I heard this report about power usage in modern homes the other day and it got me thinking. The story focused on digital photo frames, which have exploded in popularity of late. There is a seemingly innocuous device that in fact sucks power constantly. A fact in the story struck me--back in 1975 the average home had 1-2 plugged in devices. Now the average total is more than 25.

So I decided to do a count of what we have plugged in here at home -- 39 different devices.

That number really shocked me. It doesn't even include things that are plugged regularly but not constantly, such as chargers for cell phones (2), digital cameras (3), laptops (2), guitar amp (1), vacuum (2), at least a half dozen power tools, and probably a bunch of other crap that I can't think of. Good grief. Those are 39 things we use. And I am hardly a technological or gear oriented type.

Our electricity comes from mountaintop removal coal, which makes me definitely part of the problem. Fortunately Virginia Power is now willing to charge me a bit more a month (2 bucks) to have my power come from sustainable sources. Though that hardly makes the fight against mountaintop removal anything less than still the central environmental and moral issue of our time.

I do have a digital photoframe, it was a gift a couple of years ago. I actually haven't taken it out of the box yet. That isn't due to any kind of heightened consciousness--just plain old laziness.

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