Occupy Your Home

As winter approaches, some occupiers will be retreating indoors to rest. Whether you have been occupying in a public space or simply maintaining a living as a hardworking member of the 99%, there comes a time when your body needs to rest.

If you spend any amount of time at home, cooking, eating, sleeping, watching TV, or using a computer, it's a good idea to maximize your living space to be both energy efficient and comfortable. Not only are you giving away your hard earned money when you use extra electricity, chances are the extra electricity is also creating increased electromagnetic fields. Even low level electromagnetic radiation can have health consequences, typically experienced as stress. By reducing usage, you can usually reduce your exposure at the same time.

So what should you do to take control of your grid-supplied electricity habits?

1. Unplug your cable box and broadband/WiFi router when you're not using them. The extra minute or two they take to reconfigure is a minor inconvenience if you consider the monetary and emf savings.

2. Change some light bulbs. LEDs are now available for $10 or less. The power and replacement cost savings over the 10 years these bulbs last can reach $200. I can't think of a better return on investment. For a less expensive bulb that provides really warm light, try 45 watt Reveal PAR bulbs. I've found 2 packs for $15 at the larger home stores.

3. Test your power quality. Besides making sure that your home isn't over-electrified by measuring the voltage (should be about 117-124 V), it's a good idea to understand how the electricity you are supplied can affect your appliances, family, and pets.

4. Filter your electricity. Some will scoff at the idea that power quality varies from home to home, business to business, and hour to hour. It does though, and adding a few filters may save you repair costs or medical bills in the future. Full disclosure: G-S filters consume about 100 watts each when plugged in. To avoid needing additional filters, replace dimmer switches with regular switches and minimize CFL bulbs.

5. Measure your usage. Once a day, for a couple weeks, take a picture or short video of your electric meter. This data is one of the main selling points for Smart Meters, so why not provide it yourself? One of the benefits of an analog meter is that you can see actual real-time usage in your house, while standing outside your house. If you shut off all your circuits, that wheel should STOP. If it keeps spinning, something is using your power.

6. Have a backup. One way to step back from your addiction to monopoly supplied power is by generating your own juice. Start with a deep cycle battery. Add a trickle charger or small solar panel and you're in business. A small-scale solar array is a perfect way to light parts of your home or recharge batteries, phones, and laptops. Often, powering a DC device with a DC power supply is more efficient and easier on the device. There's always the bike generator!

7. Clean your fridge. Under and inside most fridges can be awful sights. But a little work can really pay off. Especially if you have coils under your fridge, keep that air flowing. Once the inside is clean, add 2 or 3 gallon jugs of water to increase mass and reduce demand on the compressor.

8. Invest in ethernet. Why proliferate your home with microwaves when you can contain all that (valuable) data into a twisted set of wires? Most broadband modems have multiple RJ45 jacks, so why not use them? Cables are cheap and the decrease in RF will be appreciated by your cells and neurons, whether or not you can tell the difference.

9. Dabble with VoIP. Instead of using a cell phone or cordless phone in your home, which are usually disappointing quality-wise, use a wired computer to make phone calls. There are many different programs to do this. The only challenge is finding the right mic and headphones, and ensure that your internet connection is stable. Try running a Speed Test. If you have more than 4 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload, with a ping of less than 50 ms, you should be in okay shape. It should be possible to reduce your EMR exposure to less than using a corded landline phone held to your ear. If you have a landline, use speaker mode whenever possible since some ear pieces have moderate fields.

10. Flashlights.