The Task: To put our stereo, internet, and router on a power bar with a switch so that we can just turn it off at the end of the day or when we are not home!
The Why: Our hope is that by finding many little ways to reduce our electricity usage we will eventually see a small decrease in our overall consumption and our electric bill.
But it's also the principle of the matter. Why are we drawing energy for 8 hours at night for things that aren't being used? And why do we use energy to run a wireless internet even when we are away from the house for the entire day?
There are extra benefits to this simple switch too. The surge protector will protect our electronics in a power outage, which is especially convincing for us because our stereo is down to only one speaker after a recent momentary power outage blew the right speaker and left it smoking and emitting a putrid burnt rubber smell!
The Verdict: Flicking the switch takes about two seconds. It was easy enough to do while locking the doors and turning out the lights on our way to bed last night. And even if we never see any decrease in our electricity bill (I'm not holding my breath for that, this is a very small change!) it is a step towards being more intentional about the resources we use, which is a big part of what this year of less is all about.
We are doing one small thing (almost) every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!
Not to mention reducing the amount of radiation emision in your house! They say you sleep better!
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of/or watched "No Impact Man". I watched it the other night, and while it was very extreme- it was very inspirational. I know you all don't have tv, so you probably don't have Netflix.... But if you have the opportunity to watch this documentary, you should!!
ReplyDeleteHi Nichole! I have seen it, and found it interesting and encouraging!
DeleteHave you heard of/or watched "No Impact Man". I watched it the other night, and while it was very extreme- it was very inspirational. I know you all don't have tv, so you probably don't have Netflix.... But if you have the opportunity to watch this documentary, you should!!
ReplyDeleteYou should also unplug the surge protector. It is still drawing a lot of energy by just being plugged in. You would be surprised how much! Just something to keep in mind for the future. What you have done so far is great! Love your blogs!
ReplyDeleteHi Tiffany! According to this article (http://www.askfocusonenergy.com/Browse/198) when a power strip is turned off it is no longer using electricity. It does not need to be unplugged....just flicking the switch means it will not draw energy.
DeleteIt actually still draws energy... it's called "phantom energy". It's very minimal (WAY less than what you were using before), but it is still using a tiny amount of energy. I doubt you'd see the difference on an energy bill.
DeleteAll the plug points int he walls in Idnia have an individual switch, that was one of the smartest thing I ever saw when I first arrived, it's very easy to switch of whatever isn't in use at any given point during the day or night. Saving resources has never spoken to me any louder than when I moved to India, here daily power cuts are common, well not in Mumbai where I live now, but that's an exeption to the rule, where I lived previously there were 2-3 hours of power cuts a day in the hot Summer days simply because the power grid was overloaded and could not meet all the demand, to me it seems that if everybody did switch off their TV stand by, or cut the power to their microwave clock, this would already free a lot more unit that could go to using the ceiling fans to keep cool while one read a book.
ReplyDeleteJust one caveat on the whole unplug the router thing - if you, like we do, have VOIP as your phone service, you probably want to leave that plugged in, in case of emergency phone calls at night. But there are certainly tons of other electronics around the house that are drawing power that could be unplugged or turned off when not being used, especially all those chargers we all have now.
ReplyDeleteI used to leave my laptop plugged in all the time, even when it was turned off. The converter box on the cord stays pretty warm, so I've started unplugging when I don't need it.
ReplyDeleteIF anyone is interested there are these power bars we have them, they have like a primary plug, where you plug your tv, then they have secondary plugs that will only draw power if the primary unit is on. Therefore when we turn off the tv the PS3, stereo and any other devices will turn off. They are a little bit more expensive than a regular power bar but you dont have to worry about forgetting to turn it off if the small details of life slip your mind as they do mine.
ReplyDeleteWhere do you find them? I love that idea.
DeleteThat's neat!
DeleteFound them on amazon. Going to order a couple. Thanks for the idea!
Deletealready doing it!!! I think I noticed a difference in our bill..and especially when we forget to (especially when we go away and forget...bad homeowners:o/)
ReplyDeleteLeah..I think we got some of those from our electric company (if anyone has First Energy, they do a home audit and send you a bunch of free energy saving things..like those outlets.) The problem for us is, I must not know how they work because we can only use 3 of the 5 or 6 outlets and 2 are only when the primary one is being used. Maybe I need to look it up??
I have tried to talk my husband into doing this. I just can't seem to convince him!
ReplyDeleteWe're doing this and we noticed the difference in the next bill - $30 less :) but we were cutting back thru the day also
ReplyDeleteWay to go, Kelly!!! This - of all - is one thing in which we Europeans seem to be ahead of you: We've installed those switch plugs years ago. Someone said we could spare 1 atomic power plant in Germany if every german household would use them - there's about 80 million of us and it's up to you to translate this to Canadian or US population. ;-)Well, Germans are known to be somewhat paranoid about nuclear power, but I really prefer living without it!
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to let you know I am addicted to your blog! Good for you making these changes. I am working on reducing clutter this year, and it sure isn't easy. When I read your post about the throw pillows I cringed. Good job!
ReplyDeleteThe biggest ones are washer and dryer, we are unplugging those every time we are done.
ReplyDeleteWhen we started doing this, I noticed a difference on the next bill, and thereafter. Then we got lax about it, but we are about to get rid of the TV/satellite/Wii, which stay plugged in and the power strip on all the time, so I expect to see a difference again. It's exciting when you can do something so small and see a real difference from it!
ReplyDeleteWe noticed a big difference in our energy bill when we started turning of "energy suckers" at night. Our bill dropped about $30 per month! The biggie for us was leaving the laptop or desktop computers running. We don't do THAT anymore! Hope your bill goes down, too - it's a nice benefit of being green :)
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