Tuesday, November 1, 2011

October Riot Summary




According to the Riot calculator here, the results for the items I tracked for the month of October 2011 follow for a household of 4 people:

transportation: 44.1 gallons + about 400 public transportation miles between school buses and the T, 29 % of US average
electricity: 386 kwh, 43 % of US average
heating/cooking: 15 therms, 18% of US average
garbage: didn't weigh this month, but it was likely very similar to last month. 1 bag (14 gal) dropped off at recycling center during the month. 1 barrel each (40 gallon) of mixed commingled plastic/glass/aluminum and paper recycling

Repeated power outages may be helping our numbers over the past 2 months. Our power came back on last night after 42 hours of power outage from the pre-Halloween Nor'Easter. We got about 6 inches of heavy snow. Some branches were knocked down in the yard. We saw some amazing blue flashes from arcing electrical transformers as the power went out.

Just like Irene (out for 4 days) I think we did well. It got down to the low 50's in the house, less than 10 degrees F less than we'd normally keep the daytime temp in the winter. Outside temps hovered in the low 30s at night and the mid 40s during the day. There was no school yesterday or today because of power problems and closed roads. The kids and I headed to the library where there was power (heat)! It was very crowded. At night we were pretty comfortable. The kids were in sleeping bags under additional covers. We pulled out a few more covers for our bed and actually ended up shedding sweatshirts and socks through the night.

Our food situation was fine. We didn't open the freezer, and once the power came on I checked it and even the ice cubes in the door were still frozen. We cooked on the stovetop from the fridge and by day 2 put perishables like cheeses, yogurt and cider in coolers on the porch. Dinner by candle light and Jack-o-Lantern light was cozy. We used up quite a bit of milk warming ourselves with lots of hot chocolate.

No comments: