how wasteful are you?

[lxskllr]

My heater uses gas, which I pay a flat fee for. $10 a month for unlimited gas for my water heater, stove/oven , clothes dryer, and air heater.

That's a hell of a deal. I have gas too, but I pay by the unit(cubic feet I think).

 

[iamwiz82]

I try to conserve but I am not a fanatic about it. The heat gets set 8 degrees lower when I am not home, and I turn off the water while brushing, but I keep myself comfortable. I pay for the damned stuff

 

[Exterous]

I could easily take a 2 hour shower if my hot water didn't run out after 15 minutes or so :^D

Family sized Hot water heater for just 2 people FTW! Seriously I fell asleep in the shower once for 40min and still had warm water when I woke up.

We try to be conservative (CFLs, recycle, keep the house at 61 in the winter 81 in the summer) but with the extent I run my computers, Home theaters, tvs/projectors, showers we still have an 'Above average' electricity usage according to DTE so I guess we could be better

 

[SparkyJJO]

I recycle electronic stuff
I turn off the lights when not in use
I don't use excessive amounts of water (water off when brushing teeth for example)

But at the same time I'm using like 1200W of electricity 24/7 for my computers but they are doing folding/crunching so it is for a good cause. The electric rate isn't too bad so it isn't hurting me really.

 

[Engineer]

You bastard. Every time you do that, a kitten dies. THINK OF THE KITTENS! D:

D:

 

[spidey07]

Walking around my house I took note.

1st floor - almost all lights are on, including outdoor ones, plus a stereo and two TVs. Washer and dryer going full steam. Dishwasher washing a half load of dishes from dinner.
2nd floor - another TV, bedroom lights, hall lights, office lights
Basement - TV, console games, home theater
Heat? 72 degrees

what the hell use is modern technology if you aren't using it?

 

[lxskllr]

what the hell use is money if you aren't spending it?

That's the kind of thinking that fucked most of the world over for this recession.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Walking around my house I took note.

1st floor - almost all lights are on, including outdoor ones, plus a stereo and two TVs. Washer and dryer going full steam. Dishwasher washing a half load of dishes from dinner.
2nd floor - another TV, bedroom lights, hall lights, office lights
Basement - TV, console games, home theater
Heat? 72 degrees

what the hell use is modern technology if you aren't using it?

I'll sound like a hypocrite because of my liberal water usage, but: you use four televisions at the same time?

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Very. I paid for it, I'm going to use it no matter what it is.

Actually, not as wasteful as you think - you're reusing your trolling again here.

 

[spidey07]

I'll sound like a hypocrite because of my liberal water usage, but: you use four televisions at the same time?

I don't use them, they are there to entertain me/us as i move from floor to floor. I pay for it and I'm going to use it.

 

[spidey07]

Actually, not as wasteful as you think - you're reusing your trolling again here.

I'm not trolling. I PAID for this with my own labor and brains. Let the poor people care about their resource usage, I really don't care about the extra 50 bucks a month in usage to make my life more comfortable.

You want to conserve? Go live in a frigging cave for all I care.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

right now I have lights on in 2 unoccupied rooms and the hallway outside my bedroom. I don't mind paying the extra few pennies/month for the convenience.

also, my heat is turned up higher than it probably needs to be but beyond that, I'm pretty good about the big stuff. I turn my computer off when I leave the house unless I'm downloading something, don't let the AC run unnecessarily in the summer, etc.

A lot less wasteful than the shopping mall all lit up on the outside when they are not open and its dark out.

 

[killster1]

Walking around my house I took note.

1st floor - almost all lights are on, including outdoor ones, plus a stereo and two TVs. Washer and dryer going full steam. Dishwasher washing a half load of dishes from dinner.
2nd floor - another TV, bedroom lights, hall lights, office lights
Basement - TV, console games, home theater
Heat? 72 degrees

what the hell use is modern technology if you aren't using it?

ya how brilliant.. wonder if you are on low income from pg&e, don't pay your bill or are just ............. and wasteful.. if we all saved a few bits of electricity here and there dont you think we would all breath less smog? is wasting fun?

"spidey" also told someone that got fired to continue going to work and that in his book he didn't get fired. (even tho they told him he was fired etc) was hilarious.. i have 3 houses (inlaws live in one business is in another) those two can run 1000$ a month in the summer its horrible.. other one where i live is like 150-300 depending on the ac.. i leave one pc on unless im on vacation or no ac on in summer when gone. All lights get turned off if not in use as do everything else.. tho at night few lights are on timers to look like someone is home etc..

on another note some recycling is actually wasteful like paper.. im not sure but it cost money and pollution to recycle so not sure what exactly is better plant trees and cut them down or make cups out of recycled toilet paper.

 

[Platypus]

Chicago winters demand a shitload of heat, especially when you have floor to ceiling windows in your condo. Other than that, I keep shit completely off whenever I can, aside from my computer, so I can offset the cost of my fucking heating bill.

 

[Bignate603]

Walking around my house I took note.

1st floor - almost all lights are on, including outdoor ones, plus a stereo and two TVs. Washer and dryer going full steam. Dishwasher washing a half load of dishes from dinner.
2nd floor - another TV, bedroom lights, hall lights, office lights
Basement - TV, console games, home theater
Heat? 72 degrees

what the hell use is modern technology if you aren't using it?

You are a living example for why they need to have tiered power plans that charge significantly more for usage above a certain level.

Also, just because you can afford to do something doesn't mean that you should just throw your money away for no real benefit. It's just stupid financially.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

I always keep some lights on when its dark and throw away food I don't finish. That's about it. I re-use all my packaging from online-orders.

 

[killster1]

You are a living example for why they need to have tiered power plans that charge significantly more for usage above a certain level.

Also, just because you can afford to do something doesn't mean that you should just throw your money away for no real benefit. It's just stupid financially.

i just checked out spideys threads (he seems to make a new one every day) was interesting just looking at the titles.. "mc rib is back" "possibly blown headgasket on 2004 200k mile car"

seems like he should worry about getting new car instead of wasting electricity hehe

 

[InflatableBuddha]

I'm not trolling. I PAID for this with my own labor and brains. Let the poor people care about their resource usage, I really don't care about the extra 50 bucks a month in usage to make my life more comfortable.

You want to conserve? Go live in a frigging cave for all I care.

In that case, you're just being immature and short-sighted then.

I'm not saying don't use modern technology. But there's no point in having lights, TVs and electronics on in the room you're not in, since you can't be in more than one room at a time to enjoy them.

If you wait until the dishwasher or washing machine is full before running, you still get the convenience benefits, but you'll use less energy over the course of the year.

None of this has a detrimental effect on your standard of living, but saves energy, and more importantly to many people, money.

Also, even at $50 extra a month, that's $600/year. Try investing that money over the long haul instead of blowing it needlessly, and you'll be able to easily afford something more worthwhile in the future (extra trip, new gadget, whatever).

 

[InflatableBuddha]

A lot less wasteful than the shopping mall all lit up on the outside when they are not open and its dark out.

Add office towers to that list. No point in having those lights on at night when the workers have already gone home.

 

[Tristicus]

As wasteful as I can be.

 

[HannibalX]

How wasteful am I?

I never wear the same pair of socks twice.

I use kittens for charcoal when I roast entire pigs just to eat a small, single meal.

I leave my car running 24/7 to keep the cabin warm in the winter.

I cut trees down so I don't have to mow around them.

I run the dishwasher when it's empty.

 

[nageov3t]

Add office towers to that list. No point in having those lights on at night when the workers have already gone home.

there's probably a safety/security aspect to leaving the lights outside of malls turned on even after closing (not to mention for the people still working inside the mall after it closes to the public... I know my sister had some late nights doing inventory back when she used to work retail)

 

[Bignate603]

there's probably a safety/security aspect to leaving the lights outside of malls turned on even after closing (not to mention for the people still working inside the mall after it closes to the public... I know my sister had some late nights doing inventory back when she used to work retail)

You can have significantly lower lighting for security than they have when it's fully occupied. They just need to have that in mind when they're setting up the lights for the building.

After 7:00 pm my office turns off 9 out of 10 ceiling lights unless you go over and hit the switch for your area.

 

[Udgnim]

don't turn on AC / heat (live in San Diego). if it's cold, I wear more layers. if it's hot, I deal with it unless it's very humid then I either bitch or take a cold shower.

generally leave the computer on while I'm awake and turn it off when I sleep

 

[Ksyder]

I'm pretty conservative...switched all incandescents to cfl, enable s3 on computers, run an aspire revo nettop 24/7 even though its really slow because it only pulls 23 watts from the wall for my magic jack, network drive, print server and bluetooth transmitter.

also switched to page plus for cellular... going to try to go from $50+ for basic service to $7-10 a month on average.

Gotta cut some expenses while trying to get some debt paid off.

Managed to save about $30 a month on electricity between the s3 and the cfl's.