April electricity

Sunday, 6:53 pm

By Kate

May

06

2007

It’s time for another accounting of electricity use in this household. I think I’ve reached a plateau, which means that there’s probably not a whole lot more I can do to reduce electricity use unless I a) become an ascetic b) go solar or c) start replacing appliances. Becoming an ascetic...yes, well, a cold day across the river Styx has a better chance. An array of solar panels is little above my means currently, so that’s out. Over the course of time, appliances will be replaced with more energy efficient ones, but that’s an ongoing process. Not something I can do all at once. So, I guess, I’ll have to be happy with my current levels of use.

Except for one small change, perhaps. I could swap out the large television in the living room with the smaller LCD one that I bought for my bedroom a few months ago. The LCD TV only uses about a third of the electricity as the large one. I’ve been kind of thinking about it since I rarely use the upstairs television, but messing about with all the cables and wires is sort of off-putting. I think I’ll just dig in and do it.

My latest addition to new practices is hanging clothes on a rack rather than using the dryer. Over the course of a month, it only makes a small difference for me since I’m not doing laundry nearly every day as I used to. When the lad gets home (in a week or two) he’ll help me install a clothesline outside. And the washing machine will be whirring along a lot more often.

When the lad arrives home, my lovely plateau will undoubtedly develop a spike. Although, with determination, the monthly graph will still reflect vastly lower amounts of use than last summer. I do intend to be a total pain in the butt about it until turning things off becomes second nature to him again. And, of course, there will be the battles over the air conditioner, which I intend to win. Mostly. ;)

Incidentally, as an aside, can you believe the lad’s first year of college is over already? I can’t.