BLOG OF iECYCLE

There are several things wearing me thin.  The largest of which is our continued separation with issues that make us uncomfortable, and yet without them our lives would be drastically altered. The cattle industry, if you’ll indulge me, is a great example. In this country we love our meat. However, a single expose covering common practices in the field throws everyone into a state of indignation, horrified at what these animals are subjected to. The plant either receives a reprimand and several low level workers are fired or it closes entirely. By that time, our blood thirst  is sated and we forget the whole thing, moving on as if nothing ever happened. The point is that  whenever we look at produce such as this it’s in a clean environment, pleasantly packaged and free of brutal thoughts or moral hang-ups. It’s this same attitude that we transfer throughout our lives, and for the subject of this discussion, to the matter of energy.

We set ourselves apart from the actual filthy production of power, not taking it into consideration when a light is left ON or the hot water runs for an extra five or ten minutes. We should measure these aspects in their literal form; that amount of coal was burned, or natural gas, or nuclear waste produced.  While more and more renewable resources are being harnessed every day, you can only kid yourself to believe that this is where the majority of your energy comes from. In fact, energy from the renewable resources is less than 10%.According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration  (EIA), our electrical infrastructure is mainly based upon coal (48.2%), natural gas (21.4%), and nuclear power plants (19.6%). Though as we strive to clean up our act, we consume far more than we can ever hope to harness in a “sustainable” manner. In other words, we need to own up.

There are some easy common practices that we can do to help ease the load and take some of the blame off our own shoulders.  If you have any basic understanding  of how electrical current works, you’ll  be familiar with resistance.  What I mean is that anything plugged into your household outlets draws current, whether it is ON or not, it consumes electricity. Worse than that are the every day things that draw electricity whether or not they are ON, sometimes referred to as standby power. At what point did I end up in a world in which I need to be constantly surrounded by clocks? I do not know. I do however observe them in almost everything which is unnecessary.

There are very few things in my own home that I have deemed unplugable. My answering machine, the alarm clock, that sounds reasonable right? No one wants to reset their alarm daily and risk being late for work. The electric range. Constant plugging and unplugging seems like dangerous wear on wires that deal with that much current. Aside from that, it all comes out. If you don’t drink coffee all day, your coffee pot does not need to be plugged in. Your microwave will not get depressed sitting unplugged while you are at work. And computers, televisions, and sound equipment may be that worst of the electrical thieves.

An easy way to deal with this matter instead of manually unplugging every cord yourself would be to invest in surge protectors. They usually have a main power shutoff  that is convenient and reliable. If you push the button the current stops there and so does the waste. It’s that simple!  Some companies are now even offering remote control surge protectors that serve the same purpose, just more conveniently.  It’s all about cutting out waste. If we all took small steps like these it would cut way down on our overall consumption. A large manufacturer (Belkin) of these surge protectors claims that taking action in this manner would reduce your electric bill by 20%. While I would put the percentage realistically between 10% and 20%. Even if every one of us cut 10% of our electrical consumption it would be like turning off England or south Korea (Source: NationMaster).  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. If you are currently planning on building a home for yourself or in the future, you might want to consider adding switches at, above, or near your electrical outlets to control appliances. When they are not ON, cut them off completely. Between this and using more efficient light bulbs and appliances, we can ease the demand to burn through our natural resources at such alarming rates. Not only will you be helping us all out, you may be surprised at how much little changes like this will affect your electric bill.