As you might remember, I chose a simple project for Green @ Home Month. I wanted to build the habit of turning off lights as I left rooms. The overall experience helped me to focus on the little things that I can change:
I took slightly shorter showers, remembered to turn the water off while brushing my teeth, didn't stand in front of an open fridge for an hour, etc. It kept me aware of my behavior and overall made me more sensitive to the things I could change.
How about you?
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Comments (3)
My only fault with turning off of lights is that on gloomy days or at night, it leads to a depressing place, for me anyway and really, you don't need to have EVERY light on, but one or 2 lamps is really needed to keep some light in a room on those dark days and/or evenings and it's a safety thing while up and about. Now if you go out for the night, then yes, you can turn off all lights but even there, I have ONE lamp, on a timer and with a CFL in it to have something in the way of light when I come home. Now during the day while at work, I turn everything off or if home and it's bright and sunny, then the lights stay off.
I despise coming home to a dark house and I also DO leave the kitchen light over the sink on as it's a 20W florescent tube so if I come home after the timer has turned off for the night, there is still something on and yes, I do turn it off when I go to bed or am going to be gone all weekend, unless I leave for work forgetting to turn it off and am gone all weekend.
I turn off any lights that are not in the room I'm in (and each room has only one light). I also stay in a dim (unlit) room if I'm using the computer and there is enough light from the sun (rare, since I'm in the bottom center unit of an apartment building surrounded by taller buildings). I also started powering down my computers at night about a year or two ago instead of putting them to sleep or on standby.
When I shower, I turn the water on and off. That is, I get wet, turn off the water, shampoo, turn it on, rinse my hair, turn it off again, soap up, etc. I also keep a small amount of water in a basin at hand to wet the soap bar or bath puff while I'm soaping up so I don't have to keep turning the water on. My shower is no shorter, but the water use is much, much less.
I never understood why people left the water on while brushing their teeth. It's a habit I never developed. I also never stood in front of the refrigerator for ages. I already know what's in there and where it is. I don't need to take a visual tour every time I open the door. If you have so much food in there that you forgot what was inside, then you probably have too much on hand.
I used to leave the kitchen light on whenever I was home, because I thought the light just kind of cheered me up. But I've lately been trying hard to keep it off. And I find that I don't miss it. Now it feels weird to leave the light on! I'm so proud of myself :)