Can America Use Less Energy?
It's deceptively comforting, the warm glow of the suburbs after nightfall. But a fiend lurks where the light pours from the windows of too-often-empty rooms. The monster within is America's voracious demand for power; despite the threat to bank account and planet, we keep using more. The steps to tame electricity in the home are known but hard to manage in our technology-rich world. Workplace energy waste does nothing to bolster the economy, although creative ideas abound for battling the beast. A key move may be to give power companies rewards for efficiency. Leadership will be essential, but the politics of sacrifice doesn't play well. Individuals must take the first steps; a starting place is unnecessary consumption by computers. And if you must have new gadgets, look at those that help monitor energy use, curb it, and even generate clean power.
Putting Your Home on an Energy Diet
Simple steps with fast payback can cut family power bills
Energy Costs Around Your House
Heating is still No. 1, but new devices add to electric bills
Three Ways Businesses Can Save on Power
Factories and offices often waste energy needlessly
Conservation Can Mean Profits for Utilities
States are changing the rules of the game so that it pays power companies not to expand
Green, Not Sacrifice, Is the Political Word
Today's elected officials eschew sweaters and accentuate the positive
The PC's Dirty Little Secret: It Wastes Power Shamelessly
But you can buy Energy Star models—and turn them off, too
Small Moves You Can Take at Home to Conserve
These gadgets save power without breaking the bank
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What about Government?
I liked your article, but why not talk about our own government's need for an energy diet? Yes, when you look from high up you see a lot of lights, some coming from rooms that are not being used, but most of those lights come from Road Lighting. One has to wonder, why do we need our roads so well lit on a Monday at 2am? I would argue that with advances in car technology, inclyding Xeon lights, etc, we could at minimum turn off every other light post on our highways during non-peak hours, say Midnight to 5am Sunday-Thursday, and 3am to 5am Friday and Saturday. How much energy consumption would be save in doing just that, without (in my opinion) increasing any risk to the population? This is just one of many ideas that our government should explore to reduce its own energy consumption!
Apr 29, 2008 11:08:49 AM [permalink] [report comment]