Results of Energy Fast

Last Wednesday evening I planned an energy fast. I wanted to keep all the lights off, televisions off and unplug all appliances, computers, anything that could suck energy. We began at 5pm in the dining room with our soup from Albertsons watching the sunset with everything completely off except for the furnace and refridgerator. At 6:30 we went to the bathroom and my daughter was carrying a flashlight as she is afraid of the dark. It was difficult to see. I lit several candles in the bathroom. Then I lit candles in the bedroom and kitchen. Within 15 minutes the fire alarms were all screaming in each room in the house. I franticly ran around blowing out the ten candles I had lit and opened the front door to let in some clean air. I had to turn on the lights and realized my plan had a flaw. Because we live in a brand new home that was built on June 29, 2010 and it is extremely energy efficient and because we have installed energy efficient light bulbs throughout the house and because we have installed dimmers to further reduce energy usage in the house, I feel that a complete energy fast may not be for our family. However, I will commit to turning out more lights, unplugging more appliances and turning down the furnace more often than I have been. I will commit to recycling even more diligently and consider a composter (seen at Costco for $800 yesterday).

Energy Fasting

Energy fasting is choosing an evening where you don’t use energy in your home. For example, not using any electricity for the entire evening by not turning on lights and burning candles instead. At first I thought it would never work because I have a four year old and a husband, 3 televisions, 2 computers with 2 monitors each and frankly I don’t know if I can go without my TiVo for one night.

After I installed recycle bins upstairs (in addition to the ones already in the kitchen) I noticed that I had cut the garbage in half. I understand that energy fasting only requires some simple planning. I need to prepare our dinner before dark, get out the candles and find a good book. I will post my findings after next week’s energy fast. I wonder if it's as simple as it seems?