Greetings:

A little bit about myself:
Terrill, 38 years old currently living and blowing glass in a salt box barn. Interested in energy issues (sustainability), permaculture gardening...and of course glass-blowing.
This year we heated our house off our glass studio quite well. Other sources of heat are : wood stove, passive solar, and old oil furnace. We don't have any systems intentionally installed that hold or transfer the heat, it just rises (we live above the shop). We do have a 6 inch thick cement pad that the building sits on. This acts as a great heat sink. Were we to insulate better we would get a much bigger bump off of passive solar, and nearly eliminate the use of the oil furnace completely.
We removed some walls in the front of our studio recently and took the opportunity to upgrade our insulation there to cellulose. It gets blown into the space, is non-toxic, and a great sound barrier. It is much more efficient than fiberglass.
This has been an example of how we are working when able to be less dependent on fossil fuels: approaching the issue from all angles, leveraging fastest payback on investment with the intent to reinvest the savings in further energy conscious adaptations. First and foremost (and usually overlooked) is: Conservation and intelligent use of energy. It is the fastest "payback" for your efforts. We are working on our house and living habits as a well as our studio because there are opportunities for big gains to be had from small changes throughout our life. In dealing with our house we have done alot of research into the fastest payback period on an energy efficient upgrades with the intent to reinvest the subsequent savings in further improvements . Our overall approach: go at the issue of energy conservation from all angles picking things off your list that give you the greatest savings for the least effort. Take on larger projects as you are able.
Other approaches include: Recycling, designing for resources. Buying energy from green companies (wind/solar)....
One quick thing: propane has dropped in cost recently and our electric bill accordingly...Eddie had mentioned part of his inspiration for energy and atmosphere was overall atmosphere: creative, political, etc. Since having that conversation the economy has become a big part of that enviroment: lack of industrial demand creates a surplus of energy and the prices for it drop...
Another aspect of this enviroment has become the massive tax stimulus for projects like this. Above federal tax dollars available for energy efficiency you may have significant state incentives available. Maine for instance (where i'm living) is working out a 3000.00 cash back incentive for every 10,000.00 dollars spent. That is above and beyond the federal incentives. Again check what's available in your state, for us there are great deals for new home heating furnaces and e-windows, doors and insulation.
If like myself you had a significant loss of income in the past year, and don't have a profit to write these costs off against you may consider doing it simply because of what future costs might do to your business. Ask yourself: could you do business if your energy costs were 10 x what they are now? One local friend at the mid-coast green energy collective suggested working out a contract with a local green energy co. He told me that his power comes from wind. It is provided through our local co., we are able to broker deals were we know that our power comes from wind or solar. In his case he pays 2-3 cents more now per kilo watt hour, however in the event that costs spike in the next few years he may actually be paying less than electricity created with coal because his contract hold a that price....
Hope this isnt' too jumbled! I wanted to get some conversation started..

Best,
Terrill