We all want a brighter tomorrow but to accomplish this we need to be a little brighter ourselves about how we use of energy, at work and at home. It is not enough to sit back and let the politicians and activists try to sort it out, we need to do our part. The best part is that by helping ourselves we help others and help secure a bright future for our kids, their kids and so on. We can all help, the best part is that it’s easy.

What do we know about energy consumption? It goes up every year and now we know that it is not possible to sustain the current rate of consumption if we expect to secure a future for our children and grand children. Where does this leave us now? We have choices, we do something or we do nothing, that simple. We can all help, we just need to know how.

European countries have been ahead of North American countries in energy conservation because of the high costs associated with energy in their countries. If we adopt some of their practices we will be ahead of what will eventually make its way to our doorsteps. One method of controlling energy demand during peak hours in the day is to use smart meters to measure electrical use and charge at different rates during the course of an entire day. Peak hours equal higher costs, off peak hours equal lower costs, fairly straightforward. The province of Ontario, Canada is in the process of installing these smart meters and will adopt the variable rates once installation of all meters is complete. As part of the stimulus package the US allocated $4.5 billion to developing technologies for the "Smart Grid." "Several million networked meters have already been distributed in the United States." It's already on the way, let's stay ahead of the curve and ease the transition for ourselves. If we start now we can plan house hold purchases to accommodate these changes and eliminate the financial burden that we would have experienced if we were not ready.

Put quite simply less strain means less maintenance, this translates to lower costs which in turn saves the end consumer money(that's us). It also limits the need to build more expensive generating capacity and the need to bring on less efficient capacity during peak hours, this also saves the consumer money, reduces harmful emissions and reduces environmental impact. The premise is to charge more when it costs more so the consumer is forced to be more efficient and more conscious about how they use their energy. We can stay ahead of this trend by making small changes now which will benefit us immediately as well as in the future.

How can we do this? We adopt some proven European practices and with a little effort become more energy efficient. This also reduces environmental concerns and we save ourselves some money as a bonus. One of the easiest ways to get started is to take advantage of programmable appliances. Peak hours vary slightly in different states and locales but you can be certain that highest demand always falls in around 7:00 A.M to 10:00 A.M and the 3:00 P.M. to around the 8:00 P.M. range, this will vary with the seasons depending on lighting and heating/cooling demands. This makes the objective to use your highest energy consumers outside of these peak demand hours. This may not seem feasible, especially in the evening when we get home from work and start cooking, turn down the AC in the summer or turn up the heat in the winter months but it can be accomplished.

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