Green Challenges
As I've mentioned before, I have a love-hate relationship with gadgets: I love it when they're up and running and improving my life in new and exciting ways, but I have a phobia of manuals and want as little to do with their inner workings as possible. For this reason, I'd been assuming I was having a rare stroke of beginners' luck with the Wattson: it was all so easy and user-friendly that surely something had to go wrong sooner or later.
And I had convinced myself that this 'catastrophe' was going to occur at this phase of the experiment: the data collection. Read on to find out if my pessimism was well-founded.
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Green Challenges
So, after casting aspersions on the XBox and its power-hungry whirrings, I soon found I had a lot to learn about the energy consumption of many household gadgets. And it all started over a nice piece of toast and a cup of tea.
The toast was the first shocker...
Related: Green challenges: energy monitoring week | Energy monitoring week day one: all systems go
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Green Challenges
So, still in the throws of moving house, I did my bit for the environment and installed my shiny new energy reading device (before I had unpacked my clothes, books or even a saucepan). It may have helped that I was watching Earth: The Climate Wars; last night's fascinating documentary on how science has viewed climate change in recent history. Or it could have simply been my innate, eco-warrior status, which may, of course, be about to be blown completely out of the water.
Follow the jump to find out how I got on and check out my twitter feed for real-time updates!
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Green Challenges
Thanks to our good friends at Ethical Superstore, four bloggers here at Shiny Towers have been equipped with energy monitors; clever devices which tell us the ugly truth about exactly how much power we're consuming on a daily basis.
Next week, Katie, Duncan, Dan and I will be installing these meters in our homes and keeping an eye on the readings to see just how 'green' we really are. Now, what with at least two of our testers being professional gadget freaks (Dan and Duncan both join us from Tech Digest) we are prepared for some shocks. But will Katie and I, the so-called eco-worriers fare any better? Stay tuned for the honest and uncensored results, next week...
Read on after the jump to find out more about our testers and the devices we'll be using...
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Green Challenges
Well, I've made it to Friday without any outbreaks of salmonella or other nasties, so this all points to a definite lifestyle change for me. Today I may have to actually buy some food, since I cooked for half a dozen very hungry people last night who were more than willing to do the honours of 'saving food' for me.
I do have a half-eaten bag of crisps on my desk from last night (which I will attempt to crisp up in the microwave), but with nothing more to keep hunger at bay I think I'll be going to treat myself with some box-fresh sushi or a veggie feast from Food for Thought come lunchtime. I'm planning on a curry later on, mind you, and will be doing my best not to over-order. It's going to be difficult, as it's a farewell trip to my favourite Indian restaurant near my old flat, and the paneer bhajis are beyond compare...
Green Challenges
So, the un-chilled, day old lentil dahl I was so worried about turned out to be very tasty (it's true what they say about some foods gaining flavour after being left to sit for a bit) and most importantly, I lived to tell the tale. I won't be nearly so worried about heating up leftovers in future, especially if they're full of garlic and spices.
Today will be far less of a challenge, since I'm now in the habit of boxing and chilling everything before I bring it into work. Being home alone last night, I cooked up a big pot of organic pasta which of course I couldn't finish. So I've brought it in for a tasty lunch today, with the help of the trusty office microwave. I'm starting to notice how much money I'm saving too, having not had to visit the cashpoint more than once this week to get food. I'm liking this!
Green Challenges
I've chosen a great week to scrutinise my diet, what with a family health crisis over the weekend that's had me hospital-hopping all over the South East, and a house move at the end of the week thrown in for good measure. But not one to be put off by the sort of life changes that even calm, stable types can't deal with, I have continued in my no waste quest with mixed results.
The problem has mostly been the sheer amount of takeaways that have been involved, i.e. every meal I've had since Monday...
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