Ethics of Sustainable Design
How much water do I use in a day? How much electricity do I use daily? What other resources do I count on and consume each day, like gasoline, food, paper products, ink, and other materials? This paper is a fine way for me to begin to catalogue those materials. This introduction is presented because looking back on a 24-hour period of time and the amount of energy I use just to go about my daily activities, I am using too much electricity, too much gasoline; and this review of my intake of resources also includes what I eat, drink, and otherwise use to get through a typical day.
A 24-Hour Inventory of my Consumption
In terms of electrical usage, as a writer and editor, and I use my computer, my printer, my wireless digital router every day of the year to some degree. Typically when I'm not in classes, I work on several screenplay ideas I have developed. I write journalism for a local weekly publication, and I write a lot of emails to sources I would like to stay in contact with for future story ideas and for good background.
Rising at 5:00 A.M. On many days (writing is easier with no distractions from ringing phones, noises outside my window) I first turn on the coffee maker. The night before, I have used electricity to grind coffee beans and place them in the machine; I have also poured purified water into the machine. I reach into the refrigerator (which has kept the French Vanilla coffee mate cold) and add the sweetness to the coffee. When the coffee cools down I heat...
The light on my desk is energy-saving but it does use electricity. Around 8:00 A.M. I toast a bagel in the toaster oven and spread peanut butter on it. An hour later (I have been researching and writing for about 3+ hours) I go out to the back garage and turn on my treadmill for my morning workout. While walking at a brisk 3.3 MPH pace I watch movies on the DVD-Video player in the garage. About 40 minutes later I return to my office.
I keep fresh fruit in the refrigerator (blueberries, strawberries) and on the kitchen counter (bananas and oranges) and before lunch I cut up fruit as a snack. I eat next to my computer (a MacBook) and I listen to Pandora radio (on speakers that use electricity). For lunch I usually eat a big salad (lettuce kept cold in the fridge) with sliced cheese or Albacore Tuna in spring water. I drink several glasses of water during the day. I also snack on air-popped popcorn.
Around noon I take a break and drive my car (a Honda Element) to the post office to get the mail. They don't deliver on the street where I live so I rent a box downtown. The Honda gets about 24 MPG so I probably used a quarter of a gallon or less; at $4.00 a gallon, every bit saved (or unused) amounts to energy and money savings. I usually buy a second newspaper at a corner liquor store and sometimes I also buy four or five lottery tickets ("quick picks"). The first newspaper for me is tossed up on the driveway early in the mornings; it took gasoline and other energy sources to print the…
