Three Toes Later…

Three stubbed toes, a dead cell phone, and a spilled water bottle seem to be the main results thus far from lessening my energy use. By reducing the time I keep my lights on by maximizing natural light and using only a small lamp when I’m doing work at my desk, I’ve noticed that life is much…darker. I’ve bumped into some furniture and knocked a water bottle off a table as a result of living in a darker environment. Since I’m trying to prevent leaving my phone and computer on the charger, I have also experienced my phone dying because I was trying to save energy by not leaving it on the charger. None of these things have made me incredibly happy.

However, this was not the hardest part about changing my behavior. Making the conscious effort to avoid just walking into my room and hitting the light switch, or to not sit down at my desk and plug my computer in when it didn’t need to be charged was what I struggled with the most. Often, especially in the beginning of the week, I would walk into my room, turn on the lights, then stop, turn around, and say, “Oops!” and turn them back off. Towards the end of the week I started to remember more often not to turn things off and plug things in unless necessary. Breaking my habits and replacing them with new behaviors, like using a desk lamp, has proved to be a difficult task.

Though I haven’t been able to see immediate effects of reducing home energy use, it feels good to know that I’m helping to reduce my energy footprint. When I’m at home, over Thanksgiving or winter break, I’ll be able to see my reduced energy use when my parents get the electricity bill. However, at school, the most positive thing is just to know that my actions are improving the conditions of the environment.

By using the Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator offered on the EPA website, you can see the effect of energy use on emissions. By inputting your kilowatt-hours of electricity (which can be found on an electricity bill), you can determine the equivalent emissions. This shows that when you reduce the amount of electricity you use, you reduce your emissions. So, over the next 5.5 weeks, I can know that I’m reducing my greenhouse gas emissions by reducing my electricity use. Wish me (and my toes) luck!

Find the Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator at:

http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/calculator.html