Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Mother's going GREEN Day 42 - Electrical Power

As some of you may note; my post for day 42 comes one day late... We had a power outage yesterday - for us it lasted a few minutes but for some of our town into the early evening. Because of this our Internet connection was affected and now was only operating intermittently - not sure how - but that is what the cable company told me after several calls begging them to see what they could do to get me up and running so I could do my post. To no avail - hence I post today for Monday July 7,2008.

It was really weird - early in the afternoon as I was researching our use of electrical power (my kids have TV time for an hour after lunch and I surf the net) and BOOM the power went out. how ironic...

Since going green I do not turn on any lights - it works well now that it is summer as when it gets dark it is almost time for bed and then I usually sit on our deck and enjoy some quite time by the light of the moon.....It is great. I have always been a fan of saving electricity as it it a savings you also see in your monthly bill. I have been known to sit and read in almost darkness before turning on a light (which by the way does not damage your eyes only outs strain on them).

You too can save electricity by following these simple steps:
-- Do not leave lights on in a room when you leave.
-- If you have a porch light and would like it stay on to welcome your night time visitors - invest in a motion detector light that goes on when some one approaches your house. We have one as my husband often only gets home after dark and I do not want to leave a light on so he can find his way in putting the key into the lock - now the light goes on as needed and turns off 5 minutes later.
-- Turn off electrical appliances when not in use. Even the ones that are just in sleep mode. If it still has some sort of light/clock running even when it is off - it is still drawing power and using electricity.
-- Cut down your TV watching time (this benefits you and the environment). Get out and enjoy the world or in the evening pick up a good book.
-- The hardest one for me is also cutting down on my computer time - and also making sure I turn it off when I get up and leave. That includes the monitor.
-- As mentioned before only run appliances like the dishwasher and washing machine with full loads. Also, decide what you want from the fridge before you open it. No need to stand with the fridge door open as you decide on what you need. You warm up the fridge, which then needs to use more energy to get it back to it's original temperature. Same thing with the oven when you are cooking. Use the oven light rather than opening the door to check.
-- Install energy efficient light bulbs - now that is an easy one.

For some numbers on how much electrical energy we use world wide look here. The United States ranks number 1; Canada number 8; United Kingdom number 13.

Electricity production requires the use of non renewable resources such as coal, oil, (natural) gas, uranium, of semi renewable resources such as biogas, wood, waste, or of renewable resources such as water, wind and solar energy. The non renewables form by far the most important resources for electricity production. Therefore there is an almost direct relation between electricity production and the use of fossil non-renewable resources. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the electricity generated in America in 2002 came from the following sources:
Coal 50%
Nuclear 20%
Natural Gas 18%
Hydro 07%
Other 05%

Here is some information on the relationship between oil and electricity and the impact on the environment.

Hence, you can see why it is important to conserve electrical energy or use a renewable form for producing electricity such as solar or wind power.

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