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From lights to refrigeration, television to the CD player, electricity is ubiquitous to modern life. Since before Benjamin Franklin flew his kite on a stormy night, people were fascinated with the phenomena of electric power and, once Edison turned on that first light bulb, there was no turning back.

One of the least expensive and potentially cleanest power sources, electricity has transformed life on Earth. It has made possible much of the progress that has defined the past century, especially technological progress. From medical equipment that visualizes your organs without surgery, to communications by phone, radio, TV or internet, to the toaster in your kitchen, our lives have been made immeasurably better – and fun! – by the power of electricity.

Anymore it is such a given that, when a power outage occurs, we are astounded by the aspects of our life that we never realized would no longer function. The gas oven that won’t stay lit because of an electric thermostat; the cordless appliances, such as telephones, that are dependent upon their base give up the ghost. If the power stays off long enough, the phones quit altogether!

Now that there are more people and businesses using electricity for more purposes a new problem occurs: brown outs and blackouts. The power companies, as big and productive as they are, cannot keep up with demand when, for instance, during a heat spell everyone runs their air conditioners all the time in addition to their regular usage. And it is not cheap to produce this power, even though it is still one of the great bargains. Your electric bill… well, has it gone down lately?
So even if you don’t consider for a second the pollution and CO2 produced to make all this electricity, there are many good reasons to cut back our use.

But who wants to give up the luxuries that have become integral to life in order to save a kilowatt here and there? Well, actually, some pretty significant energy savings can be made without any noticeable changes to one’s lifestyle.
If you haven’t heard about switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs yet, you probably aren’t watching TV or any other media. These energy saving bulbs can produce the same amount of light as an incandescent bulb for less that 1/3 of the power. They also can last 6 times or more longer than a regular bulb, so if you had to replace the 75¢ bulb 10 times you would spend $4.50, less than the compact fluorescent would cost (and we've seen them for $1.00 or less each on sale and at warehouse stores). And that doesn’t factor in the savings on your electric bill. AND that doesn’t factor in that if everyone in America was to change 1 - 60 watt light bulb to the equivalent compact fluorescent which used 15 watts… hmmm, a savings of 45 watts times 280,000,000 people/light bulbs = 12,600,000,000 watts or, as noted on the Government’s Energy Star website: “we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.” And we are just talking ONE light bulb per house!

OK, but that is just light bulbs. Every appliance you own, from vacuums to refrigerators, televisions to toasters, has been improved over the past few years. Make sure that when you replace them you replace them with an energy-conserving appliance. Check online for Energy Star, the U.S. Dept. of Energy and U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s joint site which lists every type of energy saving appliance, comparisons, and more information than you can imagine.
What’s more, chances are you will receive a rebate from the power company when you purchase one of these. A few years ago we purchase a $400 refrigerator for which we received a $200 rebate! That’s a 50% discount. And we save on every electric bill as well.

So why would the power company want to encourage you to conserve? Aren’t they in the business to sell more and make money? Well, remember those brownouts and blackouts mentioned earlier? These companies know they cannot keep up with peak usage if we keep upping the ante. You have probably noticed they promote conservation, not only about Energy Star appliances, but better insulation in your home, adjusting the thermostat, not using power during peak usage time. Every state and power company offers information on conservation, rebates and incentives. Visit PG&E’s residential conservation website or call PG&E’s Smarter Energy Line at 1.800.933.9555 for those in Northern California.

Whew! And we’ve barely begun to list ways to save power, like turning off the lights when you leave a room or installing motion sensor switches, or putting electronics that are using power (such as TV’s, media centers, and computers) even when they are turned “off” on power strips to cut that trickle that adds up like the drips from a leaky faucet.

Yes, electric power is great stuff and makes our lives comfortable and entertaining and we should make the most of it. But, in the process, we should use the least amount of it to make those things possible.

For an entertaining article on how you can slim down your energy use, check out “The Energy Diet” .