I'm Cold and This Was a #BadIdea

Ugh, I hate this! There is nothing in the universe that could describe the absolute pain and disgust I feel when I walk into my room now.

This is me! freezing! in my room!

I feel like a model for LL Bean when I sleep. My entire body must be covered by at least an inch of fabric or else I wake up with blue toes. I feel like a character in Game of Thrones, any moment now my family will find me frozen, huddled under a mound of furs, "Alas! But our beloved daughter has succumbed to the great winter of Seattle!"

Now, I may exaggerate at some moments in my life, but I want everyone to know that I am being completely honest and far when I say that there was no significant change in temperature when I went from being outside to being in my room. 

Let me say this again: MY ROOM IS THE SAME TEMPERATURE AS IT WAS OUTSIDE LAST NIGHT.
According to The Weather Channel, yesterday's low was at 31 degrees Fahrenheit. It was literally freezing in my room last night - but at least I'm saving the environment :)

If you're wondering, wow...why is she so cold? does she live in a shed behind her house that was converted into a bedroom but without proper insulation?

The answer: yes.

My room is adjacent to the main house, repurposed from the block of cement we bought it as, and now houses the coldest member of the Mitchell family. I have a door and there are windows (thank god), but they are single paned and, lol get this, there is an inch wide hole along the bottom of the door!

In my glory days, I would blast my electric space heater until my room was a cool 70 degrees. I felt like a celebrity and I look like one now.

Me and all my ice bc I'm cold ahahahahaha:)

My irresponsible use of an electric heater, coupled with the fact that the crack under the door was one of many cracks, meant I was essentially trying to heat the outside. All the heat from the space heater bled through these cracks and basically made it so that I was running the heater 24/7.

It does not take a genius to know that this is not sustainable. I needed a solution! So I decided, because I am just sooooo smart, to just cut it off completely. For the next month, I will not be using the heater in my room, nor will I be using the lights (ever). Since the theme is decreasing my electricity use, I will also be unplugging cords and electronics when I'm not using them.

Now, you can imagine how cold my room is going to get. I'm tackling this health hazard with as many blankets and layers of clothing as I can. I've even started sleeping completely under the covers (that means my head), and let me tell you- I feel like I'm suffocating!

How in the world could this ever be beneficial to me? 

The great thing is, this experiment has absolutely no present benefits to my health or well-being. Fortunately, this project is about being selfless and sacrificing your first-world luxuries to build a more sustainable lifestyle. 

The US is known for, among other things, being a little ummmm selfish?? Gluttonous? Greedy? Yeah. According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), US residents consumed “an average of 867 kWh per month,” last year. Furthermore, most of it is generated by coal, a source that "accounted for 69% and natural gas for 29% of electric power sector CO2 emissions," (EIA, 2017).

I don't want to contribute to that! We already have the 2nd highest per capita carbon dioxide emissions in the world, (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2015). 

I am hoping that by cutting out the electricity I use in my house, I can reduce the average amount of electricity my family uses in a month. According to a report by Lyon-Coffey Electric Cooperative, most electric space heaters use 1.5 kW per hour. If I am constantly running my heater, this means I am using 36 kW of electricity, costing my family $5.02 every 24 hours, according to the chart below.

Oh, honey...that's almost $150 dollars a month down the drain! I can't believe my parents have been letting me get away with this. To be honest, I'm even skeptical of these numbers because surely they would have said something.

Of course, if this is true, then I'm about to save my family a lot of money on top of all the carbon emissions I'm skirting.

The other half of this project is going to involve me living not only in figurative darkness but also a room with no lighting. Right now, the light fixture is a fake-bougie chandelier that uses six incandescent light bulbs.

This type of bulb is amazingly energy inefficient and needs to be replaced more often, increasing the cost of lighting (US Department of Energy, 2018).

Unlike the weirdos living in places like Kansas, Seattle is relatively conscious of using renewable energy. According to Seattle City Light, 88% of electricity is hydroelectric and produced by the Skagit and Pend Oreille Rivers, (Seattle City Light, 2016). While this type of energy production is more sustainable for the environment, I want to build on conservation efforts and try to not use electricity at all.

OMG, what about my phone?? As a generation-z kid, I am highly attached to my phone and rely heavily on my Chromebook. This means that every night (and all weekend) both of these electronics are plugged in and sucking away.

To keep the usage of power outlets to a minimum, I pinky-promise to only charge my devices during the night and unplug all chords during the day. This is because, while a device may not be off, it continues to draw in energy throughout the day, called “phantom energy”, (Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, 2018). According to this online Electricity Usage Calculator, “a charger left plugged in without a phone will consume 0.1 to 0.5 of a watt.” By unplugging charging chords even if there isn’t a phone or computer attached, I will be reducing how much energy I use, albeit by a very small amount.

So... how well will this actually work? 

I am anticipating a lot of "Oh, well I'll just turn the heater on for a second" happening, so I have to take into account that I am a coward who hates being this cold. I might forget to unplug cables after using them, or "forget" that I need to NOT USE THE HEATER. One way to decrease the chances of either of these scenarios from happening is to put a piece of tape over the light switch and schedule reminders on my phone so I don’t forget to unplug electronics. The heater will require round-the-clock willpower and maximum effort. I have promised myself a huge gift at the end of this if I resist the heater. Hopefully, this incentive will work.

There is another problem. My room is currently under some construction, which means my father or another person might be in there working. At this time, even if I tell them about my goal to not use the heater or lights, they may forget to turn them off, or they may need the lights on in order to see (or they just won't care). There isn't much I can do about that, other than be very explicit with my instructions to please not use the heater or lights.

Thanks for listening and check in next time to see if I'm still alive!!