Team Power Smart

by Rachel Dunstan Muller

Has your family joined Team Power Smart yet? Pledge to reduce your power consumption by 10 per cent over the course of a year (based on your total consumption from the previous 12 months), and if you succeed you’ll receive $75 from BC Hydro. The corporation’s motivation for rewarding conservers is simple. Ninety per cent of B.C.’s power generation currently comes from clean or renewable sources, but that percentage will drop if power demand continues to increase at its current rate. To be as environmentally and financially responsible as possible, BC Hydro has set a target to offset half the expected increase in demand by 2020 through conservation. It’s up to the province’s consumers (i.e. you and me) to help BC Hydro reach this worthy goal.

I stumbled on the Team Power Smart program as I was researching ways to reduce my family’s energy consumption. It was a perfect fit. We’ve undertaken a number of “green” challenges over the last year, and reducing the amount of electricity we use was next on the list. BC Hydro’s online resources made it easy for me to check our power use over the last year, and to compare it with that of other same-size households. Sadly, we did not do well. Based on the size of our house, the number of occupants, and the fact that we heat water but not our home with electricity, we rated as “higher use” customers.

But we all have to start somewhere. With a little effort, I was sure we could change this shameful rating. I immediately went outside and recorded the reading on our hydro meter so we could track our progress for a month. Then we set out to apply as many Power Smart tips as we could in each area of our home.

The first tip was simple. The average North American household has 25 or more electronic devices (printers, scanners, televisions, DVD players, battery chargers, etc.) that use standby power. These devices continue to draw electricity to power lights, clocks and “instant-on” features, even when they are turned off. Standby power can account for up to a whopping 10 per cent of a household’s electricity consumption. By plugging most of our electronic devices into surge protectors or power bars—and remembering to switch them off—we were able to limit this phantom power drain.

Lighting was the next area we tackled. We’d already replaced most of our incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent ones, which use about a quarter of the energy. The next challenge was to remember to turn off the ones we weren’t using. During the day I now try to rely on natural light, which means that I sometimes have to sit in a different chair or work in a different location in order to follow the sun. In the evening we rely less on general overhead lights and more on task lighting. But it’s hard to break old habits. Four weeks into our challenge, I’m still reminding my kids to please turn off the hall/kitchen/back porch light!

We’re using a number of energy-saving strategies in the kitchen. Since large appliances like ovens and stoves consume significantly more energy than smaller appliances, I’ve been doing more cooking with my crock-pot and my large electric frying pan. When I do use the oven, I make double batches and freeze the leftovers. I was already conscientious about matching pots and pans to the same-size elements on the stove, but it had never occurred to me to check the bottoms of those pots and pans. Sure enough, two of my stockpots and the kettle I use daily were slightly warped, which meant they had less surface contact with the elements beneath them. Less surface contact means it takes more energy to heat the contents inside. Fortunately my husband was able to hammer the warped bottoms back into shape. Now that my teakettle is back in service, I make a point of filling it with exactly the amount of water that I need before I put it on to boil.

Hot water—the kind that comes out of the tap—is responsible for up to 25 per cent of the average household’s energy costs. With three teenage girls, I’m sure the percentage is even higher in our home. We’ve recently set time limits on showers as part of another challenge, and we wash everything but diapers and dishcloths in cold water (in separate loads, of course!). I assumed that our water heater was properly insulated, but when I went to check I discovered that the foil blanket had come loose and was hanging half-off. We were able to reattach it properly with some metal tape, so it could do its job. (Note: newer hot water tanks are usually well insulated already. Gas-fired hot water tanks may benefit from insulating blankets, but should be wrapped by a heating professional. The top, bottom and burner compartment of a gas-fired tank must all be kept clear. If the blanket slips, it can create a serious health hazard.)

Our clothes dryer has seen almost no use since we started this challenge. On cold days we hang everything on lines in the basement room that holds our woodstove (a safe distance from the stove, of course), and as it gets warmer, the clothes will move to the lines in our carport. To maximize line space (seven people generate a lot of laundry), we hang clothes on hangers first.

And the impact of all of these energy-saving measures?  On average, our daily hydro consumption has dropped by 25 per cent compared to the previous month, and by almost 40 per cent compared to the same period last year. Now if we can just keep it up!

Interested in signing on to the Team Power Smart challenge yourself? Registration takes just a few minutes online. You must be a B.C. resident and at least 19 years old, and you must have a BC Hydro account with a 12-month history before your challenge period begins. You can find all the details at www.bchydro.com/powersmart/. Good luck!

Rachel Dunstan Muller is the mother of five, and a children’s author. She and her family are working at reducing their environmental impact, one area at a time.