My parents tended to repeat endless parental advice and admonishments to us kids.
In my youth I was sure these lectures came from the Big Book of Mom and Dad Nags all hospitals were required to issue to parents of newborns. But now I wonder if perhaps my mom and dad were simply earnest and concerned environmentalists before we even familiar with term.
They were always stressing to us the need to save stuff that cost the family money. “Eat your food and clean your plate. Don’t you know that children are starving in (insert various places around the globe which don’t have things as good as we do)?”
Standing in front of the refrigerator was another food concern for my parents. “Why are you just standing with the door open?”
“I’m looking for something to eat.”
“The same food that was in there the last time you looked is still there. Now, close the door.” So I would check the cabinets for something to quell my ravenous teenage hunger. After that, I would turn and re-check the fridge to see if different food had appeared miraculously in the five minutes since I last checked.
Now that I am an adult, I understand their concerns, especially about the refrigerator. That little light that stays on when the door is open was likely pushing our electric bill through the roof.
Doors were a gateway — you might say — for many lessons on restricting wasteful habits. In wintertime, it was “Close the door! We’re not heating all outdoors.” In the summer it was “Shut the door! The air conditioner is running.” and all year round, “Close the door! Were you born in a barn?” During spring and autumn, we were allowed to go in and out of the house without the looming fear of the poorhouse, but during these times the complaint was to “Stop slamming the screen door.”
We were reminded that these childish actions were annoying as well as wasting costly electricity, expensive fuel oil, and precious cool air from the family budget. We didn’t think of it as a global problem back then. It wasn’t saving the planet; it was saving the checkbook balance.
I still have a thing about leaving lights on when I leave the room. (Mom, Dad, you taught me well.) But now I learn maybe I shouldn’t be so obsessed about it.
A somewhat frustrated person wrote to Wirecutter, an online section of the New York Times similar to Consumer Reports, which is dedicated to product recommendations. The letter writer asked for advice on dealing with family members who refuse to turn out lights. These off-switch scofflaws (her spouse) argue that unlike the old incandescent light bulbs, modern lighting doesn’t waste that much electricity and shouldn’t be turned on and off all the time. “Are they telling the truth,” she asks, “or is it a giant excuse for absentmindedness?”
The Wirecutter writer and researcher, Annemarie Conte, answered her. Yes, switching incandescent bulbs on and off was inefficient because the energy released from them was way more wasteful heat than actual light. However, the Department of Energy explains that modern LED lights use almost no energy at all. A 60W soft white dimmable LED light bulb uses 0.0088 kilowatt-hours. If left on for 20 hours at 17 cents kWh (the average price for electricity in the US) it would cost about 3 pennies. So as far as wasting energy, leaving lights on is no big deal.
Okay, change is never easy, but I can try to ignore left-on lights. Besides, it is one less thing parents will need to remind their children, one less entry to memorize in the Big Book of Mom and Dad Nags.
Norman Knight, a retired Clark-Pleasant Middle School teacher, writes this weekly column for the Daily Journal. Send comments to [email protected].
