ᐅ House electricity consumption – what is your usage?

RotorMotor schrieb:

If my children turn out average, my child and I still only use one-fifth of what you do, right?

Just THAT alone is already an ambitious goal that you might only just reach, whatever "average" means when it comes to children.

RotorMotor schrieb:

But does having 10 times the money also mean you have to consume 10 times the resources?
You could also afford environmental protection.

I honestly offer myself, even transparently here for all to read, so you can implement exactly THAT.
From what I read, I assume you have about 150 times more money available than some people abroad whom I know.
So my question to the missionary: DO you have to consume that many resources just because you have 150 times more money than they do?
"You could also afford environmental protection" (your quote) – I’m happy to help you with that; those people would thank you sincerely.
No, of course you don’t.
You see yourself as the standard, the benchmark of what is appropriate. That might fit in your community, but ecology applies worldwide, and we are all polluters—yourself included.

RotorMotor schrieb:

My statement referred to indifference.

Open your eyes wider and you’ll see that you yourself are indifferent… just in a different comparison group. I know people who live in 70 sqm (750 sqft) and use more electricity than I do in 200 sqm (2150 sqft). Constantly 23°C (73°F), not me. Do you ride a bike or exclusively use public transport? I know people who deliberately didn’t get a driver’s license and bike come rain or shine. Do you?

RotorMotor schrieb:

So I’ll soon belong there too.

You already belong there NOW if you honestly look at your daily life.
I appreciate ecological thinking and try to keep my footprint low. Still, I enjoy my life and want others to do the same. I always buy furniture (classics) secondhand, drive my car until it breaks down, drive no more than 4000 km (2500 miles) per year, and have hardly any heating costs, etc. Yet it’s still too much.
Picking out a random example and blaming someone else is unfair; conversely, anyone (including you and me) could be torn apart from an ecological perspective.
rick has created beautiful, lasting architecture—I find it sad that there is more focus on supposed luxury than on that.

pagoni2020 schrieb:

You see yourself as the standard, as the benchmark for what is appropriate. That might be true in your neighborhood, but ecology applies worldwide, and we are all polluters, you included.

Not entirely correct. I only searched for "average electricity consumption." The language does indeed limit the "scope" to Germany.

pagoni2020 schrieb:

You already belong to that group if you honestly look at your daily life.

Also not entirely correct. I currently live in a small apartment and actually do almost everything by bike.

pagoni2020 schrieb:

Picking out a single aspect and holding it against someone else is inappropriate; the other way around, anyone (including me) could be criticized from an ecological perspective.

This thread is about household electricity consumption. I also find it very kind and interesting that Rick shared his with us. I just found the term "low" a bit inappropriate. By now, we all seem to agree on this, and I hope to report soon on my house’s electricity consumption.

Overall, I agree with almost all of your statements! :-)

RotorMotor schrieb:

The language has indeed limited the "radius" to Germany.

Okay. Then you have the average of a society that already lives wastefully, which we all belong to.

RotorMotor schrieb:

Not entirely true either. I currently live in a small apartment and actually do almost everything by bike.

..."almost"......that leaves room for speculation. So you don’t have a car, and your children mostly ride bikes too. You can live wastefully even in a small apartment.....
I truly believe that we all need to look at ourselves, including me!

@RotorMotor Your house will be 80m2 (860 sq ft)? There are two of you, right? Didn’t you originally plan 170m2 (1,830 sq ft)? Or does that include your plans for children? In that case, I could also claim that I’m adopting some and justify my living space per person that way. Maybe it was a quick decision influenced by the pandemic.
@pagoni2020 made a lot of good points.

Land is a limited resource, so it should ideally be used as efficiently as possible. For example, apartment buildings rather than a single-family house. However, we consciously allow ourselves the luxury of a single-family home. We try not to judge others for living differently or having different priorities.

Should I invest or spend my money elsewhere? Some taxes can be used for government loans or grants, which in turn support and create local jobs...

My resource consumption only partially correlates with my income.

Actually, I wanted to leave it at that, but since I was addressed directly again, here we go. 😉

rick2018 schrieb:

@RotorMotor Your house will be 80m² (860 sq ft)? There are two of you, right? Didn’t you originally plan for 170m² (1,830 sq ft)? Or does that include your plans for children?

Of course, that’s why there are children’s rooms.
If having children doesn’t work out, I can always transfer the house to a family! 😀

rick2018 schrieb:

Then I could also claim that I adopt more kids and calculate my living space per person more favorably.

That’s actually a great idea!
Not the calculating to look better part, but the adopting. 😉

rick2018 schrieb:

@pagoni2020 made many valid points.
Land is a limited resource. Therefore, it should ideally be used as efficiently as possible.
For example, multi-family houses instead of a single multi-family house.

We actually agree on many points.
So why the harsh tone overall?
Just because my use of "small" made you a bit upset?

rick2018 schrieb:

Should I invest/bury my money elsewhere? There are taxes that can be used again for KfW funding, supporting and creating local jobs...
My resource consumption only partially correlates with my income.

Are you really looking for ways to use money and resources in an environmentally friendly way?

Sorry again for drifting into an ethical and moral discussion.
You could definitely spend hours debating what fair distribution of resources means, where to set the standards, and how strongly income/wealth should correlate with resource consumption.

Found the thread very, very interesting except for the last few pages. It would be great if you could avoid turning this into a discussion filled with ideological nonsense. Thank you.