Tomorrow at 8 p.m., for one hour, we're all asked to turn off or electricity to participate in Earth Day. We've planned a candlelight dinner and then a walk through the neighbourhood to look at the stars. Can we all do the same? It's just an hour.
Satellite pictures will be taken of major metropolitan areas to show us all what an enormous difference we can make to our planet by conserving energy just for an hour each day. This is only the second one called for world wide.
Let's all turn off the lights, light a few candles, and propose a toast to saving our little blue planet, one hour at a time.
Lights On/Off Throughout the series, Jamie has always pressured his M5 Industries employees and MythBusters production staff to turn the lights off whenever they leave a room in order to save on electricity. The Build Team tests whether Jamie is correct in his assertion. During this myth, Grant and Kari visit the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department in California to see the Centennial Light.
Myth Statement: Leaving a light on will save electricity.
Status: Busted
Notes: Through numerous tests, the MythBusters calculated that the power surge from turning on a light would only consume as much power as leaving it on for a fraction of a second (except for fluorescent tube lights; the startup consumed about 23 seconds worth of power). Furthermore, the wear and tear of turning the light on and off repeatedly did not reduce the bulb's total life expectancy enough to offset the increased electricity usage. Therefore, it is far more economical to turn a light off rather than leaving it on.
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I love the idea!!! It's splendid. I'll have to keep the power going in a few rooms unfortunately. I've got a dehumidifier to run now lol, at least until we get a different place.
I called one place. If you guys remember I posted about it around this time last year. It has a library and spa and everything. At the time they asked 92000 for it. Well, som edumb dumb bought the house at the time and now it's not in the best shape. It's mainly dirty is the problem and could use a little work with the electricity. It's being sold as is. I'm not loving the idea of getting a fixer upper, but I love this place already lol. Of course after seeing the shape it's on on Sunday that may change.
She's asking 53000 for it and is sure we could get a loan for 63000 for it in order to do whatever repairs we wanted. It has 4 bed 2 bath French doors, off of one of the rooms is a cute little screened in sun room that the kids would love. I've seen this place a ton of times, and always wanted to at least check into it. I just don't want to get stuck with a dump and not be able to get out from under it. From the sound of things the previous owners were foreclosed on. I don't mind a little elbow grease, as long as the house is in good condition structurally. The lady to whom I spoke was great though. Completely upfront about the house and honesty. She disclosed everything she could, told me everything she knew, and even gave some great advice. I think I might have to work with her even more even if this house isn't in the cards for us.
I switched all my bulbs last year. The new problem is that they contain mercury and should not be tossed in the garbage!! So not so great for the environment from that angle
Yes, we'll do it! I love a nice candlelight dinner...
Branny, my husband and kids love Mythbusters, so I appreciated knowing that the on/off myth was busted.
Google looks cool...
We have a few of those new bulbs, but not everywhere yet. I have to say that they do give off a rather strange glow, and not one that's particularly flattering, in my opinion. I'm disappointed to know about the mercury too.
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"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
I'm hoping to get those dryer balls next and never use dryer sheets again.
One day I'd love a house with all solar panels, no more electric bills, and I'd switch to an electric dryer and stove, so it would lower the gas bill a little.
I need to stop using paper towels too, I like to use microfiber cloths as much as possible.
Oh yeah my grandma did that .. you know if you use tennis balls it's the exact same thing, and they really do work. Everyone thought my grandma was fruity when she gave out tennis balls at Christmas, but they worked
Lol how a bout a funny green tip. THe hubby always says we're going to move out to the country and get a billy goat instead of a lawn mower.
I'd like to start doing my own compost for my garden eventually. Instead of throwing that stuff in the garbage using it right here for soemthing good. I've started requesting most of my bills to come to me through email insted of paper to save on that.
I've decided that if we do end up moving to the house that we'll be putting money into, I'm going to try and go green on everything we can.
Jessica, my father was an AMAZING gardener, and he had a massive compost pile at the back of our property. It takes a little while to get established, and can smell a bit at first, but once you get it going those problems tend to go away. It's well worth the effort too!
We haven't planted a vegetable garden here in a number of years, for various reasons, but I really ought to get a new compost heap going again, just for my other plants. "Black gold"...
Good luck with the house hunting!
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"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
I want to get a good clay pot for tomatoes this year..I plan on digging up some more in the front yard to put more flowers there...I want like a little flower oasis there. We have 2 bird feeders so I thought it would be cool to have a bunch of flowers underneath the feeders....I also want to get a bird bath...but they are so heavy and when its time to move every pound counts
Shelly, it sounds beautiful. Just one suggestion: while clay pots are the prettiest, the plastic ones retain moisture far better, so your tomatoes will have a better chance of surviving!
Honestly, I haven't had much luck growing tomatoes in pots, but I may try some cherry tomatoes to see if they do any better.
Another trick when you plant your tomatoes (whether in a pot, or directly in the ground) is not to stick the roots straight down. Put them in the ground a bit on their sides, and they will grow stronger roots. In other words, instead of digging a round hole, dig a short trench so that instead of looking like this ^ (imagine a straight line directly under the carrot) they look like this ---^ but the --- is covered with dirt, and the stalk of the tomato plant is still sticking straight up.
Jessica, you really can't screw up a compost pile, but it does take a little time to get established because all of the stuff that you put into it has to break down.
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"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Plastic pots would weigh less too. I have also thought of getting some of those long rectangular pots for the back patio..I dont really want to dig in the back at all but would like some flowers to look at. Thanks for the advice
Well, we did our hour early lol. At seven we turned everything off and went walking around etc.. we ended up taking a looka t a few places. How about you guys?
The three of us had a candlelight dinner but we skipped the walk - too damp. Toronto achieved it's goal of over an 8% drop in power use last night. As soon as it was 9 o'clock, we watched Catch Me If You Can. Love, love Leo!
