Photo courtesy of vgm8383 at Flickr.com.

Ice storms recently knocked out electrical transmission lines in Alaska, which cut off the cheap supply of power to Juneau from a local hydro turbine. The electrical company responded by turning on emergency diesel generators and notifying customers that their rates would skyrocket. Then, a curious thing happened. Local residents responded to rising energy costs by drastically cutting energy use.

Out came the clothes lines, and the Kerosene lamps. Local stores sold out of energy efficient light bulbs, insulation, smaller TV sets, and anything else that could be used to conserve power.

Stores, though open, went partially dark. Neon signs were switched off and vending machines unplugged. At home, residents of this former Gold Rush town began living a little bit like pioneers, dusting the snow off the grill, stringing clotheslines in the backyard and flicking off their TV sets. Within a week, electrical usage across town was down as much as 30 percent.

These behavioral changes may last until the power lines are restored, or they may mark a permanent shift. Brazil had a similar crisis in 2001, and the government responded by imposing 20% mandatory power cuts. There was a lot of immediate pain, but people adapted. When the restrictions were lifted, people didn’t revert back to their previous levels of consumption. After spending several months under the threat of rolling blackouts, people learned how to conserve power and still accomplish their daily tasks.

Perhaps these changes in Juneau will take root throughout Alaska and beyond. Once people get set in new habits, they tend to stick to them. And there’s another important lesson to learn from Brazil - the droughts that caused a power shortage in 2001 came back even stronger in 2005.

Photo courtesy of endora57 at Flickr.com.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 5:17 am and is filed under Gardening Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.