Here is a simple challenge: Turn off all electrical power to your home and leave it off for a full 24 hours.
With all of the talk on the news about economic collapse, dependence on foreign oil, rising food prices, global warming, and world poverty, it is easy to disassociate your self from everything.
In the developed word, with our microwaves, high speed internet, washing machines, reliable electricity and safe drinking water, it is easy to forget that the majority of the world's population doesn't have any of these conveniences.
The purpose of this challenge is to do one small thing to get back in touch with real life, to appreciate what we take for granted, and to learn a little bit about your own energy consumption and your dependency on modern conveniences.
Ideally you will involve your entire family.
Explain the challenge to your children and encourage them to learn and participate.
Before starting your No Power Day, begin with a little research.
It will be interesting to know what you are giving up.
Go to the hardware store and buy a cheap electric usage meter.
Choose the type that you can plug into an electric socket to measure power consumption for each outlet.
Go to each socket in your house and measure the power consumption of everything that you normally have plugged in.
The meter should have an option to automatically calculate daily usage.
Add all of these numbers together to find your total daily power consumption.
You will also want to do a little preparation.
Consider how you will do all of your daily tasks.
Do you need candles or flash lights? How will you prepare meals? How will you take showers and do laundry? Pretend that you don't have any hot water.
If you really had no electricity, you wouldn't be able to heat your hot water tank.
Figure out what materials you will need and gather them together.
With no power you won't be able to run your refrigerator either.
You can tie the refrigerator door shut for a day or take advantage of the situation and use this as an opportunity to defrost and clean it out.
Decide how strict you want to be about things with rechargeable batteries.
For instance, will you shut off your computer, cell phone, and laptop, or use them until the charge runs out? When your No Power Day arrives, pick a time and shut off the master breaker to your house.
This will ensure that that all power to your house is completely shut off.
That's all there is too it.
Go enjoy your day.
Don't turn the power back on until a full 24 hours has passed.
What you do during your No Power Day is up to you.
But for the best possible simulation, try to do all of your normal daily tasks.
Cook all of your meals.
Do your laundry.
Bathe.
Relax.
Spend time with your family.
You'll have to find substitutes for many of your normal activities.
For instance, you won't be able to watch television, surf the internet, or send email.
Maybe you can use this time to read a book, play some board games, or teach your kids a few new card games.
Maybe you have a long lost hobby that you can start again for a day.
Go for a walk.
Go play outside.
Learn a new skill.
After 24 hours, you'll probably be eager to turn the power back on.
But before you do, think back on what you learned.
What was easy? What was difficult? If your power was cut off long term, what would you have to learn to do differently? How do you think your life would be different if you didn't have electrical service? Going forward, talk to your family about what they learned.
Encourage your children to present what they learned to their schools.
Consider having another No Power Day, or perhaps even a No Power week or month.
What would you do with your time? What new skills or hobbies would you learn? Think about what you learned about your daily power consumption.
What is your television or computer costing you if you leave it plugged in and running all day? What could you do differently in order to save on your monthly power bill.
You could also research what it would cost to replace your household power with solar power and solar heat.
Find out how long it would take to recover your investment.
If you accept this challenge and go without power for 24 hours, you will learn many different things.
You will gain a new appreciation for all of the modern conveniences that we take for granted.
You will learn about your home power consumption.
You will also probably learn a few new skills that most people in the developed world have forgotten.
Finally, you will gain a new appreciation for your family as your spend some quality and educational time together.
With all of the talk on the news about economic collapse, dependence on foreign oil, rising food prices, global warming, and world poverty, it is easy to disassociate your self from everything.
In the developed word, with our microwaves, high speed internet, washing machines, reliable electricity and safe drinking water, it is easy to forget that the majority of the world's population doesn't have any of these conveniences.
The purpose of this challenge is to do one small thing to get back in touch with real life, to appreciate what we take for granted, and to learn a little bit about your own energy consumption and your dependency on modern conveniences.
Ideally you will involve your entire family.
Explain the challenge to your children and encourage them to learn and participate.
Before starting your No Power Day, begin with a little research.
It will be interesting to know what you are giving up.
Go to the hardware store and buy a cheap electric usage meter.
Choose the type that you can plug into an electric socket to measure power consumption for each outlet.
Go to each socket in your house and measure the power consumption of everything that you normally have plugged in.
The meter should have an option to automatically calculate daily usage.
Add all of these numbers together to find your total daily power consumption.
You will also want to do a little preparation.
Consider how you will do all of your daily tasks.
Do you need candles or flash lights? How will you prepare meals? How will you take showers and do laundry? Pretend that you don't have any hot water.
If you really had no electricity, you wouldn't be able to heat your hot water tank.
Figure out what materials you will need and gather them together.
With no power you won't be able to run your refrigerator either.
You can tie the refrigerator door shut for a day or take advantage of the situation and use this as an opportunity to defrost and clean it out.
Decide how strict you want to be about things with rechargeable batteries.
For instance, will you shut off your computer, cell phone, and laptop, or use them until the charge runs out? When your No Power Day arrives, pick a time and shut off the master breaker to your house.
This will ensure that that all power to your house is completely shut off.
That's all there is too it.
Go enjoy your day.
Don't turn the power back on until a full 24 hours has passed.
What you do during your No Power Day is up to you.
But for the best possible simulation, try to do all of your normal daily tasks.
Cook all of your meals.
Do your laundry.
Bathe.
Relax.
Spend time with your family.
You'll have to find substitutes for many of your normal activities.
For instance, you won't be able to watch television, surf the internet, or send email.
Maybe you can use this time to read a book, play some board games, or teach your kids a few new card games.
Maybe you have a long lost hobby that you can start again for a day.
Go for a walk.
Go play outside.
Learn a new skill.
After 24 hours, you'll probably be eager to turn the power back on.
But before you do, think back on what you learned.
What was easy? What was difficult? If your power was cut off long term, what would you have to learn to do differently? How do you think your life would be different if you didn't have electrical service? Going forward, talk to your family about what they learned.
Encourage your children to present what they learned to their schools.
Consider having another No Power Day, or perhaps even a No Power week or month.
What would you do with your time? What new skills or hobbies would you learn? Think about what you learned about your daily power consumption.
What is your television or computer costing you if you leave it plugged in and running all day? What could you do differently in order to save on your monthly power bill.
You could also research what it would cost to replace your household power with solar power and solar heat.
Find out how long it would take to recover your investment.
If you accept this challenge and go without power for 24 hours, you will learn many different things.
You will gain a new appreciation for all of the modern conveniences that we take for granted.
You will learn about your home power consumption.
You will also probably learn a few new skills that most people in the developed world have forgotten.
Finally, you will gain a new appreciation for your family as your spend some quality and educational time together.
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