Morning Routine

           Beep, beep, beep. The sound of my alarm going off at seven thirty on a Monday morning, I roll over and slam the button wishing I could just sleep for another hour.  But despite the urge I roll out of bed, slip on my plastic flip flops, and head to the bathroom to start getting ready for my day.  You may be wondering ‘did I forget to mention flipping on the lights?’ no I didn’t.  There are two reasons I do not turn on the lights in the morning; if I did there would be a chance of me waking up my roommate who would proceed to be in a terrible mood for the rest of the day, and because I simply don’t need to.  Even though it’s early it is light enough out that the open blinds and window provide me with enough light to get ready.  Would this be enough light for you to get ready in the morning as well? Using the natural light would save money and help the environment, so giving it a try may be well worth your efforts. 

            When thinking about the lighting situation I wondered how is the light produced for when we flick the switch?  Light is a form of electricity, and in the United States the majority of electricity is produced by using steam turbines. The steam turbine converts kinetic energy (energy of something while it is moving) of a liquid or a gas and converts it into electrical energy which it what flows to the switch. This turbine is powered by the burning of things such as fossil fuels, coal, petroleum, and natural gases being burned to heat water and produce steam.  The diagram below illustrates what was used to produce electricity in 2011, the percents are out of four trillion killowatthours of electricity, the amount of electricity generated in the US last year.

 

Thinking about how the electricity we use on a daily basis is made, and how those things affect our planet you may want to leave the lights off when you wake up tomorrow morning as well.

TC

For more information: http://205.254.135.7/electricity/