E=gc2 Unplugged

As our assignment for my Environmental Science class this week I had to unplug from the matrix for the day. And well needless to say it was an interesting experience. On Monday night I informed my kids that we would be using no electricity the next day and instead of driving to school we would bike. Then yesterday when we awoke plans were changed just a bit, being that it was raining and my daughter’s school is about 2 miles away I decided that we would have to scrap the biking, it was not going to work with the weather as it was. The kids got ready for school and I did my rounds of dropping them off. 

When I returned home I started the process of unplugging. I started off with the bedrooms and went around unplugging the light fixtures in each room followed by the light fixtures in the living room, family room and kitchen. We have only one TV in the house and so I unplugged that also, I went into the garage and unplugged the washer and dryer. I was all done and felt pretty good, and then I happened to glance into the family room and noticed I had forgotten to turn off and unplug the computer and stereo. As I walked toward it I felt uneasy turning it off, it is always on and it is my link to the rest of the world. I turned it off and told myself I had to disconnect it just as I had done with everything else, and then that uneasy feeling got stronger, it felt as if it was wrong what I was about to do. I was surprised to feel this way as I always thought that I was not attached in any way to electronics, I always reasoned I could do without any of them.

Throughout my day I realized that I missed the computer immensely. While I was cleaning I could not go over to it and listen to Pandora, I couldn’t listen to my regular podcasts, and I had no access to my regular newspaper readings. So even though I did have withdrawals from not being able to use the computer, once I accepted the fact the day was not so bad. Yes it was quite when I was cleaning and the silence seemed awkward at first but I focused on the bird sounds coming from outside. I could hear the birds chirping and pigeons cooing. And I realize that in all the silence I was immersed in I prayed a whole lot more than I usually do and I am grateful for that, so it turned out kind of nice. 

The rest of the day wasn't so bad we read and sat together and talked more than we regularly do. And we all ended up going to bed earlier than usual because once the sun went down and we had no light there wasn't much to do.

Today I caught up with the news and with my friends FB posts and its interesting how in being without access to the world for one day one misses so much.

Now that our experiment is complete I know that on a daily basis we do not consume tremendous amounts of energy. The house has many windows and so we rely a lot on natural light during the day. At night we tend to hang out in the family room and the light fixtures in there are energy savers. We don’t watch a lot of TV; actually we hardly watch it at all. And the only other major electronic we own is the computer which we do use and is the only thing that is on even when we are not using it. 

So long story short my main energy consumption is the computer, am I willing to cut down on it? I don’t think so. I am always so busy I always seem have so much to do and not enough hours to accomplish it and so the computer helps me squeeze in things I would have no time for. 

But I did leave all the light fixtures and appliances unplugged and plan to continue doing so. I had no idea they still used up energy even if they were not on.  Our home is somewhat energy efficient. We have energy efficient windows in the living room, kitchen and family room and so it stays pretty cool during the summer and pretty warm during the winter in these areas. I also replaced our front and back doors for ones that are energy efficient. I have caulked around the windows and other areas also in order to help, and eventually plan on replacing the remaining windows that are in need of upgrades. At home we have ceilings fans in the family rooms and each bedroom because they consume less energy than the air conditioner and these work great; we very rarely turn on the air. We take showers rather than baths and I have replaced the shower heads to water saving models.

My only electronic addiction  ^.^

I enjoyed this week’s lesson, as it taught me that even though I have always considered myself earth friendly I still can and need to do more. It also allowed me to realize that I depend on the computer immensely and that I feel lost without it.