MAY 2013

The New York Times

Usage Per Month
Month September October November December January February March April KwH 1587 1524 1600 1532 1478 1422 1397 1250
What if I told you that each of us contribute to the killing of our earth, without even noticing? Overusing electricity can improperly affect the environment, as our natural resources are being spent to create electricity, and this can significantly damage our earth. By using electricity carelessly, we waste fossil fuels and more raw materials obtained from our planet, which will eventually run out. Overusing electricity can contribute to global warming and pollution, which affects our surroundings and us. The irresponsible waste of electricity needs to stop before we do severe harm to our earth. This year I recorded and analyzed the electrical usage in my home. I chose this because I know electricity usage makes a bigger impact in our world, and most people tend to waste it irresponsibly a lot more than trash and water.

ANDREA HANDAL

- A Yearlong Environmental Project This is my journey to reducing electricity usage, for the benefit of our earth Andrea

The Process & My Results

My family and I created a plan together to change the way we consume energy in our house. We left lights on for fewer hours, turned our TVs and power outlets off when they werent used, and we managed the amount of hours of electrical appliances used every day. By looking at our electricity results now, we can say our mission was accomplished, and we learned a lot in this process. We are now able the control the amount of energy we use, which help us to decrease our usage significantly every month! We are aware that it is important to be responsible of the amount of electricity you use. If each of us collaborates to save electricity, together we can make a huge change to save our earth and create a better environment for the future generations to come.

Here are images showing the places where most electricity is being spent in my house. This is where I have tried to lower my energy usage.

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issue, date

Reaching My Goal: Reducing Energy Use

How long will it take to reach an ideal amount of kwh used per month?
Knowing your electricity usage is essential to help you make a decision in your life. By creating a graph of my data, I can easily see how my electricity usage has changed during this whole year. Now that I have a graph I can predict how long it will take me to reach 300 kwh per month. I drew a line through all my plotted points, showing a path of my kwh usage. To find out how many months will take me to reach 300 kwh, I first need to find the slope of my line. The slope means the rise over the run, or in this case, the change amount of electricity per month. To find the slope, I will use two points in my line, (3, 1500) and (4, 1400). We can substitute x and y with 0 and 1600 to fill in the equation.

The equation is y= -100(x) +1600 Now that I know b, I can use the equation when y is equal to 300, since thats the kwh I want to use. My slope is of -100 meaning that my usage decreased 100kwh every month. Now that we know the slope of our line, the rest of the process is easy. By making an equation of my line, I can find how many months it takes me to get to 300 kwh per month. Knowing that the slope is (m), I have to use a slope intercept equation: y= -100x + b

With this result, I know x will be the number of months that will pass to get 300 kwh of usage. It will take me 13 months to reach my goal. Although it is only a year and a month, my family and I will need to keep working hard to reach a healthier lifestyle.