Project Get Off the Grid: Phase I – Update II
A challenge no more
It has quickly become apparent that the hardest part about turning stuff off is simply getting yourself in the habit of doing so. During the first few days of this little experiment, I found myself struggling to remember to switch off lights as I left rooms or to unplug my laptop before going to bed. However, after a week or so of forcing myself to be energy efficient, turning things off became a matter of habit and I was doing it without even noticing. Now I almost never have anything turned on unnecessarily, and I’m not even trying. Point is, the biggest hurdle during this whole thing has been developing a habit. Once that’s accomplished, it’s just second nature.
This experience reminded me of something that might prove useful to families trying to save energy. When I was about 10 years old, living with my mom, dad, and brother, our entire family was horrible about turning off lights. To have lights on in every room of our house, whether or not people were around, whether or not it was nighttime or daytime, was not out of the ordinary. Our electricity bills were just stupid, even though I had two working parents and my brother and I were in school all day. Finally, my dad got fed up and told my brother and me that, for one whole year, he would pay us the difference between every month’s energy bill and the bill from the same period the year before. It’s amazing how a little bit of financial incentive can make 10 year old kids shape up. We starting religiously turning off lights, even scolding our parents when they forgot, and it wasn’t long before the entire family was unconsciously turning off lights when we left rooms. Our electricity bills were soon significantly lower.
This plan didn’t save my dad any money up front (because it went to my brother and me), but it did save energy and establish great habits. And once the habits were formed, they never really went away, even after a year had passed and the financial incentive was removed. I’m willing to bet that, in the long run, my dad’s plan saved him a boatload of money. Could be something to try for those with kids.
