Energy Usage Electricity

Coffeemaker, microwave, toaster (< 30 minutes)

Food preparation

Electricity

Television (4 hours)

Recreation

Electricity

Computer (24 hours)

Recreation/Education

Electricity

Washing machine (< 30 minutes)

Personal care

Oil

Automobile (17 miles)

Recreation

Electricity

Stovetop (20 minutes)

Food preparation

Electricity

Lights (various rooms of apartment, used singly or in combination over a 6-hour period. No light stayed on for more than 1/2-hour)

Household use

SATURDAY

Electricity

Coffeemaker

Food preparation

Electricity

Television (3 hours)

Recreation

Electricity

Stereo (6 hours)

Recreation

Electricity

Stovetop (2 20-minute blocks)

Food preparation

Oil

Automobile (8 miles)

Grocery shopping

Electricity

Lights (various rooms of apartment, used singly or in combination over an 18-hour period. Living room light stayed on entire period because of overcast weather and insufficient natural light.

Household use

Electricity

Computer (24 hours)

Recreation/Education/Personal Banking

SUNDAY

AUGUST 14

2011

National Grid is an international energy delivery company that provides electricity and natural gas to over three million users in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and New York. National Grid generates electricity through nuclear power. The company has a website that features a great deal of information on its green energy initiatives, but says little about...

One option that is currently available is enrollment in the GreenUp program, allowing customers to choose to have all or part of their electricity generated from renewable resources. A link takes consumers to participating providers; the consumer selects the one with which it would like to do business and the transaction is still handled through National Grid. The options include wind, solar, biomass and hydropower, depending on the community in which one lives, and they are presented as alternatives to coal, gas and nuclear power. One assumes these last three are means through which National Grid currently provides power to its customers.
I am generally pretty conservative when it comes to energy use, being careful to turn out lights not being used and not running a great number of appliances. Still, there are ways to decrease energy use.

I enjoy coffee in the morning and program a coffeemaker the night before. Instead, I could make coffee just before I am ready and thus plug in the coffeemaker only when it is needed, rather than have it use energy all during the night. Although there is a clock on the coffeemaker, there are other clocks in the apartment I can use instead.

I forgot to take a loaf of bread out of the freezer for morning toast and used the microwave to defrost it. I have noticed my electric bill spikes when I use the microwave frequently. With planning, I can use it much less. I can defrost items in the refrigerator or on the counter and I can cook on the stovetop instead.

A final thing I can do at home is turn off appliances that are not in use. When I get ready in the morning, I often have the television on and I am not really paying much attention to it. I rarely shut down my computer because I do not like to wait for it to start up again, but the energy saved would be worth the very minimal amount of time lost for start up.

I do…