PSA: Overheard a guy at the hardware store say he's just going to run his AC all summer and not worry about it...

I was picking up some materials in Portland yesterday and this guy in line was talking to the cashier. He said, 'My electric bill's already high, what's another hundred bucks to stay cool?' It hit me that a lot of people still think of this as just a money thing, not a grid and fuel thing. Every unit running flat out adds up to a huge demand spike that often means firing up the oldest, dirtiest power plants. Has anyone found a good way to talk to neighbors about setting their thermostats a few degrees higher without sounding preachy?

2 comments

2 Comments

sage78714d ago

Ever ask him if he'd still run it nonstop if his power went out during a heatwave? That demand spike he's adding to is what causes those rolling blackouts. Honestly, it's less about the money and more about keeping the whole system from breaking.

walker.grace13d ago

Yeah, that reminds me of my friend's neighbor last summer. The guy bragged about keeping his house like an icebox, then got so mad when the grid got strained and his own power flickered off for an afternoon. It's exactly what sage787 said, it's a quick jump from adding to the problem to being stuck in it. I just mention how our block tries to keep thermostats at 78 during peak hours, not as a rule but as a 'hey, this helps everyone, including us' thing. Framing it as a group effort to avoid blackouts works better than talking about bills or the planet, honestly.