Earth Hour

From the NS Power Website:

Lights Out on March 29 for Earth Hour

Saturday, March 29 is Earth Hour -- Saturday, March 29 is Earth Hour. At 8:00 pm, millions of people and organizations around the globe will turn off their unnecessary lights for one hour to help save electricity and the environment. NS Power encourages all residents and organizations to support the WWF's global initiative and turn off their lights for one hour on March 29 from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Earth Hour is a WWF initiative created to raise awareness about climate change. Last year, WWF-Australia pioneered Earth Hour and it was a huge success . More than 2 million people and 2,100 businesses participated , resulting in a 10% reduction on the electrical grid, saving 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of taking about 50,000 cars off the road for an hour. In 2008, Earth Hour will be taking place in over 20 cities around the world. Nova Scotian residents and businesses are encouraged to show their support for electricity conservation by switching unnecessary lights off for the hour.

Sign Up Today http://www.earthhour.org/sign-up

For more information visit the Earth Hour website at http://www.earthhour.org

Electricity

I am often amazed when people post how much electricity they use. In one blog I just read, he *saved* 1205 kWh in two months, which was about a 9% saving on what he is using....and he claims to be extremely careful!! That's nearly 4 months of electricity use for us.

Here is what we use over the course of the past couple of years from our e-bill:

Your past electric use:
electricity during this
period was $1.47 Bill No. Energy kWh
per day before taxes. date days used per day
Feb 08 64 681 11 (bill covering Christmas)
Dec 07 60 647 11
Oct 07 59 587 10
Aug 07 62 496 8
Jun 07 63 487 8
Apr 07 62 554 9
Feb 07 62 805 13 (bill covering Christmas)
Dec 06 59 665 11
Oct 06 57 499 9
Aug 06 63 556 9
Jun 06 62 586 9
Apr 06 61 612 10
Feb 06 60 612 10 (bill covering Christmas)

As you can see, we use less over the summer, probably since we're gone more. We used less this Christmas over last since we used all LED Christmas lights this year.

We could probably get our usage down more. We no longer have a second computer (although the one we have is on 24/7) and we only have one TV now (which seems to always be on, lol!), but we also don't use the microwave anymore, so we will see how that balances out over time. We have all CFL light bulbs in use. We wash our laundry in cold water and don't use the dryer; we're actually considering selling it. We unplug everything not used but we don't really make a conscious effort to cut electricity use, especially our 3 and 5 year old.