Energy Conservation

Going Unplugged

I just began reading the book "Deep Economy" by Bill McKibben. In it, he mentions the impact of all our cable modems constantly running. I don't know about you, but I don't surf the web in my sleep. At least I hope not. Starting tonight, we will be turning off and unplugging our modem before we go to sleep.




I don't think I mentioned it in our previous blogs, but apparently, as long as appliances are plugged in, they are sucking power, even when they are turned off. Our solution to this situation is to unplug an appliance when we are not using it, like the toaster oven. As you can see, it is pretty easy to plug it back in when we need to.


As for outlets that are hard to reach, like the ones behind the bed, we are using power strips with on/off switches. Melissa's reading light is one example: when she wants to turn it on or off, she hits the switch on the power strip that is plugged in under the bed. It is amazing how many things are plugged in, sucking energy, that we rarely use, such as lamps in the downstairs area. Now, those lights remained unplugged until we need them when we simply plug them back in.

Power strips are also good for situations where there are many plugs as is the case with entertainment centers. The picture to the right shows, our DVD player, VCR, Amplifier and TV are all plugged into one power strip which is turned off when we are not using any of the fore mentioned electronics. In my office it's pretty simple; since I already have most of my computer, monitor and electronics hooked up to a surge protector. This surge protector does not have an on/off switch, so I just unplug it when I leave the office for more than, say, a half hour.
All this took about two weeks to get used to. Besides installing the CFLs, this may have something to do with our low electricity bills.

I hope this entry is helpful to all of you out there on your journey toward zero waste.

Thanks for being part of the solution,
Robb and Melissa