Sally and I are doing our best to be green. We’ve very aware of green issues and what the scientists say, but we also just think that it makes sense to do it. Using less energy is cheaper and uses less of the finite resources of the earth. It makes sense to reduce consumption, reuse where possible and recycle materials rather than chuck them in landfill.
So when we were in Comet the other day and noticed that the cost of those little household energy meters had come down significantly, we had a short discussion and decided to buy one.
Of course, at first, you defeat the point by going round turning everything on to see how much it uses. The fun of this quickly wears off, however, and the device remains sat on a worktop somewhere, showing us our electricity usage.
It was very easy to set up and it’s been very useful. Lots of people talk about taking things off standby, and I’m sure this has an important part to play, especially as these things, if left on, are on 24×7. But the most interesting things for us have been the effect of lights! You can really see the difference with low-power bulbs. But most of all, the multiple little spotlights that are used in our kitchen and bathroom use LOTS of energy.
It’s been fun for a while and the novelty does soon wear off, but it’s good to have the meter on, and it’s been good to find out what the real energy guzzlers are in our house.
And maybe, just maybe, we’ll be doing a little bit more to save the planet because of it.