Musings – click here to go down to Updates
So as you might or might not have noticed, winter is upon us in Toronto, schedules are getting busier, people are buzzing with winter holiday stress, and temperatures have gotten slightly colder. Despite a few drifts of snow here and there, the city of Toronto itself have definitely not seen the brunt of winter just yet, unlike other cities and towns in Ontario.
It’s unfortunate that only 5 people have participated in the energy.dare project. But at the same time, I’m very glad that at least 5 people have signed up, and all of their help and insights have been immeasurable. Results so far, though none of them have officially done the 30 days, per se, have been very interesting to me. As I should have known, but did not factor into my planning of this project, most of the people whom I’ve talked to fall into one or both of the following categories: a) they do not have the means to control the temperature of their apartment or room; b) they have housemates, so they wouldn’t be able to take charge and change the thermostat at will. I myself fall into category a.
I wonder whether it’s because Toronto is an older city, or maybe the buildings are all older. Or maybe the majority of people I know, considering their demographics and such, are renting, instead of owning their rooms/apartments. As such, very few have been given the luxury of a thermostat (despite it being such a simple necessity). At the same time, considering all the new buildings going up in the city, I hope their architects have a more decidedly environmental vein, and have put more thought into how their buildings can be beautiful and more low-impacting on the environment than the norm. There are a lot of people on this Earth, and sooner or later, people will realize that even the smallest and most trivial of things that we affect, can have a long-lasting impact on the world. Turning down your thermostat around 2C in the winter and 2C up in the summer can save almost 2000 pounds of CO2 a year, according the climatecrisis.net, the site affiliated with Al Gore’s, An Inconvenient Truth.
That’s just shy of 1 tonne of CO2 a year (0.91 tonnes to be a little more exact). According to Canada’s 2006 Greenhouse Gas Inventory report, the equivalent of 721 megatonnes of CO2 was emitted (all man-made GHGs were monitored and reported to the NRI, and the GWPs of all chemicals were factored in to get that number). And just to make a point, though this isn’t very scientific … Canada’s population was estimated to be around 33 212 696 in July 2008 according to the CIA. From the same source, about 69% of the population are from the ages of 15-64. So if I pretend that people over 64 can’t partake due to health reasons, and if i pretend about 8% of that 69% are 15-18, then I’ll pretend 61% of the population can control their thermostat however they please. If they all changed it 2C up or down depending on the season, that would save 33,212,696 x 0.61 x 0.91 tonnes of CO2 x 1 megatonne/1,000,000 tonnes = 18 Mt CO2 equivalent. That certainly seems like a small dent vs. the 721 Mt pumped out in 2006, but it would be a step in the right direction, and so very simple to do. Imagine how all the little things can add up, and if we do nothing about it, how it will add to the 721 Mt!
What energy.dare has shown me, while researching, and from the 5 Dare bloggers and their posts, is that the little things can be so simple. They may not even affect our daily lives, but every little bit counts. Eventually, more drastic measures might have to be taken, so why not help make the transition of harmonizing with nature easier starting today?
And in the realm of the Dare bloggers, I wanted to say that I am very excited to get the different perspective of energy consumption and other environmental issues from gazella’s Japanese-located view. The way things are done there are probably very different. And I’m sure the culture has a very strong impact on how effective and successful environmental programs and initiatives are.
karentsang, who’s blog is on hiatus during her month long trip to visit her parents, has been the only one who has experienced the energy.dare experiment as I first imagined it. Although she has only done a week’s worth of the experiment, she has successfully turned her thermostat down by 0.5C everyday, starting at around 20.5C and ending with 16C. And according to her thermometer, the temperature in her house has pretty much followed the setting on the thermostat. Despite having to wear more layers at home, and by ~16.5C, luxuriating in eating more hot foods and slightly warmer showers, she found that very little else from her lifestyle was changed. She even found that she slept better at night with the cooler temperatures.
Amanda, is almost finished her 30 days of energy.dare. She is currently on day 25, and the heat hasn’t even been turned on yet! I’ll be wishing her good luck, and even after the 30 days, it’ll be interesting to see whether she will continue to enforce the thermostat controls and settings, and what will happen with temperatures dip even further in Vancouver.
As for b, her blog is an interesting mixture of environment-conscious topics. Since she suffers from not being able to control the temperature in her apartment, she has decided to help me and energy.dare out by posting about her thoughts on the environment for the day. Go check out her posts as she talks about a cool invention by Tersano, and rants on the frustrations she experiences with wastefulness that she can’t control, both at home and at work.
On another front, PJT, though he also doesn’t have control of his thermostat nor temperature in his apartment, he has, however, tried to contribute by making more environmentally-friendly changes in his lifestyle and blogging about it. He is endeavouring to bike as late into the Toronto winter as possible. He has also taken to eating less meat, and taking shorter and cooler showers. Visit his blog to see how he is faring, or to share any stories or tips and advice.
Thank you again, and be sure to leave some comments…
