help w/ kids & electricity conservation

[aisraeltax]

i am trying to come up with a system to encourage my 15 year old son to think about electricity. he is constantly leaving is computer on while he goes to watch
TV (xbox, etc.); he uses 2-3 fans while putting 2 comforters on top of him at night; i am a recycling nut and conservationist and his behavior is killing me. however, im tired of nagging him and need to figure out another method.
thanks!

[root*children]

Does he have any source of income (allowance, P-T job, etc.)? Make him help pay the bill. Seriously. We did it as teenagers if we wanted cable, or if we would leave electric things on excessively. No better way to make him feel the pain than actually using his money to pay for it.

[aisraeltax]

havent figured the payment out yet. wondering if there are any other ideas? our bill did come down $30 last month, so my nagging seems to be paying off but then again, its also a lot cooler so less fans, ac (one unit),, etc. prob. helped.

[Ruthla]

I'd sit down with him and calculate the electric usage together. Is there some way you can turn it into a fun experiment for him- measure or calculate how much power each of his toys uses, let him figure out creative ways to reduce energy usage, etc. I think that would motivate him to change a lot more than your nagging!

[4evermom]

Can he set up the computer so that it goes to sleep automatically after not being used for a couple minutes? My dad was upset about lights being left on too much when I was young, so he offered a nickle for everytime someone turned off a light that someone else left on. It brought the bill down about $20, which he then gave to the one brother that had done the most light turning off. This wouldn't work so well in your case, but I think it's a funny story so I thought I'd share. My dad was the king of frugal. He gave my sister a birthday card that he found in the street while biking home from work. She was about 10 and had friends over. She had just finished telling them another frugal dad story, when he gave her the card. They all thought it was hilarious. OK, that was seriously off topic. I'll shut up now.

[aisraeltax]

4evermom,
i laughed out loud when reading that! i do have his computer set up to sleep pretty quickly but its the other lights, etc. that he doesn't seem to consider. to him, its "not a big deal". but it does add up.
rach

[4evermom]

Hmmm... how hard would it be to set up all lights in a house to turn on with a motion detector? Everytime someone doesn't move for 5 minutes, they would turn off. It could be an exercise program, too! Off course you would have to be able to disable them at night so the overhead wouldn't flash on everytime you rolled over in bed...

[vegaenglit]

Originally Posted by root*children

Does he have any source of income (allowance, P-T job, etc.)? Make him help pay the bill. Seriously. We did it as teenagers if we wanted cable, or if we would leave electric things on excessively. No better way to make him feel the pain than actually using his money to pay for it.

word. it finally took a 500 dollar electricity bill for jeremy's parents to think about maybe turning down the AC (its 100 degrees outside and im in jeans and a sweater because im so cold. grrr!)