A great article on how people have learned to cope in the absence of a cheap source of power. The "sacrifices" may not be so great and, in fact, may not be sacrifices after all.
MSNBC.com
Alaska's capital city cuts back after avalanches damage power lines
The Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska - First, there was a run on energy-efficient light bulbs. When those ran out, people began asking for lamp oil. But when they started demanding clothespins in this land of mist and rain, it was clear Alaska's capital city was caught in a serious energy crunch.
"We sold all our clothespins the first day," said Doug White, general manager at Don Abel Building Supplies. "I don't think kids even knew what they were for, but they're learning now."
Avalanches earlier this month knocked down transmission lines and cut off Juneau's source of low-cost hydroelectric power. Threatened with a five-fold increase in utility bills, Juneau quickly powered down.
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Energy conservation is a hard sell in much of the U.S., but Juneau has proved that people will change their ways if the financial incentives are big enough.
"Turn off, turn down, unplug," said Sarah Lewis, chairwoman of the Juneau Commission on Sustainability. "That's what everyone is doing and being vigilant about and commenting when others are not."
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With oil prices reaching a record $120 a barrel, Alaska Electric Light and Power said customers might have to pay for an extra $25 million in diesel over the three months it would take to repair the lines. The utility warned that rates would probably leap from an average of 11 cents per kilowatt-hour to more than 50 cents, or about five times the national average of 10.3 cents.
Conversations all over town turned from the governor's new baby and the legislative session to kilowatt hours, tariff rates and saving energy.
Heidi Graves said her 16-year-old son, Levi — the one who never would turn off his Nintendo — was the first to get on board. He was worried that the family of six would have to cancel its vacation next August.
Levi multiplied the electric bill by five and came up with $950. "It's more than our house payment," said his mother.
Now members of the Graves family eat dinner by candlelight, do dishes by hand, plan to dry their clothes on a rack by the wood stove, and limit their time on the computer.
"My husband has bruised himself and tripped over the dog just to keep the lights off," Graves said.
Graves also ordered a history of past electrical use so that the family could ferret out which appliances were the real power hogs, and they learned how to read their own electric meter, which they are now doing several times a day.
Though the Graves heat solely with wood, perhaps one in five houses in Juneau is wired for electric heat because hydroelectric power is relatively cheap and natural gas is unavailable.
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Eighth-grader Matthew Staley is hoping the people of Juneau will likewise develop new habits over the course of three months, and "realize that — wow — we have to keep this up. Like switching to fluorescent lights, they'll just keep on with them."
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