How I learned to stop worrying about light switches and save energy

Officially I work full-time for the Financial Times. But I’m finding it hard to balance with my other commitments. Much of my day seems to be spent switching off unneeded lights around the home. A surprising amount is taken up sorting rubbish into various recycling bins. Is there a way to wash out a margarine pot, and still answer your emails before noon? I haven’t found it.

I’m busy cleaning plastic containers so I can store them with the other plastic containers that I may or may not ever reuse. To avoid waste, I try to remember to put vegetables in the compost, cooked leftovers in the food bin, and a bit of both in the children. It is practically 40 hours a week of self-employment.

Sometimes I complete it quickly enough that I can go to the plastic-free shop to refill my Tupperware with pasta.

Couldn’t living well be a bit simpler? Sorry, no, it’s getting more complex, because we need to save energy. The UK’s National Grid has warned that some households could face three-hour electricity blackouts. Remember: Liz Truss ruled out energy rationing, which means it is certain to happen.

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Europe’s warm autumn is helping, but British civil servants have been war-gaming how to survive a weeklong power outage – “a reasonable worst-case scenario” due, for example, to extreme weather or sabotage.

For those struggling with bills (as in much of Europe), or hit by blackouts (as in Ukraine), the energy crisis can be overwhelming. For those of us in more fortunate positions, it poses a question: we want to do our bit, but how far will we go?

Gone are the days of being congratulated for putting on the dishwasher. Now you’ll be blamed for not scheduling it for 2am

People don’t always like being told to save energy. In the late 1970s, Jimmy Carter urged Americans to cap their thermostats at 65ºF (18.3ºC), and was booted out of office. And, in January, British energy supplier Ovo suggested customers keep warm by cuddling their pets, and had to apologise.

But we can be tempted. Germany aims to cut energy use by 20 per cent this winter. Britain’s National Grid has adopted an idea from electricity supplier Octopus: it wants volunteers to use less energy between 4pm and 7pm, and more at night. The same is true in Ireland. (Wind farms spin through the dark, but we don’t have enough battery capacity to store the proceeds.)

Gone are the days of being congratulated for putting on the dishwasher. Now you’ll be blamed for not scheduling it for 2am. If you do remember, you’ll save energy and money, and, as a bonus, wake up the neighbours.

In March I began my own “demand destruction” trial. I gave up hot showers for Lent. Several months have passed, and I finally feel able to speak about the experience. It included possibly the most terrified facial expressions in any shower since Hitchcock. I never knew that water could be so cold, or that I could wash my hair so quickly, or that Lent is longer than 40 days if you count the Sundays. But it was also quite refreshing: cold water triggers your immune system.

I’ve taken two lessons. One is that we should sweat a few, small decisions, not every last one. Running the tumble dryer uses nearly 20 times as much electricity as boiling the kettle: cut it out and relax about the light switches.

The second lesson is that we need to take much more of the choice out of our hands, by designing in efficiency. It should be easy to live in an insulated home, set your e-bike battery to charge at night, or have the right flow temperature on your boiler. Similarly, we should make it the default for people to avoid packaging, because some recycling and composting barely works anyway.

Acting sustainably feels so exhausting, because our society is designed for waste. Changing that should be someone’s full-time job – preferably a cabinet minister’s.

– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2022