Electricity...its not just about cfls anymore...

According to the numbers cited on the Riot For Austerity rules, the average American monthly kilowatt Hour (KwH) usuage per household per month is 900 KwH. This translates to an approximate total of 850 lbs of carbon per month or over 10000 lbs per year (this is using the very approximate estimate of .95 lbs/KwH from this site this site.) We are currently, according to National Grid, at an average of 435 KwH/month for the last 8 months, meaning 413 lbs/month, about 5000 lbs/year. Woohoo, we're ahead of the game. Well, are we?

Living in an apartment complex makes a lot of things about the 90% Challenge a bit more complicated than I would necessarily enjoy. On one hand, some things are easier. We have a smaller space to light/fill with noise/cool/etc. Our 2 bedroom w/ dining room is about 850 square feet. The dining room is essentially electricity-free most of the day, as the light only goes on in the evening when the Phoo-Bears (aka, bunnies) are being fed, cleaned, etc, or when one of us is using the sewing machine or, *gasp*, vaccuuming in there (besides the phoo cage, which gets shopvac'd 2-3 times per week). The rest of the apartment gets very nice light so, assuming its moderatly sunny or at least not storming, the lights are off until evening, when we turn on a bare minimum. We also don't have room for big KwH suckers, like a chest freezer, dishwasher, central air (though we do have a small energy star unit in the bedroom) and similar things. But living in an apartment also poses some difficulties in calculating our actual electric usuage, mainly the washer and dryer. They are downstairs and we pay for their usuage with quarters, therefore its not calculated in our electric bill. There is also the hall lights and porch lights, that, although we aren't directly using them since they are in communal areas, are part of our household usuage but aren't calculated into our bill. So there are the caveats in our lower-than-average usage.

But ok, if we want to get our usuage to 90% less than the happy 900 KwH/household/month, then 435 ain't cutting it, as low as it sounds. To really be kicking butt, we's need to get it down to 90 KwH/month, or 1080/year. I can tell you right now, that's not going to happen while we are here, but I'd like to see us closer to 200 KwH/month, both for the sake of the Earth and for $$ issues. There are some things that we can't disconnect in the apartment, such as the fridge (its actually in our lease) and the smoke detector, which is hardwired rather than battery powered. Also, there are a few essential-to-(non-human)life electronics that are running for all or for a good portion of the day. These include the reptile lights and fish lights/filters. Despite what the cats say, this does not include the filtered cat fountain water bowl, but Bahnu wants everyone to know that that was not a sacrifice she voluntarily made.

I made a list the other day of all if the electrical things that are turned on/plugged in at least once per week. Here it is:

Constant use (or at least 12 hours per day):

• Fridge
• smoke detector
• fish filters x 3
• fish lights x 3
• fish heaters x2
• reptile heat lamps x3
• reptile UV bulbs x2
• alarm clock
• answering machine

Used Daily

• TV
• Antenna
• computer
• printer
• speakers
• light bulbs x18
• stove starter
• window fans x2 (summer/fall only)
• pedestal fan x1 (summer/fall only)

Used at least 2-3 times per week:

• bedroom TV
• DVD/playstation
• vaccuum
• shopvac
• toaster oven
• stereo
• cellphone charger
• window-unit A/C (summer only, though less than that this year)
• blender

Used rarely (less than once per week):

• secondary stereo
• sewing machine
• iron
• yogurt maker
• regular toaster
• dehydrator
• dehumidifier (this goes into the 2-3 times/week category come winter)

As mentioned above, some things are essential. Other things, like lightbulbs, fans (this time of year), the stove starter and the computer are pretty close to essential. But here's what we are doing to cut back everywhere else.

• CFLs- we have replaced *most* of the overhead and lamp bulbs with CFLs. There are a few that we still have to switch out and will next time we have a bit of extra cash. Even the fish tank lights are CFLs- actually better for the fish since its a bit closer to natural light.
• Unplug/turn it off- we are making a conscious effort to unplug/turn off lights, appliances, etc when not in use. Unplugging is a new thing, but this is because of phantom loads, so we'll see if it makes any signfigant difference in our usuage.
• Do we really need to use it? - The TV is a big one in this category. Most of the time, it is on as background noise for the birds when we are not home or elsewhere in the apartment, so not necessary. But we do watch a good amount of prime time and news, probably more than we should. The same goes for the DVD player...we watch several movies per week, though less than many people do, I think. We've been turning on lights later and later, turning off and putting away a bunch of things that we rarely used or that were unnecessary (i.e. the filtered cat water fountian, sorry Bahnu) and are generally watching carefully gratuitous usuage of non-essential appliances and lights. Though its not included in our bill, we only run maybe 2 loads of wash per week and hang dry almost everything. The A/C is a small, energy effiencient window unit that we use of cool one room and somehow we've only had to turn it on 3-4 times this year and only when it was honestly too hot to sleep. Otherwise, we just use the fan. The a/c does have an "energy saver" setting, but it is so loud as it switches on and off, it wakes me up every time and negates any sleeping benefits the cooler air creates. So we just run it at a higher temperature (76 degrees) after we get the room cooled down more.

I'm interested to see if the changes we're been making show up on our bill. Hopefully if the small things make a real difference, we can make some bigger changes.