Energy Use from Both Sides
Electricity and China; Chinese are more Energy Conscious then American:
Only here in China have I started to think how about big of an energy hog Americans are. We complain so much about the price of oil and electricity but we never really do anything to try to conserve energy. Here in China, it seems that everyone is trying to use the least amount of energy as possible.
Over at The Asian Economist blogger Nhuong Son has written a nice article on the differences he’s seen in energy usage by students between his time at Drew University in New Jersey here in the US when compared with the rationed electricity used by students at China’s Nanjing University in the student housing. The post is well worth reading and as an added treat, the post ends with some beautiful after dark photos of Shanghai and Nanjing.
I think all the time about some of the concepts in that article. If we change some basic habits, in the large scheme of things we do make a difference. The noise detectors in the halls of the dorm are a great idea. The same thing could be done with motion detectors. Too bad it is not done here.
Frequently people leave lights on because they think they are coming right back through. In our family, I have a tough time getting people to turn out the lights in the hallway and stairs to the upstairs apartment where my Mother in Law lives. The resistance I get is “but I’m only staying 10 minutes”. Well 10 minutes often turns into 20, but even if it is 10 and it takes 30 seconds to turn on the lights and climb the stairs, turning the lights off when you are up, and back on when you leave, uses 20 times less electricity. Take that attitude to the rest of your life and you make a big difference.
Will’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday 3-12-2008