After yesterday’s eBook sale post, it struck me that I didn’t have any ideas on the boil for a new eBook title.
I sat down, played some music, and brainstormed a little. I thought about the things that are troubling people that I knew, and where I could help them with their problems. Something that would also be in line with my values of lowering our own carbon emissions.
The very first thing that came to mind were soaring electricity prices, and how people could take back control of their costs. That thought then sparked a memory of a series of posts that I wrote back in October and November 2011 that helped people conserve energy.
It was a great series, and I believe that about 40 to 50 people followed the step by step challenge as we all learnt how to read our meters, record data, and how to go about lowering our electricity costs around our own home. Each post was very well received and readership went through the roof at the time, which was a good sign that these posts were engaging, informative, and useful to people.
So due to the current price of electricity, and knowing that I can help people as I did once before, I have decided to write a guide titled “The Great Kilowatt Challenge – Easy Energy Conservation Around Your Home” (title copyright Gavin Webber) .
Well that is the working title anyway, and it may change as the eBook pans out. Not sure how long it should be, but it will contain worksheets and challenges that people can do themselves each week.
What sort of things would you expect to be in a handy guide like this? I am open to suggestions or new ideas (although I have a pretty good plan) that this type of eBook should contain. The absolute essentials that you think you would need to complete a challenge like this, so to speak.
Don’t be shy, I would love to hear your ideas via comment or email.
First of all, i thought it was an earth tremor but it was just you brainstorming in Melton. Must have taken some effort.
Secondly, your book should include how to convince the whole family that its a good idea. Im kinda alone in my pursuit of energy saving as the other two (Aspie tech heads) have every conceivable device, console, media outlet you could name and wont enter a room without a light, even in day time. No they dont turn off either. I run the equivalent of a marathon each night running around the house. Yes the lights are low wattage. The result of this, an average power bill around the $800 per quarter mark. I feel like im banging my head against a wall. Maybe that was the earth tremor in Hoppers Crossing?
Lynda you’re a cheeky monkey! Earth tremor indeed. Lucky I know you.
But as always, thanks for your idea about the whole family. I agree that it would be beneficial to cover in a challenge style book like this.
Gav x
Sounds like a great plan Gavin! I agree with Lynda it is tough getting your kids on board although we have implemented plans for such devices they use since we installed solar. All charging is done through the day when we are using our own generated power and no charging at night.
Hi Lynn. Appreciate the feedback. Gadgets is a great topic to cover. They seem to breed when you have your back turned and they are the last thing that people think of turning off after having charged the device.
Thanks. Gav x
Hi Gav … I was also going to say charging devices … I cheat, I take all our devices to work and charge them. When the kids want a recharge I flat out refuse it at home. My partner also likes to brag that his power usage is significantly lower than mine .. he also cheats, the kids bought him rechargable lights for working on his car for christmas which he uses at home instead of the house lights, he charges them a few times a week in his work van which has a converter to normally run his computer and printer for invoicing. Smarty pants. Winter holidays is always hard to get the kids outside playing instead of hitting the consoles which chew up so much power, rechargable batteries from Aldi in the hand controls are a bonus though (which manufacturers of consoles don’t recommend) (hasnt damaged ours so far). Good old hills hoist or string between 2 trees always saves power … unless you live on the coast and it rains near every day which I then hang washing undercover or on clothes hangers throughout the house to dry, I do have a dryer but very rarely use it. Gosh there are sooo many ways to save isn’t there? Good luck with the next book big brother!xxxxx
Thanks Sis. Some great tips, but I don’t think I will challenge people to cheat. An overall reduction is what we are after I reckon.
Nice to hear from you though!
Gav x
Hi Gavin,
I would read this! I read your blog avidly, however struggle to get the people around me to listen when I talk about implementing some of your ideas. Conserving power and saving costs would be a great first step for me to get my family started.
Cheers
Cheryll in Qld
Hi Cheryll. Yes I will definitely write a chapter about behavioural change and convincing others.
Cheers
Gav x
Hi Gavin,
I don’t if it’s just me but we instigated a lot of the recommended energy saving measures in the past, low energy globes, solar power, no air conditioning or heaters, etc and yes the costs did drop.
However, now it seems to be that the power people are determined to claw back that lost income regardless. Our bill is going up by 23% in one go here in Qld. Seems to me we’ll all be sitting around in the dark with nothing electrical going and still paying through the nose for it eventually.
Still I’m glad we have done the energy savings we have made – wouldn’t want the be a high user that’s for sure.
Brilliant idea Gavin! Power conservation is a pet topic of mine… looking forward to the book!
Great idea and I’m interested in having a read. W’hen we moved we converted all the lights (all of them energy chewing downlights) to LED downlights. The globes last a lot longer I believe and they use a piddly amount of power in comparison.
I think my biggest power usage crime is leaving the laptop on overnight. If I’m in the middle of reading some pages etc I will leave them open and just shut the screen of the laptop. However, in my defense, laptops use a lot less power than desktop computers (or so my husband informs me) and we don’t have a tv but watch things on either the ipad or the laptops. Not very eco of me to leave it on though I know. It’s something I’m working on.
I remember reading through some (if not all) of those posts and they were good ones. I look forward to your new book and I LOVE the title. It’s catching. 🙂
The very topic I had discussion with my children about this last week. I was comparing the cost of our latest 3 month electricity bill with someone at work and her family sits around $800 per billing period as opposed to our familiy of $350. I’d already been teaching being frugal at home and added in hints from you, for example, turning off switches at the wall, which my 9 and 10 yr old are starting to do automatically. The other great thing was a trip last school holidays to look at the brown coal furnaces at La Trobe Valley. The children haven’t forgotten the hugh smoke pouring from them. Really helped with the message. Thanks Carneu
Borrowing an energy meter from the library, we’ve found some curious things use standby electricity that you wouldn’t think of – remote controlled garage door (we’ve turned it off at the power as we don’t use very often at all)and the dishwasher, even when all the lights are off. Would be good to have a suggested list of the weird and wonderful things people just don’t think about.
And on behaviour change, do lots of before and after meter checks to see for yourself that you really are using less!
I’d read it for sure, Gavin. Any advice, especially that written in an Australian context, is helpful to me.
I would read this, if it was aimed at challenging the whole family, making it fun. Tracking sheets, yes, good idea, and Lynda absolutely – how to get the family on board? A lot of times, making a game out of it (gamefication!) works for me, for a while anyway 🙂
Hi Gavin great book idea. I work from home and as a big tea drinker one of the things I do is use a thermos. I fill and boil the jug in the morning and after making my first cup of tea I tip the rest of the just boiled water into the thermos and use it to make my next few cups of tea. we live in the country our house water is is from tanks to the house via electric pumps. So in the morning after cleaning my teeth I fill the bathroom sink with water. This means I can wash my hands during the day without having to keep running the tap which turns on the pump. Also we have our washing machine and toilet on a separate pump and because our tank for these 2 appliances is slightly above them in height it means we can turn the pump off and just gravity feed the water to the toilet and only turn the pump on when we do a load of washing.