A life-changing acquisition
Last Friday, a gadget entered our house, promising to change our lives forever and reduce our electricity bills by 20%. The Electrisave. Does exactly what it says on the box. It can save you electricity by showing you exactly how much you are spending on electricity at any given moment. You attach a box to your meter which transmits wirelessly to the display monitor that, if you are anything like my husband, you attach to your person at all times. That shocking realisation then forces you to turn something off and thereby reduce your spending instantaneously. Fantastic.
I have to say though, in my mind, the jury’s still out. The Electrisave, at least to date, is also in danger of cutting our quality of life by the same percentage! My gadget man has taken great pleasure in telling me the bad news about whatever electrical appliance I happen to be using at that moment - kettle, tumble drier, hair dryer, dish washer… you name it - and not once have even I been able to respond “Is that all?” Consequently, I am now being made to feel guilty about all the household tasks that I undertake every day, as well as the usual resentment that every domestic slave experiences.
My fourteen year old son, gadget man in the making, has enjoyed turning off everything in sight in the quest to register the lowest reading possible. Unfortunately, he still managed to leave his bedroom light on all day while he was at school. He resents his dad’s suggestion that he will be charged for anything longer than a five minute shower. I can’t help wondering if personal hygiene in this family, which already leaves a little to be desired, will take a nose-dive and even worse, for virtuous economic and environmental reasons.
My husband has urged me to continue on in a guilt-free use of necessary (who will be the judge of that?) electrical appliances. All he asks is that I check that the Electrisave is showing an acceptable reading every time I leave the house. That does involve a detailed knowledge of the expenditure of each individual appliance, which I have no desire to gain, in order to assess that nothing non-essential has been left on. Would checking around before going out not be enough? Although even that is easier said than done. On leaving the house on the last day of the holidays, with bikes, scooters, rollerskates, changes of clothes, coats, hats, scarves, gloves, a flask, four young children and a picnic for a bracing day at the coast, I managed to leave the television on all day. Even with an Electrisave on the premises. I have a long way to go.
Many of you have one, I know, and probably would not now be without one. As for me, I have yet to make friends with mine. I am prepared to be convinced. This conversation is not over. Watch this space!
Filed under: Uncategorized on March 3rd, 2007
Link…
When one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also admit that some things are much more nearly certain than others…
[…] DO the REVIEW: Here goes…a review of my first ten BLOG entries. The Electrisave (original blog) is now gathering dust on the Welsh dresser, unless a visitor to the house notices it and requires an explanation or my son wants to take it into school for Year 6 Science. He was less keen when he found out it had to be connected to the meter and felt the Headteacher would have a problem with that! BUT we have all been much better at switching off electrical appliances. I now use the shower and hairdryer at the gym daily, which cuts our home energy consumption but not my personal carbon footprint, I fear. We have lived without a microwave since it died on the first day of Lent after nearly fifteen years. We aimed to give up microwaving for Lent, but have made it to way beyond then and cannot get beyond the first question of any major purchasing plan - “Do we REALLY need one?” My very own eco-man who cycles to work most days and is late home always/often/sometimes/never (delete as you wish - depends who you ask!) is having to get used to tepid teas that he can no longer reheat, but his complaints are not persistent or loud enough yet to justify the purchase. We still give loads of ’stuff’ away and are avoiding the shops…. YET we still have mountains of mess everywhere! We HAVE switched to using recycled toilet rolls. I HAVE NOT written to the school about the quantity of letters I receive but I have started refusing to take some at the classroom door (which is pointless really as they are already printed and at least I always recycle them!) Talking of recycling, I HAVE taken two loads to the recycling plant with my friend and have another trip planned for next week. I HAVE bought SOME energy-saving light bulbs. I HAVE NOT revisited Marks and Spencers in my search for organic fair trade cotton. […]