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About Conserving Energy

Halford Jones, a big supporter of the Hawaii Karate Museum, wrote to me about my post, Conserving Energy. Regarding compact florescent lights (CFL's), he mentioned that such lights do not produce much heat. Here in Hawaii, that is a good thing. We generally are trying to keep our houses cool. Yesterday, it was in the mid-80s here, and it is only April. But in cold regions, perhaps some heat is a good thing.

Halford also mentioned that he uses low wattage night lights in his home. That way, he does not have to turn on lights late at night. I have done the same thing. I use very low wattage LED lights. I think that all of them combined use less than a dollar's worth of electricity a year.

Of course, the best way to save electricity is to turn off lights when they are not needed. I often have to get on my kids for this. When they are not in their room, they should turn their lights off.

Halford did not seem to like my use of a wet/dry vac for cleaning up things in the yard and outside around the house. He prefers to use elbow grease. Don't get me wrong, so do I. Usually clean up manually. But once in a while this wet/dry vac seems good. For example, I sometimes used to clean my steps and garage by spraying them down with a hose. This wasted water. And when I used a broom, there were crevices I could reach. The vacuum works good in such instances.

But I realize that it uses a lot of electricity and will not overdo it. Perhaps they will come up with a solar powered vacuum.

Halford also mentioned about using solar lights. I am thinking about installing some solar security lights around my home.

Why try to save energy -- because it is a good thing to do.


Charles C. Goodin