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What:

The general goal of the this project is to make this earth more sustainable, but before we go any farther we must first define what kind of sustainability we are aiming for since sustainability can mean many different ideas. The sustainability that I am working towards is the ability to preserve our natural resources and to use them more efficiently. By the year 2005 the overall consumption by all households in the U.S. was at 10.6 quadrillion Btu and rising. According to the 2005 census by region, the average for the Midwest was 113 million Btu per household per year. Now more specifically, we must look at what types of energy we are using to fuel our homes. Natural gas and electricity are almost equally used the most in the average household. This means in order to help reduce our energy use per household, we should focus on limiting the use on objects that specifically use these two resources, natural gas and electricity.

How:

The next task is to find the appliances that most affects the use of these resources and which we are able to turn off and live without for an extended period. For example, one can live without lights on, but one is not recommended to turn off their refrigerator for some time. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, space heating, appliances, water heating, and air conditioning are what consume the most energy over the course of the year. Now we ask ourselves, how can knowing this help preserve our natural resources. The answer is simple, turn it off, turn it down, or do not even use it. Over the course of several months an appliance that is turned off or turned down for several hours in a week will really add up. Say for example for two hours, one turns off their lights when normally used, turns down the heating, and decides to hand wash their dishes instead of use the dishwasher. In one month, if said person sticks to this schedule, they would save about 8 hours’ worth of energy, and if they stick with it for 6 months the total hours of saved energy is 48 hours. Although this number seems small, it soon begins to add up and begins to reach the overall goal.

Who:

If one household is able to save 48 hours of energy in 6 months, imagine what a whole neighborhood could accomplish. If a neighborhood contains at least 12 houses then in that 6 month period you will save 24 days’ worth of electricity. Even though one person can make a difference, it’s the community that can make the change. I propose to use my hometown neighborhood to first test this idea of energy conservation, but any household will benefit the cause. This is where we begin to face some of the difficulties in the project. For one, there is no sure way of knowing who is or is not diligently keeping with a schedule, and second, keeping track of amount of energy truly saved will be near impossible to record accurately. Because of this, averages and estimations will have to be settled for when a conclusion is reach.

Why:

As stated before, this project attempts to face the daunting task of reducing our dependency on our depleting natural resources and to install a regular habit of being more sustainable on fewer resources. In order to become sustainable we will need to find other means of energy to produce electricity and this project aims to extend that time by using less natural gas and electricity. Nearly half of all electricity produced comes from the finite amount of coal that we have on this earth along with another quarter of it being produced by natural gas yet another limited resource. Although this project itself cannot make our society become sustainable, its intent is to grand more time to find and emphasize on a more reliable resource for energy and to transition into a more sustainable lifestyle by proving that one does not need to use the amount of energy that society has turned to while saving money.

Systems:

Society and its energy use is a positive feedback loop. As the population grows we begin to use that much more energy and as we use that energy it allows us to live longer through things like hospitals and better living conditions thus causing the population to grow further. Also the more energy we demand the more amount of energy is produced and in return we use that much more energy that is available. We may be able to be sustainable right now but with these rates and amount of finite resources that we have on this earth will not last long. So in order to be sustainable we will need to find an alternative energy source, but this will take time. This is where the idea of my project comes in; it is here to serve as a negative feedback loop to the increasing demand for energy. Energy demand will always be increasing but if the rate of which it is increasing is lowered then this could potentially give us more time to find and establish that alternative energy source therefore continuing our sustainability.

Work Cited

U.S. Department of Energy. “Total Energy – Data.” U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). 19 Oct. 2011. Web. 12 Dec. 2011. <http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/index.cfm>.

Wokje Abrahamse, Linda Steg, Charles Vlek, Talib Rothengatter, A review of intervention studies aimed at household energy conservation, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Volume 25, Issue 3, September 2005, Pages 273-291, ISSN 0272-4944, 10.1016/j.jenvp.2005.08.002.

(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027249440500054X)

Energy-Related Adaptations in Low-Income Nonmetropolitan Wisconsin Counties

Marta Tienda and Osei-Mensah Aborampah

Journal of Consumer Research , Vol. 8, No. 3 (Dec., 1981), pp. 265-270

Published by: The University of Chicago Press

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2488884

Horace Herring, Energy efficiency—a critical view, Energy, Volume 31, Issue 1, January 2006, Pages 10-20, ISSN 0360-5442, 10.1016/j.energy.2004.04.055. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544204002427)

R. Madlener, B. Alcott, Energy rebound and economic growth: A review of the main issues and research needs, Energy, Volume 34, Issue 3, March 2009, Pages 370-376, ISSN 0360-5442, 10.1016/j.energy.2008.10.011. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544208002934)

There are plenty of different options and ways to help improve our world, ranging from large world wide projects to personal goals. I have decided to make a community wide project in order to help make an impact, but you’re probably wondering what my project is. I propose to help improve our world by reducing the amount of electricity used in a community. During a specific day of the week, the neighborhood will agree to turn off all or at least most of their lights and other unnecessary electronics for a certain amount of time (most likely one to two hours). Even though one or two hours isn’t much, if we stay dedicated, the time will add up and so will the electricity saved. This project will also help show that if we each do a little bit, it will add up to make a big difference.

There are a few challenges, however, that need to be overcome in order for this to work out. The first obstacle is to find a willing community that will turn down their electricity. Also, the ability to know how much electricity each household is saving during that day and over the course of the project will be difficult to measure accurately. Even if each house in a neighborhood does this, we will most likely have to use averages and estimations to find a ballpark measurement of the electricity. Although we might not have accuracy, in the end, we will still be making a difference for the better.