research day not much to say day 25

I didnt have much to say today so I looked up some information on energy. Specifically I looked at standby power. I had a few main questions in mind:

-why do we need electronics on standby power?

-approximatley how much standby power is used on average?

-is this a problem

-alternative/solutions

Before looking explaning what I found, heres a some information on what a Watt is given by standbypower.lbl.gov

Watts is a measure of power (technically, Joules/second) analogous to speed (miles/hour). So you need to convert the power into energy (like speed into distance). Here's an easy conversion factor: if a device draws 1 watt constantly for a year, then its energy consumption was 9 kWh. That corresponds to about $1.00.

So, when the chart says 5 watts, that's 5 x 9 = 45 kWh/year = $5/year. You'll quickly see that almost any single device consumes very little in annual electricity use but, when multiplied by 40+ products, the sum is significant.

basically a what is the flow of energy joules/second.

Heres what I found..

Standby power is used by elerctronics for various reasons. To power an LED light, the ones that say if its on or off. Things that are waiting for a remote signal are constantly send out "are you there?" messages. Things that are powered by an external source. Some rechargeable batteries keep taking in electricity if you dont take them off the charger even though they are full.

A chart on energy usage

Here are some alternative and solutions

-most importantly, know what uses standby power and how much it is using
-unplug electronics that are used rarely, such as an alarm clock in the guest bedroom
-use a power strip for clusters of electronics. Like around a tv. This way it can be easily shut off
  Tip: its safer to use a power strip on everyday electronics, there is always the risk of electrocuting yourself while unplugging from a wall
-buy low-standby products. look for energy star endorsed products, they have low standby

Summarize my week (Day 20)

For this post i decided I decided to summarize my week. Its getting closer to the end of the year. All my summatives are due and they are really weighing down on me. I have a billion things to do. 

I watched 2 movies this week. Good Will Hunting and Limitless. GWH was certainly justifiable because I had to watch it for school in order to do my canfam summative. Its a good movie. I also watched limitless, which was kind of a cheat. I watched it with my dad on his projector. Im not sure if a projector is worse or better on electricity. I would imagine it uses more. One of my acceptions is going out to the movies. When I watched the movie I completely forgot about my commitment to not watch TV. I haven't had a TV around so i havnt been thinking about the commitment. At first I thought of this as a cheat but thinking back I think that watching the movie here is better on the environment. I am pretty far from a movie theatre so it saves on gas.

Im glad that i havn't been watching TV. I hardly have enough time for all my summatives.

My time is being used so much better then it would have been. Im always doing something. Even if I am waisting time with something, time is never waisted as uselessly as when watching a stupid TV show. and the whole helping the environment is pretty cool too.

Weekend adventure (days 17 18)

I just had an Amazing weekend. I was at an orientation weekend for my college program. I don't have much to to say about the whole TV thing. I was kept very busy. How was I kept busy you ask? I will tell you. I woke up Sunday morning and drove up to wilderness tours near Pembroke. When I arrived there it was 11 30. After signing in at the front desk I lugged my tent clothes pack to the tent ground. After setting up my tent I mingled with the other participants, the competition for my college spot. I met some pretty cool guys. After that we were thrown into wet suits and onto a bus to get some experience white water rafting. We did a few big sets, class 3 to 5. They made us swim one! With just a life jacket a wet suit and a helmet I swam a huge rapid. I thought I was going to die!

You get the point. That was just the first day. We also did a duathlon and some repelling. Lets just say I kept busy this weekend. Definitely not missing the tube

Smooth Sailing (day 15)

From here on it should be really easy for me. Today I moved to my dads house (for personal reasons). He lives in Chelsea and DOES NOT OWN A TV! Intstead he owns a nice ping pong table.  So it will be very hard for me to cheat now. The weather has been great lately, its warm and sunny. I took up skateboarding and spend 2 hours after school just trying to ollie. Its harder then it looks! When i'm outside I don't think about watching tv. I'm constantly active. It makes this thing a whole lot easier.

I guess I can talk about my dads house for a bit. Since he lives in Chelsea its kinda in the middle of no where. The house is surrounded by forest with a nice lookout over the hills. I see a pretty spectacular sunset most nights. Its a nice energy efficient house compared to most. There is no air conditioner. We use a few ceiling fans in the upstairs. I have a room in the basement which stays nice and cool on the hot summer days. During the winter we use the fireplace to heat the entire house. Its a central fireplace so it can actually keep the house nice and toasty if you use a big enough log. They also have the new energy efficient laundry machines.

My dad and his girlfriend are eco friendly. Not only is their house good for the environment but they also buy organic food. Almost all of the food I eat here is organic and bought local.

Gaming; A Rainy Day Inside (day 12)

Another rainy day today. The weather sucks lately and its very boring being stuck inside. I cheated again today. It wasn't a total cheat though. What happend was, Thomas and I were bored inside my house and we decided to play some N64. We played for the better part of an hour. The N64 uses less power then my xbox, so it was better for the enviroment. So Thomas and I were going to just play one game of pokemon stadium. I told him i would win, and he took it as a challenge. This led to a best of three match, and i lost every time :(

Thinking about how the N64 uses less power made me realize some things. I guess that the newer the technology is, the more energy it uses. I know this isnt always true, because they are making the new, more efficient energy saving machines. But for the most part, newer = more advance = more functions= more energy.

Anyway, I here that the weather is supposed to get better next week. I hope so because it will make not cheating easier