Going green
A couple of weeks ago, we got a letter from PG&E promoting an energy saving plan for the summer. Reduce usage by 20% and get a 20% rebate off the total of the summer months come September. Well, Tom thought this was a great idea. He signed up in about 30 seconds, and ran outside to check the meter.
I pointed out to him that reducing our usage 20% over last year might be a bit more of a challenge than we could meet. This year we have an extra little person in our family. I am home during the week, so our usage during the day will most likely increase. Plus, we have Tom's daughter, Zoe, visiting for two weeks this summer. Nevertheless, the man was determined. His plan included the standard energy-saving habits of turning out lights when you leave the room. His plan also included unplugging every electrical appliance in the house. Of course I protested. But he was determined, and countered my protestations with "Oh, come on. Its not that inconvenient."
For him. However, I am the one spending the majority of time in the house. As I went about my
"business" I must say I found it rather disconcerting to find all the clocks in the house (on the microwave, coffee maker, alarm clock, etc.) staring at me blankly. But I soon got used to that. I did not, however, get used to having to plug everything in every time I wanted to use it. Most electric appliances and devices are not designed to be unplugged between uses. Most houses are not designed to have outlets used as frequently as electrical switches. Every time I plugged the microwave in (3x/day as I defrost Munch's food cubes), it wants me to program the clock before I can set a cook time. You have to hit a couple of extra buttons each time to bypass this step. Which I routinely forgot. The clock radio on the breakfast table makes the long process of feeding the baby tolerable by keeping me entertained with more adult conversations on NPR. The outlet for this radio is conveniently tucked out of the way under the breakfast table. This clock radio, when programmed correctly, does a very nice job. However, both Tom and myself have found it challenging to set the programming on this radio. Whenever the power goes out, or, say, the clock is unplugged, it starts this annoying little electronic chirp at the top of the hour (the clock's hour, which, of course, does not correspond to any real time zone on this planet). Having to dive under the table to plug the darned thing in at every meal, and then listen to it chirp the hours away (until it was unplugged again) was, well, just a tad annoying. Elsewhere in the house: lamps, printer, coffee maker, breast pump. If you want to use them, just find the cord, plug them in, wait for restart, reprogram the clock, and off you go! Just think of the energy you are saving!
Every day or so Tom would run outside to check the meter and then compare it with our bills from last year. It became apparent after a couple of weeks that all of these efforts were basically having no effect.
We are now, once again, a fully wired and plugged in household.
Postscript: Tom had to fly Zoe back to Indiana on Saturday. The flight was at 6:20 AM, which meant that Tom had to get up at 4:30. He went to set the alarm clock and found that it had not yet joined the ranks of the reilluminated. The joy of this particular clock is that the time (-) button no longer works. In order to set the clock or the alarm you have to use the time (+) button. Oh, come on. It's not that inconvenient.
I pointed out to him that reducing our usage 20% over last year might be a bit more of a challenge than we could meet. This year we have an extra little person in our family. I am home during the week, so our usage during the day will most likely increase. Plus, we have Tom's daughter, Zoe, visiting for two weeks this summer. Nevertheless, the man was determined. His plan included the standard energy-saving habits of turning out lights when you leave the room. His plan also included unplugging every electrical appliance in the house. Of course I protested. But he was determined, and countered my protestations with "Oh, come on. Its not that inconvenient."
For him. However, I am the one spending the majority of time in the house. As I went about my
"business" I must say I found it rather disconcerting to find all the clocks in the house (on the microwave, coffee maker, alarm clock, etc.) staring at me blankly. But I soon got used to that. I did not, however, get used to having to plug everything in every time I wanted to use it. Most electric appliances and devices are not designed to be unplugged between uses. Most houses are not designed to have outlets used as frequently as electrical switches. Every time I plugged the microwave in (3x/day as I defrost Munch's food cubes), it wants me to program the clock before I can set a cook time. You have to hit a couple of extra buttons each time to bypass this step. Which I routinely forgot. The clock radio on the breakfast table makes the long process of feeding the baby tolerable by keeping me entertained with more adult conversations on NPR. The outlet for this radio is conveniently tucked out of the way under the breakfast table. This clock radio, when programmed correctly, does a very nice job. However, both Tom and myself have found it challenging to set the programming on this radio. Whenever the power goes out, or, say, the clock is unplugged, it starts this annoying little electronic chirp at the top of the hour (the clock's hour, which, of course, does not correspond to any real time zone on this planet). Having to dive under the table to plug the darned thing in at every meal, and then listen to it chirp the hours away (until it was unplugged again) was, well, just a tad annoying. Elsewhere in the house: lamps, printer, coffee maker, breast pump. If you want to use them, just find the cord, plug them in, wait for restart, reprogram the clock, and off you go! Just think of the energy you are saving!
Every day or so Tom would run outside to check the meter and then compare it with our bills from last year. It became apparent after a couple of weeks that all of these efforts were basically having no effect.
We are now, once again, a fully wired and plugged in household.
Postscript: Tom had to fly Zoe back to Indiana on Saturday. The flight was at 6:20 AM, which meant that Tom had to get up at 4:30. He went to set the alarm clock and found that it had not yet joined the ranks of the reilluminated. The joy of this particular clock is that the time (-) button no longer works. In order to set the clock or the alarm you have to use the time (+) button. Oh, come on. It's not that inconvenient.
posted by munchmom at 1:23 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home