During one of the many energy crisis, many, many years ago I was able to "green"
my house and had a documented 66% reduction in gas and electricity usage. This
reduction was consistent over a number of years. As I've gotten older and lazier
I know that my consumption has increased. But many of those "greening" changes
are still in place (insulation, weather stripping, thermostat set back at night
to 45 deg F at night, etc.).
There are still things that I can do (double pane windows, insulation under the
floor, etc.). However on a fixed income I really need to evaluate the
cost/benefit. So I guess I'll take small steps and unplug those transformers. It
will be interesting to see how many there are. I think it will be easier to put
them on a switchable power strip.
There is also the energy consumed by all those led's that stay on(not counting
clocks). I don't want to have to disconnect them because some serve a dual
purpose (microwave oven). Still, in my kitchen I have an led clock on the stove,
one on the microwave, and one on the coffee maker. At night I can wander around
the kitchen just by the light of the clocks.
As an aside, one assignment I give my student when we are studying E&M is to
survey their households and record the voltage, current, and wattage (if
available) on every single electrical device in the house and garage. This
include power tool, gardening tools (that plug in of course), light bulbs, etc.
They then compute the total power if everything is turned on at once. This data
is collected in class and we find the average for the class. We then do a Fermi
question and estimate the maximum power that could be consumed by all the
students in our school and by all the houses in San Jose. Mind blowing.
Ray
San Jose, CA (where it's 49.1 deg outside and 61 deg inside and I need another
to put on my thermals)
--
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep
And I have no more papers in a heap
And in the morning I can sleep
Or walk those woods, so dark and deep.
r.frosted