How We Spent Earth Hour 2009

As we've done in the past, the family observed EarthHour last night. Beyond just turning out the lights, the kids and I tried to see how low we could reduce the house's energy footprint, using our whole house electricity monitor, TED--the energy detective.

Here are some pics and my EnergyCircle twitter stream from the hour before and right after.

7:30PM. With 60 min til #EarthHour, the kids & I have started to power down the house. We think turning off is going to take a full hour...

7:41PM. No DVR for Kids Choice Awards is our 1st #earthhour dilemma. 9 yr old is ethically challenged. 14 yr old thinks Nickelodeon's timing is dumb

7:54PM. Clarification on my previous tweet about the timing of Kids Choice hour during #earthhour --the 9 yr old now says: "Nickelodeon--this sucks"

8:15PM. It's taken nearly an hour to hunt down the energy vampires in prep for #earthhour & TED the energy detective now reads 1.23 kw. Get'n there

8:17PM. We're trying to go fully dark beyond just lights for #earthhour, inc shutting off internet and twitter. 1 more kw read & we'll see you 9:31

8:23PM. Getting there to all off for #earthhour. But ack! we can't turn off the solar walkway lights in the garden....

8:28PM. Signing off for #earthhour at .43 kw on the TED the energy detective.

9:34PM. During #earthhour, we got the house down to less than 0.2 KW (measured via TED the energy detective.) Fridge & freezer only; all others off.

9:43PM. After all my gushing about the quality of our time together during #earthhour, now everyone's asking: wtf Dad, now you're back on twitter?