Life in Tee Harbor, Alaska

Juneau's Energy Crisis Update

I shared in my previous entry about our town's main hydropower source going down due to an avalanche and the electric company having to switch us all to diesel generated power.  So we have power, it is just alot more expensive than normal - went from $.11/kwh to $.54/kwh.  Initially they were estimating it would take 100,000 gallons of diesel a day to run the generators.  I am so proud of everyone in town who is conserving their electricity and because of everyone's efforts we are only using about 56,000 gallons per day.  They are estimating it will take 3 months before we are hooked back up to our hydropower.  Fred Meyer was out of the compact flourscent bulbs - guess this has finally convinced everyone to switch over!

Here at home we are doing everything we can to keep our next bill down.  I have been monitoring our usage and we are keeping it at about 10 kwh per day on average.  There are still a couple things we could do to get it lower if we want.  Right now here are things we are doing:

1.  No electric lights - instead we are using the Aladdin lamp and 2 Coleman lanterns, headlamp and candles.  It stays light now later, until around 8 or so, so we don't need to have them on long.  Apparently alot of others are doing the same thing.  When I was in town today I tried to find a gallon of Coleman lantern fuel, two stores were out and I bought the last jug at the other store.  I'm sure they will get more in soon, I hope!

2.  Washing all clothes in cold water - hang on clothesline and pop in dryer for just a few minutes to help get the wrinkles out.  I snapped the clothesline this morning and had to buy a new one for Rod to put up.  I was quite lucky to find a clothesline, since everyone has had this idea so the stores are out of clotheslines, clothes pins and drying racks!

3.  Turned heat down to 60 to 65.  It comes on just a couple times a day.  The past week has been great weather, so we haven't used the wood stove, but if it gets cold we will have some fires.

4.  Turned off the extra heater in the camper (this one will save alot!).

5.  Turn off and unplug computer when not using, turn off internet equipment when not using and turning off our tv/vcr when not using - we were already doing this things mostly, now we are more vigilant about it.  I bought a timer for the tv/vcr because we watch a movie before bed and just fall asleep to it - so they are on until the morning when we turn them off.  So now it will turn off at the time we choose.  Cool!

6.  Turned off grow light for my cilantro - the plants are big enough to just use the light from the window.  So far, so good. 

7.  Using less hot water - just being more aware of what we are using.  I wash my hands with cold water.  Wash dishes once a day by hand (we don't have a dishwasher anyway).  Shorter showers and no baths. 

Rod and I had different opinions about the energy required for the hot water heater and whether it was better to turn it off when we weren't using it or just let it run.  So we did an experiment (very un-scientific) where one day we read the electric meter and turned the hot water heater off from 6:30am until 5:00am the next day - turned it on and took our showers, then read the meter at 6:30am.  That day we used 10.5 kwh.  Then we left the hot water heater on, took our showers in the morning as usual and read the meter again at 6:30am.  That day we only used 8 kwh.  The only hot water we used both days was for the showers.  So from our experiment we decided it was best to leave the hot water heater on and just use less hot water so it doesn't have to work as hard.  Oh yeah, I lost that one, Rod was right  :o) 

Luckily we have a gas stove, so I don't have to worry as much about using it - although the oven does use some electricity, so I will just be careful and maybe make sure I have more than one thing to bake at a time.

So, our next experiment will be to turn off our refrigerator.  The frozen stuff we will move to the big chest freezer.  Then we will use the refrigerator portion like an old fashioned ice box.  We will make ice in the chest freezer and put it in the crisper drawers in the refrigerator to keep things cool.  We will need to keep the fridge full of stuff so the temperature doesn't fluctuate too much.  I can put jugs of water in there to help stabilize the temp.  We will need it to stay around 40 degrees - do you think it will work? 

I am making a roast for dinner - in the dutch oven on top of the stove.  Rod is working night shift and his days off are Tuesday and Wednesday, so we have some adjusting to do.  I will be working Monday through Friday, but getting off work by 3:00 or 3:30 - he leaves for work at 5:30, so we will at least get to see each other.  It should work out okay.  Hope everyone has a good week!

Untitled Comment

7:14 AM, Monday, April 28, 2008 .. Posted by crewchief

I've been seeing about that in the news here in Anchorage. I was wondering about you! Sounds like you are doing an amazing job of cutting your usage. Great job! ((HUGS))

Great ideas!

9:25 AM, Thursday, May 1, 2008 .. Posted by Sarah

Funny how we can take electricity for granted! It's great that you and Rod are both on board. Sounds like you are finding so many great ways to conserve enrgy that you will use even after the shortage is over. Way to go! You've given me some great ideas to shave a couple bucks here and there off our energy bills too- our rates are way too high....