. If you could have made the manufacturing step more efficient, you don't have to pay for those materials in packaging. In the last 10 years, residents have become more sensitive to their household energy consumption.
People turn off their lights, turn down heat and seal up windows and doors to save energy.
At the same time, however, people are demanding bigger homes with more energy-gobbling devices like air conditioning. According to the National Association of Home Builders, a typical new home in 1999 was about 2,225 square feet. In 1990, the average size of a new home was about 2,080 square feet. Nowadays, a typical residential customer uses 7,225 kilowatt hours of electricity each year. More homes are being built with air conditioning.