According to National Grid it will and does
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
National Electric, a US company, has a new campaign asking everyone to try and cut down their electrical usage by 3%.
This seems like a wise challenge for everyone being and seeing that we are still in the middle of an economic crisis that may or may not be over soon. My bets, I am afraid to say, are on the “not over as yet and possibly worse to come”.
Every other commercial advertisement on American television, so I understand, has recently been in relation to this campaign.
It is the goal of those to inform people of efficiency and conservation through energy usage.
For some of us this task may be easy, for some it is rather a (slight) change of lifestyle and habits and for some it appears to be nearly impossible. In some instances there is not much more that one can do and it is not those of us who already turn every light off in the house when not in use, who do not use a dryer but rather hang out outside or, when that is not possible, dry inside using the heating.
The National Grid website gives people many suggestions to lowering their electricity usage.
I do not think it is difficult to cut down one's electricity uses by 3% when one is a heavy user but when one is like me who tries to do it already and, as said, turns off every light when not in use, turns off every device, such as chargers and such, at the socket (we can do that so nicely in Britain), and who kicks himself if and when he may have forgotten to turn off the light in the closet or such, then there is little that can be done. Don't fret folk if you are in the same situation; you are already, more than likely are doing everything that is possible and have already done the reduction.
But if you rely on your cell phone as an alarm, for instance, then unplugging it or turning it off at the socket while trying to charge it is not a good idea. The battery will go dead and that's it.
Other things you cannot unplug either, such as the fridge and the freezer, the electric clock, the stove. But then, the stove does not draw any power when not on, unless you have timers and other gadgets on it, while, obviously, fridge and freezer need the power otherwise your food will spoil.
I have lights with motion censors outside anyway; the came with the place, as security lights. One of them, and there are only two, the one that does the backyard, I wish I actually had control over as the foxes keep setting it off and currently that happens a lot as I have a set of young foxes that come in who think that my vegetable garden is their playground.
When it comes to money savings and reduction in energy uses, while I still prefer the incandescent light bulb, because they do not contain mercury, as to CFLs, CFLs are more efficient in consumption and hence, in the long run, give you a saving. That is as long as the prices remain as low as they are which, so I understand, is not going to be as the subsidies that have been paid by the British government to encourage people to take up the CFLs is running out and afterwards we will be looking at $10-$15 per bulb. Hmm???
I wonder whether one would ever, over the lifetime of the bulb, be able to recoup that money.
I must say that, because I use computers all the time for writing, there are a Notebook PC and a Netbook on most of the time when I am at home, though both put to sleep when not in immediate use. However, all of them, and the peripherals, are tuned off at night and when I am not at here, and turned off at the plug, I mean.
If we all would look how we use energy, and not just energy, for water is another such issue, we could really improve the world a little.
© 2009
<>
