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Keep doing the math! Approximately two-thirds of American homes – regardless of income – have coffee makers. Coffee makers, small as they are use more energy than your computer, a radio, a humidified or a mid-sized TV set…typically 900 – 1200 watts. Older ones use more. We have one in our home. I love that first cup of coffee in the morning. But once the coffee is brewed I shut the coffee maker off. It takes a lot of energy to have it on just to keep the coffee warm. When you pour a cup of coffee later in the morning, put it in your microwave for 30 seconds instead. Your microwave typically uses about 1500 watts, but that is only for 30 seconds to heat your coffee. Leaving your coffee maker on hour after hour wastes lots of energy – and often, because the coffee isn’t hot enough, you will end up zapping it in your microwave anyway.
http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/TrashGoesToSchool/Energy.html
Our relatively new “Mr. Coffee” unit uses only 700 watts. However, if you do a quick search on goggle, you will find that some use up to 1500 watts. Also, you will note that many coffee maker comparison websites do not include a comparison of the energy used.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=coffee+maker%2Bwatts+used&btnG=Search
Doing the math in our home, and switching to cfl lighting has resulted in an approximately one-third reduction in our energy bill.
http://greenhawk.blogspot.com/2007/09/do-math.html
Corporate America continues to grow in the understanding that energy efficiency makes good business sense…going green saves green! Many states have provided leadership in energy conservation, and in those states especially, cooperation with private industry to conserve energy is taking off.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118938179474522033.html
We do not have leadership at the federal level which recognizes that national security, energy independence and global warming are closely linked issues. These are issues which must be urgently and simultaneously addressed. Today’s Wall street Journal has a front page article by Peter Fritsch and Kelly Evans discussing the probability of crude oil prices reaching over $100 per barrel They point out that tight oil supplies and a weak U.S. dollar are both factors which suggest that oil prices have further to rise. The result would be higher energy prices for every US consumer.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119102487310743331.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Meanwhile, I suggest we all “do the math” of our personal use of energy. Using the same amount of energy will continue to cost you more. Switching to more efficient use of energy will lower your personal cost for energy, because you will be using less energy to get the same tasks done. You win. America wins.
DO THE MATH! The commonly available nightlight found in America’s bathrooms, bedrooms and kitchens uses a seven watt incandescent bulb. Now there are a number of LED nightlights available which use far less energy. If you compare the two nightlights above, both made by the same company, the LED uses only .3 Watts compared to 7 watts for the familiar incandescent bulb. Using 7 watts rather than .3 watts means using 23.3 times the power to do the same job. Why would you do this??!!
There are uncountable millions of conventional incandescent seven-watt night-lights in use in the United States. However, assuming just one million of these were replaced at the same time, the replacement lights would require 300,000 watts of power instead of 7,000,000 watts.
This year, replacing conventional incandescent lighting in our home has reduced our electric bill by about a third. Our nightlights, the smallest of our incandescent lights, were replaced last. Anyone can save money on their electric bill by switching to cfls and led lights. There is no longer an issue of availability. They are on the shelves at your hardware store, Home Depot and Wal-Mart’s.
Corporate America is rapidly going green. As oil, gas and electricity prices have gone ever upward companies there is a growing awareness that saving energy translates into lower, sometimes dramatically lower costs.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118772418179504367.html
Many American cities are providing leadership in the areas of energy independence and global warming. All yellow taxis in the city of New York will berequired to use hybrid technology and meet new fuel consumption standards by 2012. According to Mayor Bloomberg: "Phased in over the next five years, these new standards will cut carbon emissions from these vehicles by half within a decade."
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-05/2007-05-24-voa33.cfm?CFID=184362152&CFTOKEN=87906977
In Washington D.C., a non-profit consortium of leading Washington-area businesses, institutions, government agencies, congregations, and community and environmental organizations called Cool Capital Challenge, is working to bring about an immediate and dramatic reduction in regional greenhouse gas.
http://www.coolcapitalchallenge.org
There is, regrettably, no coherent leadership at the Federal level. America needs a comprehensive national policy, which recognizes national security, energy independence, and global warming are closely linked issue. Issues which must be urgently and simultaneously addressed. America MUST reduce energy consumption, both by reducing the waste of energy and becoming much more energy efficient. America MUST brings on line, as rapidly as possible, EVERY source of clean, renewable domestic energy available to us.
