Give the Gift of Knowledge
My last electricity bill was $84.
I’m actually pretty proud of this given the fact that I have a family of four (five including the dog), my four year-old can reach the light switch and insists on sleeping with the hallway light on every night. For him, the principals of saving energy, which he’s actually pretty conscious of, don’t compare to the principals of monsters in the closet and sneak attacks from the Joker and Gorilla Grodd.
So, $84 seems really good for us, especially since we have an electric heat pump and all electric appliances — no natural gas in the Connell household. I know that $84 is less than the $138 peak we had this summer and less than the $100 goal we set for the household. But here’s what I don’t know:
- What that means in terms of actual energy use.
- How that compares to the two-year average of my home.
- How that compares to similar households in my neighborhood, city or state.
- How that compares to similar households across the country.
In short, like most Americans, my energy use takes place in a vacuum and any savings are based solely on monetary considerations. If we’re ever going to get serious about reducing energy consumption and addressing climate change, we’ve got to get a more in-depth look at how we use energy and that information has to be made available everywhere. Read @ Cool Green Science