Turn off your lights!!

[momsalive1]

A French group has come up with a way for people to raise their hands if they want more action on curbing energy use as a response to global warming...

http://www.lalliance.fr/

They are calling for people to turn off or dim their lights today, for 5 minutes, between 7:55 and 8:00 tonight. Is that French time or our time? I don't know, so I'll do it tonight and at 1:55 Eastern US time.

Comments

[ffiondove.livejournal.com]

I'll do it at 6.55pm, we are 1 hour behind France. I have already stopped leaving anything on *standby* overnight and it does make a difference, also useing my dishwasher and washing machine overnight when electricity and (I think) water is cheaper.

[momsalive1]

**giggles at your icon**

Things on standby....like the computer? We have all these little things hooked up to the computers and the TV - cable box, DVD player, whatever, and the whole downstairs sort of glows at night from all the little lights. Maybe I should turn those off...my kids hate it when I turn the computer off down there because then they have to wait for it to boot up, but too bad.

I just read somewhere else about using your appliances at night. I have to find out about whether it is cheaper here.

**smooches***

[lapenn.livejournal.com]

the big suggestion I've read on green blogs is to keep all your electronics plugged into a surge protector. Then, at night (or even just when you're not watching them), you just unplug the surge protector. Easy solution, and it should save money in the long run.

The other tip is to not leave cell phone charges and the like plugged in all the time (I'm bad at this -- I need to get back into the surge protector habit and just unplug the strip when I'm not using it). All those little plugin things slowly suck electricity.

Now, what I'd really like is if my housemate could learn to turn off his light when he leaves his bedroom. For some reason, he leaves all the lights on in his room when he takes a shower. I turn them off whenever I see it, but I wish he'd just get a clue and keep them off. He's a skinflint about everything else.

[momsalive1]

Hey!!

I was appalled today when I went around to unplug everything behind the TV and computer downstairs...I had no idea we had so many things plugged in!! I like the surge protector idea and I think my family can learn to live with that.

So how's school?

[lapenn.livejournal.com]

soooo busy. I'm taking 3 classes, and it's kind of kicking my butt. I need to get more organized. But my social life is coming along, and I'm getting better adjusted :-) Thanks for asking!

Yeah, the surge protector thing is cool. I learned that while I was living in the Netherlands -- my school there was all about energy conservation, and we had to unplug *everything* before we left for the day.

You'll have to put up a post if you notice it saves energy. I don't think I'd have much luck instigating that policy here this year, but I'm hoping my next year housemates will be amenable to that sort of conservation.

[momsalive1]

What are you taking?

I'm teaching an Anatomy and Physiology lab and a bio majors lab as an adjunct - still no full time jobs here.

[lapenn.livejournal.com]

I'm taking community ecology, advanced evolution (very quantitative, and it's hard since I've never officially taken genetics nor evolution), and a statistics class with linear regression and ANOVAs (not hard, but lots of work). I'm also teaching general biology again -- again, not hard, since I've done it already, but it takes a lot of time.

No full time job yet? :-( that sucks. I am a bit worried about career prospects once I have my PhD, since I'm decent but by no means stellar. We'll see where the field is in about 5 years.

[ffiondove.livejournal.com]

Yes everything left on standby costs energy & money, I saw someone talking about it on TV and they reckoned just leaving your TV on standby every night costs about £30.00p ($60.00ish) per annum, so it's worth taking the time to check everyones TV is off before bedtime.

*SMOOCHES YOU TOO*

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

what really grates on me are the many many businesses that
have a groaning amount of light on at anytime.
It is simply not necessary.
My last office had a plethora of overhead
I had the majority removed and instead had a desk lamp
and opened up the blinds behind me for natural lighting
Here at home I keep no lights on if I am not in a room
I have a lamp next to my computer at night but use natural
lighting during day............
Over my dining room table is a recessed skylight and same
over my stairs.......so no need during day to have any lights on.
there is simply too much waste when it comes to use of
electricity.
Even up here in the Pacific NW we can and should use
as much natural light year round as possible.

[momsalive1]

Do you have any lights on now because my handy time zone converter...

http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc

...and it says that 7:55 pm Paris time is 10:55 am US pacific time!! Right now!!


It does seem to me that if the Pacific Northwest can do with more natural light then the rest of us have no excuse.

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

none but the light from the monitor....

[momsalive1]

**face palm**

Of course, that was 10:55 my time, not yours. Now it is almost time.