This Friday Aug 14 - SAVE ENERGY!

Tomorrow, to "celebrate" the anniversary of the great blackout of 2003 - Ontario has organized Count Me In! Conservation Challenge Day.

The idea is that any city participating in the challenge will lower hydro consumption on that day - and promote the comradery of saving energy that Ontario showed during the last major blackout... this is probably something that we should all be doing every day anyway.... but hey... might as well make a day of it to raise some awareness right?

The municapalities that are participating are competing in two different categories:
The highest percentage drop in electricity consumption on August 14th; and
The highest per capita participation in the Count Me In! pledge drive.

So, residents and business owners are being asked to do the following on tomorrow:
Turn off air conditioners
Turn off lights
Avoid using any major appliances

Courtesy of the City of Waterloo, here are some more things YOU can do EVERYDAY:

• Turning off all but essential internal and external lights
• Setting air conditioners to 26 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher, or use fans as an alternative. Closing blinds and curtains during the day to keep out the sun and retain cooler air inside.
• Turning off unneeded appliances, electronic equipment and computers.
• Giving the oven and stove a night off and preparing food on the barbeque.
• Avoiding using major power-consuming equipment like dishwashers, washers and dryers, and swimming pool pumps until after 8:00 p.m.
• Replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs.

What were you up to during the blackout in 2003? I was living in Toronto at the time... living on the 15th floor. I walked my bike up half the floors then got tired and decided to just lock it in the stairwell. hahaa. It was nice, had a couple days off work... drank some warm beers at the local pub and met some new friends. But i was pretty sure the apocalypse was happening.

Post your story if you get a second... i know some friends were supposed to be at the Radiohead concert... which was cancelled... bummer.

Save energy people. turn off the ac.

H.