Mobile Alabama area Green Tips
You know all those gadgets you have in your Mobile and Baldwin County home that take small amounts of electricity? Things like cell phones, laptops, computer monitors, modems, flat screen tvs, wireless phones, ipods, game consoles, clocks, etc., etc. Just twenty years ago a typical household in the US had just three of the these devices. Today it's closer to twenty-five.
And they all use electrical power. These days this type of household electronic gadget or appliance accounts for about 15% of total household electricity usage.
Back in the 1950s and 1960s appliances like washing machines, self-cleaning ovens, dish washers and vacuum cleaners were referred to as "labor saving devices". People used them to make it a lot easier to do basic household chores. Today a lot of our electronic devices are for entertainment or communication. Many of them left on all the time, while they each use small amounts of electricity 24/7.
Some experts estimate that by 2030 the demand for electricity to run our gadgets may be as much as three times what it is today. If that happens we will need about 560 coal or gas fired power plants or up to 230 nuclear plants. Even global warming skeptics are concerned about that.
The easiest way to cut down on consumption is to have fewer of them and simply shut off the ones that aren't being used. Many devices are designed to remain on because they store the time or date in memory. However this is changing.
Some devices - like telephones for instance - have to remain in an instant-on or semi-dormant state be ready to receive incoming calls. But others like computer monitors and game consoles can be shut off with no loss of functionality. Many of us tend to just leave them on. We do that either because we don't want to wait for them to boot up, or because someone told us it is less stressful on the system to be left on.
That may have been a useful strategy at one time, but almost never is the case any more. Every computer in Mobile has a power saving program built right in to the operating system. Set it up properly, or simply shut the computer down between uses.
Another idea is to buy smart power strips that turn themselves off when the devices plugged into them are not in use. That cuts their power consumption to zero when not being used.
Most of us could benefit from having a "device audit" done on our homes. All that means is taking a close look at all the devices you have running all the time, and eliminating some of that waste. You can do that either by replacing the items or devising strategies for turning them off when not in use.
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