I've made an inventory of everything in our house that uses energy to operate. I make it 31 appliances, from our fridge freezer to my ipod charger, but there may very well be others I've forgotten about. Some of them are switched on all the time and others spend most of their time in a cupboard in the kitchen.
So which of them am I prepared to mitigate or even eliminate?
Perhaps I should start by listing those that I'm nowhere nearly ready to give up. I'm talking about my fridge freezer, my washing machine, my cooker, my kettle or my radio. I just can't imagine life without them. Or rather I can, but it wouldn't be at all pleasant.
As for the rest, with a few notable exceptions, I really do believe that I make sensible use of our appliances. I turn lights off when I leave the room, I don't overheat the house, I wrap myself in a blanket, I buy energy efficient appliances, I turn off at the socket etc.
My weak spots are the telly and the computer. I watch too much of the former and spend too much time on the latter. Some of it's justified, after all we all need educating and entertaining, but it's too easy to carry on watching/surfing ad infinitum instead of switching off and doing something more useful, even if it's only getting to bed before midnight.
So my challenge is to be more selective in the programmes I watch and set a daily limit on my internet fix. An hour a day sounds reasonable.
Today I am grateful for
Hugh Fearnley-Whitingstall
The Fight Fish campaign
An invitation to a 50th birthday party
Phonecall to an old friend
The last piece of Christmas cake
that's interesting. I saw 31 and thought - bet we've got way more than that, but a room by room count up seems to come to 32 (not including the xmas lights - put away for another year). If you restrict yourself to an hour on the internet you won't have time to blog!
ReplyDeleteOops, I knew I'd forgotten something. We have atleast 2 sets of Christmas lights. I've also left out the iron and the sewing machine!
ReplyDeleteGood point about the blogging. Maybe I could give it more thought before switching on or type faster.
I'm with you on appliances like the fridge, cooker and washing machine. Life would be tedious drudgery without them, and I don't fancy having to heat my irons up in front of the fire, either.
ReplyDeleteI don't watch a lot of TV, but I do keep the computer on quite a bit. I've slipped a bit on that front and will make more effort not to switch it on before lunch, or maybe even mid-afternoon, depending on what else I am doing.
Hi Karin
ReplyDeleteFor me the trick is not to switch the telly/computer on, as I find it hard to switch it off. When I'm out or on holiday I don't miss them so I know I could manage without. I guess I'm just not ready to take any drastic action yet ... if ever.