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April 29, 2010
10 changes challenge: Did you, like, save energy?
Posted by Nola Poirier
When I was a kid I had this game where I’d pick a bad habit to adopt each summer for the holidays. I remember a few of the ones I worked on: biting my nails, saying “like” a few times per sentence, chewing gum, spitting, and twirling my hair.
The thing is, even though they were bad habits, some of them were really hard to take up. Biting my nails never stuck, nor did spitting; whereas saying “like” came a little too easily, and stayed with me well past the back-to-school finish line.
Remember the Get Power Smart challenge I set back in the cold, dark days of February, challenging you – and me – to make 10 energy saving changes by March 31? Did you take it on?
For me, working on developing good habits was in many ways akin to my old bad habit holidays: some came easily and flowed naturally; some took a little more work to develop.
Overall, I learned a lot from trying to put 10 good new habits into practice – a lot about various bad habits that I’ve picked up over the years, without even trying. I also learned a key difference between bad habits and good ones: once you get a good one switched on, it feels great, and the benefits start piling up.
My report card
Here are the 10 new good habits I’ve adopted:
1. Lowering the heat
Our heating system still leaves a lot to be desired. (Although, in a sneak preview of fall blogs to come, I can report that I have the parts for a masonry fireplace stacked in my basement.) But I have turned down the heat on each of our baseboards by two degrees.
The other heat saving habit I’ve instituted this spring is to refrain from opening the windows and doors on warm days, since I know I will need to turn the heat on again at night. Energy use on the Sunshine Coast can jump during shoulder seasons when people open the windows during the day, then need to heat the house back up again in the evening.
Until you are ready to turn off the heat for the season, keep the windows closed, turn down the heat, and go outside to get fresh air.
2. Using the blinds
I’ve been getting good at closing the blinds or curtains at night, and then opening them during the day on sunny windows to keep my home warmer. When the weather warms up, I’ll use window coverings to keep it cooler indoors by closing shades over sunny windows and opening them at night for circulation.
3. Taking shorter showers
Maybe this is too much information, but my husband reads trashy magazines whenever we’re on the ferry or the in line-up at the grocery store. A while back there was a quiz in one that identified what kind of boyfriend you had by how long he spent in the shower.
The only “type” I can remember is The Narcissist – someone who spends up to 30 minutes a day in the shower. Thirty minutes, yeeps! I have a long(ish) shower problem on cold winter mornings, but I’m more in the league of three to five minutes. Or, I should say, I used to be.
Since the beginning of March, I’ve streamlined my shower routine to less than two minutes. If I want to spend longer daydreaming in a pool of water, I turn off the tap. This habit shift was actually easier that I thought. For the double duty of saving water and energy, this one ranks high on my habits-I-don’t-plan-to-break list.
4. Running full dishwasher loads.
When I met my husband, he and his roommate would put everything in the dishwasher: bike parts, t-shirts, the mop, even dishes, bringing a whole new meaning to “running full loads.” As for me, I’d never had a dishwasher until we moved here.
Needless to say, neither of us was particularly skilled at getting the most efficiency from the machine. I used this challenge to inspire me to figure out the best way to load it so I can fit more in and still have everything get clean. Washing dishes efficiently, whether by hand or in a machine, saves water and energy.
Now’s the time for me to confess, I have a light challenge. It’s just one light – the basement one. For some reason, I often forget to click the switch when I come back upstairs. I think it’s some kind of out of sight, out of mind glitch. I can’t say I have this one nailed yet.
It’s a bit like biting my nails, I have to really work at it, but I am improving.
This is a great tip and it’s easy to do. It lightens the cooling load of the fridge, keeps things from going soggy while you thaw them out, and it’s safer than thawing foods on the counter.
In this area, I am progressing smoothly. I have been making larger quantities when I cook and saving the extras for another meal. This practice reduces oven use and really saves time. After a long day – or on a day you want to play longer outside – it’s a treat to have a lasagne or some soup thawing the fridge, ready to reheat.
8. Setting the dryer for 10 minutes less
Easy, peasy. I like to hang most of my clothes to dry anyway. But for heavy items or on wet days, I do use the dryer.
For this habit, I simply turned the dial to less time (if my dryer had one, I could use the moisture sensor to shut the dryer off automatically when things are damp). This not only saves energy, it reduces dryer wear on the fabrics and, as long as you take them out and hang them up, reduces wrinkling.
I’ve read a lot about the energy draw of electronics, even when they’re turned off, so I was already pretty good at this one. But I did make an improvement to the system.
I used to use a smart strip on my computer, but I don’t really have peripherals attached to it on a regular basis. So I moved the smart strip to run the television/DVD and VCR (yes, I still have one of those) and put my computer in a spot where I can easily reach down and unplug it.
If I was handing out grades for this one, I’d say I’m getting an A- on unplugging the computer and an A+ for turning it off when it’s not in use.
10. Unplugging the cell phone charger
Okay, I admit I work from home – where we don’t get cell reception – so I rarely use a cell phone or a charger. But using the phone less used to mean forgetting it on the charger for longer. I’m happy to say, I’ve really improved on this one.
The way I’ve found this works best is that I plug it in somewhere central in the house where I can see it. It reminds me to unplug it and put it away when it’s fully charged.
And what about everyone else? How did you make out? Send us an email with your getting power smarter story or an energy saving tip you’d like to share. We look forward to hearing from you.
Nola Poirier is a Sunshine Coast-based freelance writer and regular contributor to bchydro.com.
