90 Percent Project - Week 39

Tuesday, 3:26 pm

Mar

04

2008

And here are my weekly values for resources consumed during Week 39 (February 22-28) of the 90 Percent Project....

Electricity
Week 39: 13 kWh

Still hanging in there with a 13 kWh week. Next week will be slightly more. I...uh...used the dryer once. But despite that, it looks as if my total for the week will be the same as the first week of February when I didn’t use the dryer. For reasons I haven’t been able to determine, I’m using less electricity per day than I did in the early part of February. I don’t know why. I don’t think it’s because the days have grown slightly longer. Too slightly, in my opinion.

As predicted, my electric bill for the month of February dropped like the proverbial rock. It came in at 56 kWh for the month with a grand total due of $14.71. You have no idea how long I stared at my bill and grinned like an idiot. I wish I could point to one thing that I did to make my usage drop by half, but I can’t really pinpoint anything specific. I just used less. Part of it could be the lad being back at school, of course, but, if you look at the graph below, that doesn’t quite account for it either. He wasn’t home in September or October or November, either. This past month I did make conscious choices about whether to switch something on or not. At this stage of the project, it doesn’t feel like a hardship to ask myself whether it’s necessary to use the electricity that I’m standing there considering. Quite often the answer is...nah, not really.

There was one small disappointment in the bill’s sidebar graph, though. Last year, in February, there was a correction to my bill owing to the previous month’s estimated bill. I had forgotten about that. According to my current bill, I only used 53 kWh last February, when, in reality, that was the difference between what they’d estimated and what I actually used. After a year of trying to reduce, reduce, reduce, I ended up using 3 kWh more on this bill than the utility says I used last year. It’s not true, of course, but there it is in black and white. Kind of deflating, in a way.

(Edited: Okay, I didn’t think things through up above. I purchased my laptop in late November, but had the basement flood which required many dryer loads to prevent mildew from growing on things. The lad came home in December and used plenty of electricity. Same for January. In early February, I curtained off my kitchen and it stayed pretty chilly out there. The fridge probably used quite a lot less electricity each day. It was right about the time I installed the curtain between the kitchen and the rest of the house that my daily usage dropped by nearly 1 kWh per day. So, really, February is the first month that indicates what my baseline use is with the lad gone, the laptop in use, and no household disasters to deal with.)

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Gasoline purchased
Week 39: 0 gallons

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Water
Week 39: 62.17 gallons

The new shower head seems to be earning its keep.

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Natural Gas
Week 39: 1 CCF

Well, I finally did it. Wonder if I can do it again this week.

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Trash
Week 39: 2.8 lbs

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Consumer Goods
Week 39: $0

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Food
I have to admit that I’m really looking forward to a fresh tomato and a few green beans. Most likely from my own garden this year. I’ve had about enough root cellared squash and cabbage for the year. And the apples are growing a little mealy, too. All things considered, there’s really nothing to complain about. I’m eating well and nutritiously on food produced in my own area. That was the goal. It does make one appreciate the seasons a little more acutely and the bounty of the local growing season. I think this year will involve the purchase of a freezer. That’ll help with variety next winter. Still, it’s good to know that I can eat well through the winter, on locally produced foods, without a freezer.