Energy cost at Steel WÜl HQ: 33 cents per person per day.

We have been waiting for the PG&E June billing cycle to show up so we can compare notes and sure enough, we accomplished our goal of a buck a day at Steel WÜl HQ for energy costs. That just might motivate us to get down to a quarter a day per person. After reading an article in the Huffington Post ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/21/save-energy-by-unplugging_n_136625.html ) regarding unplugging electronic gadgets to save energy, we realized that they have it all backwards and it is the gadgets that we need to rid from our homes not just unplug them. It is much greener to simply not own it than have to unplug it. Check out one of the ridiculous responses to the energy article, some softy claims, "we need to engineer our way out of this energy situation". I bet this guy complains about the cost of inflation also. What would MMM think of this guy?


here is his comment:
This is just plain silly. Many devices include clocks and other settings that are lost if they are unplugged for long. Asking people to run around all day plugging and unplugging is just NOT the ANSWER and an example of a bad way to try and help people be green.

Design a phone charger with shuts down when the phone is charged and no longer pulling a load. The user could then plug in, push a button or something and start the process over again.

What about a VCR? That must maintain memory so it will kick in while you are out and record the show you want. Build it with a rechargeable battery. It can then shut off it's transformer when not in use and only turn it on when it's time to record the show or give itself a quick battery recharge.

We need to engineer our way out of this not tell people, the vast majority who will never do it, to unplug things. My wife is gonna have that coffee turn on in the morning no matter how much you hate her coffee pots transformer. But the pot can be engineered to be more green.

That can be done NOW, with todays tech and would not add much to cost. Lets push for that and stop this non-sese of asking people to crawl around unplugging stuff.