Ethics of Sustainable Design Introduction How much water do I use in a day? How much electricity do I use daily? What other resources do I count on and consume each day, like gasoline, food, paper products, ink, and other materials? This paper is a fine way for me to begin to catalogue those materials. This introduction is presented because looking back on a 24-hour period of time and the amount of energy I use just to go about my daily activities, I am using too much electricity, too much gasoline; and this review of my intake of resources also includes what I eat, drink, and otherwise use to get through a typical day.
Ethics of Sustainable Design
How much water do I use in a day? How much electricity do I use daily? What other resources do I count on and consume each day, like gasoline, food, paper products, ink, and other materials? This paper is a fine way for me to begin to catalogue those materials. This introduction is presented because looking back on a 24-hour period of time and the amount of energy I use just to go about my daily activities, I am using too much electricity, too much gasoline; and this review of my intake of resources also includes what I eat, drink, and otherwise use to get through a typical day.
A 24-Hour Inventory of my Consumption
In terms of electrical usage, as a writer and editor, and I use my computer, my printer, my wireless digital router every day of the year to some degree. Typically when I'm not in classes, I work on several screenplay ideas I have developed. I write journalism for a local weekly publication, and I write a lot of emails to sources I would like to stay in contact with for future story ideas and for good background.
Rising at 5:00 A.M. On many days (writing is easier with no distractions from ringing phones, noises outside my window) I first turn on the coffee maker. The night before, I have used electricity to grind coffee beans and place them in the machine; I have also poured purified water into the machine. I reach into the refrigerator (which has kept the French Vanilla coffee mate cold) and add the sweetness to the coffee. When the coffee cools down I heat it back up in the microwave. The light on my desk is energy-saving but it does use electricity. Around 8:00 A.M. I toast a bagel in the toaster oven and spread peanut butter on it. An hour later (I have been researching and writing for about 3+ hours) I go out to the back garage and turn on my treadmill for my morning workout. While walking at a brisk 3.3 MPH pace I watch movies on the DVD-Video player in the garage. About 40 minutes later I return to my office.
I keep fresh fruit in the refrigerator (blueberries, strawberries) and on the kitchen counter (bananas and oranges) and before lunch I cut up fruit as a snack. I eat next to my computer (a MacBook) and I listen to Pandora radio (on speakers that use electricity). For lunch I usually eat a big salad (lettuce kept cold in the fridge) with sliced cheese or Albacore Tuna in spring water. I drink several glasses of water during the day. I also snack on air-popped popcorn.
Around noon I take a break and drive my car (a Honda Element) to the post office to get the mail. They don't deliver on the street where I live so I rent a box downtown. The Honda gets about 24 MPG so I probably used a quarter of a gallon or less; at $4.00 a gallon, every bit saved (or unused) amounts to energy and money savings. I usually buy a second newspaper at a corner liquor store and sometimes I also buy four or five lottery tickets ("quick picks"). The first newspaper for me is tossed up on the driveway early in the mornings; it took gasoline and other energy sources to print the paper and deliver it to my house.
The afternoon for me is usually a time for reading, research, catching up on correspondence and perhaps another treadmill work out if it feels right to do a second one. More electricity is used due to those activities. In the evening (after a light dinner which might consist of steamed vegetables -- which of course requires natural gas -- and small portions of seafood or chicken) I watch movies, news, or sports on television, using more electricity. The light and reasonably healthy diet I am utilizing is due to my recent weight-loss project. I do not take a shower every day that I'm home writing, but of course there is the need to flush the toilet and that means water usage.
The average person uses 64 gallons of water a day, according to www.info.com. I know I don't use that much because I don't use the dishwasher (I wash dishes by hand and scrimp and save on water while doing that) and I don't immediately flush the toilet after urinating -- I may use the toilet 2 or 3 times that way prior to flushing. (I follow the rhyme, "If it's yellow, it's mellow; but if it's brown, flush it down). I have a TV in my bedroom and I usually fall asleep watching a movie, any movie, and the clock by my bedside tells me when it is 4:30 A.M. so I can begin to think about getting up and starting a new day.
Commentary on my Energy Usage
One of the reasons that many environmentally-minded people (including myself) have advocated the use of solar photovoltaic technologies for a number of years is because we know that burning coal and oil to generate electricity produces greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change. There is no more compelling environmental issue than the rising temperatures around the globe. "Earth's average temperature has risen by 1.4°F over the past century, and is projected to rise another 2 to 11.5°F over the next hundred years" (EPA). When all climate change considerations are taken into account including the rising ocean levels, melting glaciers, droughts, super-charged storms (tornados, cyclones, and hurricanes), the need for citizens to curb their use of electricity (and fossil fuels) is right at the top of the list.
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