Comments on: Housepooling: When Energy Quintuples

By: Funny about Money

Funny about Money — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:58:14 +0000

If you have a slumber party, are the guest going to use your shower in the morning? Will they bring their own sheets & towels, or will you have to use your washer & dryer to clean those? If you can’t get all the dirty dishes into one load, you’ll have to run the dishwasher twice. And unless you do a potluck, fixing a big dinner will consume a bunch of extra power.

It’s been our observation that house guests, even for a few days, really jack up the power & water costs.

All that said, it sure sounds like a great excuse to have a bunch of parties!

By: Dave (ChiefExecutiveRockStar)

Dave (ChiefExecutiveRockStar) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:31:01 +0000

In the 70’s, I believe they called this a “Swingers Club”.

It would be interesting to chronical how much more energy was consumed by having a party. Will the oven/stove be on longer? More TV’s on? The refrigerator opened and closed more often than usual? More lights on?

Would you have fuel costs in going to the store to prepare for a party? Would you buy food items you normally wouldn’t buy (a party platter vs. hot dogs and ramen)?

Would the cost actually be offset by this? Would you lose productive time in both hosting and attending these; or family time? Would you find your best friend in bed with someone he didn’t arrive with?

Lots of things to account for besides the electric bill.

Fun post, tho.

–Dave, Chief Executive RockStar

By: saladdin

saladdin — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:19:21 +0000

I live in the Great State of Tennessee with a residential rate of 8.12 cents per KWH (Go TVA !!) .

It’s hard to tell someone living in Alaska to “turn the heat down.”

saladdin

By: Llama Money

Llama Money — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:54:21 +0000

Damn I just saw that he lives in Alaska. Perhaps no luck with that whole solar energy idea Anyone know of any fancy ice-panels?

By: Llama Money

Llama Money — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:52:52 +0000

$.50 per kWh sounds like a *great* argument for solar energy. It might pay off in just a couple years, even without huge subsidies like they have in some states.

By: jim

jim — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:13:37 +0000

Thanks for being a downer Fred.

By: fred@opc

fred@opc — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:02:14 +0000

Oh yeah, and thanks for the link

By: fred@opc

fred@opc — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:00:17 +0000

While I think the idea is interesting, My guess is that in order to really save some green, we’re going to need to consider downsizing our houses. Instead of a family of 4 having a 3000 sq. ft. colonial, maybe they should live in a 2000 sq. ft. rancher. That alone could reduce heating costs by 33%.

The other thing about spending a single night at someone else’s home is that you can only save a small portion of your own home energy expense. Let’s say it’s the dead of winter and 20 degrees out. You can’t simply turn off your heater when you leave, or your house might freeze and your pipes burst. You could turn the heater down to say, 50 degrees, but when you return the next day, you’ll need a whole lot of that “saved” energy to warm the house back up. Certainly there will be some savings, but I suspect not that much for all the hassle. Oh, and you better be staying at neighbors’ houses close-by, otherwise you’re going to burn up that savings in gasoline.

By: Four Pillars

Four Pillars — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:18:52 +0000

Neat idea. It wouldn’t be energy-free in the winter though – you still have to heat the empty house – although not as much.

Mike

By: budgets are sexy

budgets are sexy — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:16:08 +0000

Haha, i love the “housepool” idea. Except with my friends i’d lose all my food and drink in the first hour On the other hand, if the cards-playing entails some no limit Texas Hold ‘em, i can try and get it all back throughout the night!