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90 Percent Project - Week 39
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.
I think this is a wonderful plan Kate, keeping track of your consumption for a variety of resources and working to control/cut-down when possible. We gave up our car in the last year, a big adjustment but not impossible. Also doing as much recycling as possible which is not something that has evolved as much, up here in Canada. Sometimes the facilities just aren’t available, sad but true. OUr gov’ts appear to have ‘bigger fish to fry’ such as having multi-millions for the upcoming Olympic games in Vancouver. Now, that is a priority!
Too many empty promises, all out the door, after they win the election. Sound familiar?
Thanks, Geraldine. That is the whole goal of the 90 Percent Project aka The Riot for Austerity...cutting energy/resource use down by 90% of average American usage. And keeping a record of it. *And* showing how we do it, hopefully making it seem not that difficult so others might be inspired to try. I’ve probably completely failed in the latter regard...the last 10-20% aren’t easy and I can’t make it seem otherwise. But the first 20-30% reductions *are* easy.
Getting rid of your car is a huge step. I’m very impressed. That’s not easy and it is not something I’m prepared to do yet. I get the cold sweats when my car is in the shop for a week...and I don’t even use my car that much. Having public transportation would certainly help a lot, though. It’s not high on the list of priorities for many (or probably most) cash strapped communities these days.
We’ve had quite an active recycling program in my town for the last decade. They even provide the recycling bins for free and come pick up the recycling at the curb every two weeks. Despite that, people have resisted and many simply won’t recycle. How much easier can it be?
The town has recently issued a new ruling...recycling is absolutely mandatory and we won’t have our trash picked up if we don’t put our blue recycling bins out along with it. I suspect that clear trash bags will be the next step, too. It’s hard to fathom the attitude for resisting recycling when it’s made so easy. But as one neighbor stated, “I don’t believe in recycling.” Well, guess that isn’t going to be an option any more. Dumping trash is getting more and more expensive for communities and we’re running out of places to create new landfills. Just as a practical matter, we *have* to reduce the amount of stuff we throw out.
FYI - I finally (finally!) got to start reading An Arsonists Guide to the Writers Homes of New England last night. The waiting list was long at the library—there are 14 people on the list after me!
I read about it here first, of course. I’ve only read the first chapter, but i really like the voice. I hope it doesn’t get annoying.
Thanx!
Hope you enjoy it, Pablo. The voice could grow annoying, but it changes a bit as the character grows or at least grows in the conviction that his life is a mess and getting messier. Without that voice it would be an unbearable read. It’s not exactly a top ten happy read. But it seemed to me that he pulled it off pretty well.
Thanks Kate, sounds like you are living in a progressive place, at least in terms of local initiatives for recycling.
Your neighbours comments are certainly less than insightful. Still a lot of that kind of mentality out there. We pay for each bag of garbage that is picked up, that does help in terms of getting people to pay attention, whether they care about the environment or not.
Now what about all that junk still on the store shelves such as: air ‘fresheners’ , plastics galore, etc...another huge pile of junk that should be addressed and eliminated. If it’s not there, it won’t end up in the landfill, right?