Energy Challenge status report

Hello all,

How is the energy reduction challenge going?

I have been trying to keep everything turned off at the wall as much as possible, but Mac’s not always so good at remembering.

We’ve barely used the heating all month, although when we had people stay for my belated Thanksgiving we had it turned on all weekend. Unfortunately, we’ve had a LOT of damp/mould growing, so we’ve had a dehumidifier running all day most days. It says it only uses 200W/hour, but that seems awfully low—maybe I read it wrong?

Part of me wants to switch to a cord phone, because a cordless requires the base to be permanently turned on. That must be awfully wasteful.

I think my number figures are going to be a bit hard to read because a) I keep forgetting to check it on a Thursday night and b) I was away in the States for a week at Christmas.

Life in the US is INFINITELY more wasteful—I forget about all sorts of little things until I get there. My family has a dust buster. Why do you need a mini vacuum cleaner that is permanently charging on the wall when you have a vacuum cleaner, dust rags, paper towels, a broom, AND a dustpan and brush? Beats me. I guess “convenience”. My mom also uses (used? I didn’t see it while I was home) a wet swiffer. I HATED it. You had to replace these disposable cloth wipes all the time—she would go through 2-3 just to wash the kitchen floor ONCE. And it was battery powered or something. It was pretty ridiculous. The Art House uses an e-Cloth, and they get lots more foot traffic than my parents’ kitchen.

My sister (who is trying to be more environmentally friendly) uses a huge electric blanket all night (which would be more efficient than if they had the heating going at night—but the heat is still at 60F while they are all in bed) AND has a fan going all night so she has white noise. Honestly?

So I can say I’ve become much more aware. I don’t know how good the numbers will be… We have been taking laundry to the laundrette to dry, which is electricity usage that won’t show up on our meter, but I just can’t stand having clothes adding even more damp to our cold flat! I guess I have a ways to go…

Add a comment and let me know how you’re getting on. Any other challenges that you’ll be taking on in 2009?