ELECTRIC NOTES

NEED HELP SAVING ELECTRICITY? PUT KIDS ON ENERGY PATROL

Stop nagging your kids to turn off the lights, TV or water when they’re finished with them. Instead, make them official officers in your energy-efficiency “police force.” Or superheroes with a mission to save the planet. Or even kings and queens of the Land of Low Electric Bills.

If you want your kids to help you in your quest to save energy, make it fun.

Spend an afternoon decorating badges that declare they are in charge of “Operation: Save Energy.”
Then take them on a “raid” of the house, looking for ways your family is wasting energy. Explain that when they hold the refrigerator door open or leave the front door ajar when they run outside, they are forcing your appliances or air conditioner to suck more electricity out of the outlet. Then put them in charge of “policing” others in the family who use energy inefficiently.

Here are some ways to make it fun to save energy.

• Set up an energy-efficiency obstacle course. Send your kids on a race through the house to find other family members or friends acting out energy-wasting activities. Tell your kids they have to find culprits in each room and correct the energy wasters before they can move on. Time them as they inspect each room and award points each time they correct an offending action.

• Each week, post a chart on the refrigerator and tally each time a family member gets caught wasting energy. The person with the fewest tallies on Friday night gets to pick the movie.

• Illustrate the monetary savings of conserving energy by setting up an energy piggy bank. Give your younger kids a nickel or dime each time they do something to help save energy. Take one away each time they leave a light on or leave their video games running. For older kids, give them a small bonus on their allowance each month they help lower the household energy bill.

• Help your kids find games and other educational sources on the Internet that teach them about energy savings. At www.projectsuperpowers.org, they can select or invent superheroes and help them harness their powers for energy efficiency.

If you make saving energy a game rather than a chore, you might get your kids excited about your cause. Soon enough, they’ll be correcting you when you forget to flip the switch.

DON’T GET LAZY ABOUT SUMMERTIME SAFETY

Don’t let the “lazy daze” of summer make you drop your guard when it comes to electrical safety. With swimming pools, camping trips and an abundance of other outdoor activities, extra caution is in order. 

Here are some potentially hazardous situations to watch out for this summer (and always):

• Extension cords used outside and plugged into an outlet not protected by a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI).

• Extension cords being used outdoors that are not approved for outdoor use.

• Electrical toys, appliances, tools or cords being used less than 10 feet away from pools and wet surfaces.

• Improperly installed or the wrong kind of pool wiring and connections.

• Extension cords running through doorways or traffic areas.

• Common sense not applied around the use of electricity.

And, the National Electrical Code requires outside power receptacles to be protected by GFCIs. These devices will shut off power if a ground fault occurs, protecting you from electric shock.

If you are not sure whether your outside receptacles are protected by GFCIs, hire an electrical contractor to check them out and ensure your family's safety.

Summer is a great season; let’s all enjoy it together by thinking about safety first.