Energy

For this week's blog, our assignment was to spend a 24 hour period reducing our energy use as much as possible. We were given a quick guide that provided both simple and more in depth ways to help with this.

1. The first thing I did to help reduce my energy consumption was to find all the vampires in my house that I could unplug without bother my roommates too much. For a quick clarification, vampires are electronics that draw energy as long as they are plugged in, being off doesn't matter. These items included phone chargers, the toaster, my laptop charger, the microwave, and the various other chargers for wireless controllers we have around the house. I also made sure that I had a lot more curtains open during this period, I wanted to use natural light as much as possible. I also only drove if I was going to work or school. I already take >5 minute showers and I didn't do laundry during the 24 hour period.

2. I felt pretty at ease during this experience. I have already gone 6 months without most electronics. My only electronic being a digital watch that served as my alarm clock. For entertainment, I had no issue sitting down with a book or taking my dogs or myself for a walk. The hardest change would be handling the vampires on a daily basis. It's not a huge thing, but because it is small and tedious, it can easily slip through the cracks. At the very least I'll try to handle my personal vampires. I'd be willing to switch to a cold shower. I already take short showers and have dealt with bathing in the cold before. But that is something that I might leave on hold until summer rolls back around. Luckily, my roommates and I already avoid using AC or heat as much as we can.

3. The biggest improvement I could do for my home would be the electronics of all my roommates. I am currently getting them to be a bit more environmentally minded, but it is a slow process. Besides that, we already do a good job of choosing energy efficient bulbs, turning off lights, and avoiding using the heat and AC. Realistically, I just need to get my roommates on board with unplugging their vampires and I think our house will be low energy.