Rolling blackout...

[Laiste]

Hi all,

The news is spreading on the internet so some of you may have heard that there is going to be a voulentary rolling blackout accross the country tonight (7-10pm wherever you are located).
This is to protest Presidnet Bush's new energy policies. Please join others to make a dramatic statement, so bust out the candles, turn off all the lights in your house and try not to use any electricity that isn't necessary. Do you part if you can.


Thanks
Blessed Be,

Laiste

[Xois]

I am shutting down now!

[Lilu]

I hate to say it... but this time I support Bush. I don't think there should be price caps.

Either way, the people of California are PAYING for their government's mistakes. Whether it be by Davis taking money out of state reserves (their taxes)... or by allowing the respective companies to charge a fair rate for their services.

"...rather than allow the utility companies to charge fair market prices, California's Democratic Gov. Gray Davis spends approximately $50 million a day of state reserves to buy wholesale power..." Source (http://www.frontpagemag.com/columnists/elder/2001/le04-09-01.htm)

If feel sorry for the people in California, they got screwed, but at least by allowing the companies to raise the cost of power, the people who are USING it are PAYING for it. I read a lot of online journals by people in California, I read about how they see people not conserving energy even in the face of an energy crisis. Well I think that if they were getting charged a bit more for the energy, they'd soon start conserving, which is the goal after all, isn't it?

I'm probably going to cop a lot of flack for this one, but that's life. I don't see that this protest will accomplish anything.

Lilu

[Yvonne Belisle]

I just moved from California. I used no power during the day except my alarm clock and refigerator I used my microwave to cook and the one burner only and lights were only used between 6-9pm my bills were over 100$ a month. I wasn't using enough power to warrent that and it took the money I got for welfare that should have went to tending my family just to keep the stove running. I posted this so you would know how the poor families that did conserve got shafted.

[Laiste]

Lilu,

Point well taken...My point of posting about this rolling blackout was to make a point in a lot of different ways...from the general public becoming aware of how easy it is to conserve...to the power companies $&!!*@ in thier pants when they see how much money they could loose in the long run if people actually wake up and really make a conscious effort the conserve in everyday life things might change a little. I live in NY and my rates are not that high but I don't take advantage of it. Even in the summer with the ac running on occasion my bill is no higher than $60 (only 20 higher than my usual. Well anyway I'm babbling again.

Blessed Be,

Laiste

[Semele]

OOps I missed it! Almost 10 already here. Besides I don't think mol would go for turning off the computers. If there wasn't at least one computer in the house on at all times you'd think the roof would cave in.

[Xois]

Though I feel for the californians, I protest this energy policy in general. We should be looking for alternatives, not cutting funding for alternative developement! :)

Just my 2cents!

Xois

[Dria El]

It's easy to say 'those that use it are paying for it' but let me tell you, those that aren't using it are paying for it too. I'm on a fixed income right now. I have medical problems (long story). I also have 3 kids. And I was paying $113 a month (my normal bill was around $20-$30) to cook my kids 1 and sometimes 2 meals a week. I had to shut off the gas cus I couldn't afford it anymore. We now have to find other ways to get the food cooked. Now, the company that I use for electricity doesn't have problems getting power. It's a well run public utility. We have decently low rates (they just raised the rates slightly for the first time in over 10 years). BUT... I have to have deal with rolling blackouts because no one else wants to conserve and everyone else whines about how those of us using this public utility should share in this. I could go on and on about the reasons we're in this predicament but my point is that it, once again, isn't as cut and dry as you might think.

[Mairwen]

This was sent to me unattributed this morning. [Note: I'm not saying I agree with this 100%, but I am posting it for information purposes!]:


You probably have received e-mails concerning national power boycott days where for two hours we all send a concerted message to power companies, government and big business by turning everything off. True such a movement can illustrate the power of the consumer, but it is not likely to have a lasting effect upon power prices. After all, this is a free market where supply and demand dictate price (ignoring at least one Congressional
investigation into price fixing by power suppliers). Anyway, people like you and I are the ones that make up the consumers, the government, and the stock owners of power companies. Thus a more constructive way to control power prices is to effectively change our habits. The modern materialistic society of North America has lead us to become gigantic wasters of power.
Here is a list of simple things YOU can do to have a positive effect on the economy, the environment and power prices, without sacrificing your life style. If we all worked together, we could easily put ten power plants out of production within days by lessening our power demand - just think of how much power we are wasting.

Plus, if the incentive to lower your energy bill is not enough, how about stabilizing the U.S. economy through controlling our aggregate power consumption. An unstable energy market is causing wrinkles in the economy. Don't wait for leadership from Washington, D.C. to call for more responsible usage of power, take matters into your own hands. Do your share in insuring that the affluent days of the 1990's return.

1. Lighting:
Before electricity, people would walk between rooms with candles, then light more candles in the room they were doing something in. One's lighting bill was right there in plain light so to speak, directly measured by how many candles you burnt, so it was relatively easy to cut costs by burning less candles. Today you see a power bill once a month, after writing out a check consumption is largely out of mind. Yet, just turning off the lights in unoccupied rooms will drastically cut your power consumption. Its a simple habit to start and to teach to children. If you are not in the room, why keep it lit for hours on hand? Plus, some lights,
such as halogen lamps are fire hazards and should not be on in unoccupied rooms.

Municipalities are large scale wasters of light pollution, you can lobby your local government to install, or as easily as reprogramming, light timers that turns off every second light pole along highways at 12 a.m. Why light open roads when we are all asleep? Especially when the lights do not have a security function, such as residential street lighting.

You can also lobby commercial enterprises, such as 24 hour grocery stores to turn off excessive lighting in the middle of the night when very few people are out shopping.

2. Air conditioning
This is the kicker for many brownouts, the outside temperature rises a few degrees and millions of air conditioning units click on, resulting in a huge drain on the national power grid. Although, when you think of it, this is a really dumb situation for us humans to create, because the outside temperature will rise in the early afternoon, when five days out of the week we are all at work. So why keep the home air conditioning set so low when you are not home? Turn the air up to 85 - 90 during the day, it will be a bit warmer when you get home, but think, you have cut your bill by not having that air conditioning unit turn on so many times during the day. Plus you have done your share to insure the national power grid is not over used. Power blackouts happen all over the country, not just in California, every summer since the early 1970's New England has faced the same problem - over use.

The other end of the spectrum is also important, mainly how low do you have your thermostat set to when you are at home? Is it not odd that most people keep it on 65 degrees during the summer, but 72 degrees in the winter. We could save a lot of power by keeping our thermostats set at 70 - 75 degrees in the summer, and still be more than comfortable. Lobby commercial buildings to raise their thermostats to 70 - 75, everyone counts in saving on our power consumption.

3. Showers
The largest consumption of household water is the shower, its not just water, that water uses power to heat it. Limit the time you spend in the shower - 20 minute showers are just plain wasteful and irresponsible. Try to stick to a maximum range of 5 to 10 minutes. You can also conserve lots of power by turning down the heat of the water you are using, every degree
translates into added savings on power consumption. There is no need to steam up the entire bathroom, you will get as clean with half the consumption of water and power. What might seem miniscule to you adds up in the aggregate, as an individual you see conservation from a micro view, but think of the hundreds of millions of showers taken each and every day, on the macro level turning down the water temperature saves gigantic amounts of energy.

4. Kitchen and appliances
When fixing meals, take everything you need out of the refrigerator at once, instead of countless openings and closings of the appliance. It will help the refrigerator retain a constant temperature and add life to your appliance.

Fill one or two gallon water jugs with tap water and place in your
refrigerator, then take from this stock when you want to mix your favorite drink, such as Kool Aid. This is much more efficient and gives you cooler water than running the faucet to get cool water - think about it, on the other end of the faucet there takes an electrical pump to deliver the water to your house.

Only run your dishwasher and clothes washer when there is a full load. Consider washing large items such as pots and pans more efficiently by hand. Hang clothes out to dry or on a inside drying rack instead of using a dryer - the clothes will look nicer and last longer, plus you save power.

Turn computers and TV's off when not in use. Monitors require exorbitant power, use them responsibly. Plus, the best way to protect equipment from power surges is to have the power strip turned all the way off. Statistically a power surge is more likely to come when you are not using the equipment, so stay on the safe side and keep it turned off when not in use.

Got a chubby kid or spouse? You can even buy exercise bikes that generates energy, let them bike while watching TV - kill two birds with one stone: conserve power and get in shape.

5. Cars
The other day it was finally not humid and in the lower 80's as I was driving home at 7:30 p.m., yet in my 20 minute trip I saw only two other cars with their windows down. Your car air conditioning can lower your gas mileage by 10% to 15%, more for SUV's. Plus, in many cities it is a self fulfilling prophecy, everyone turns on their air conditioning, which raises the pollution level, causes hazing, which increases the outside temperature. Make it YOUR goal to turn off that air conditioner whenever possible, especially in the morning when its still cool outside.

Consolidate driving trips, go by the grocery on your way home from work rather than making yet another trip. Use the Web to check if a store has a product rather than driving all over town to find it. Consider leaving work later to avoid rush hour. Run to the home improvement store or the mall on Thursday evening to avoid being stuck in traffic Saturday morning. Walk instead of driving to the other end of the strip mall. There are countless ways everyone of us could cut excessive driving from our
schedules. Plus the personal benefits are wonderful from less stress involved in congested roadways.

Lobby your local government to set traffic lights to either blink red or yellow late at night. Ever been driving at 3 a.m. only to be stopped repeatedly at intersections with no other traffic? Think how much easier it would be to either slow down for a blinking yellow light or stop and look for a blinking red light - not to mention the gas we would save from all those cars not sitting waiting for red lights at intersections.


Above all, do your part to cut energy consumption and in the process make it a nicer and more environmentally friendly country. Start right now, forward this e-mail to your friends and family, get everyone involved. After all, we only have on planet, the environmentalists are right, we need to take care of it.

[Wyrdsister]

Hi all you US people!

Just a question from a Canuck: how did the blackout go? Any idea on how many households participated?

Wyrdsister
(who just realized that the
blackout occured on the
longest day of the year!)
:)