Thursday, September 11, 2008

Energy efficiency at its best

Our company has put a big focus on conserving energy for the good of the environment (read: saving cash to add to the bottom line). So they installed light sensors that keep the lights on only when a person is in the room. Thus, when you get into work and go in your office, the light snaps on as you pass the motion sensor. If you've been out of your office (or there's no movement) for 20 minutes, the lights turn off. There's a guy in the office whose light is either broken, or apparently doesn't move much during the day, so his light turns off on him all the time. He sits there in the dark working in front of the glow of his computer screen. Creepy. So if the lights go off on you, you move your hand or something and the lights go back on. So every once in awhile you'll walk past this guy's office & he's flailing like a madman in the dark trying to get the lights to go back on. Either that or it's a good cover for Tourette's syndrome. Maybe that's why he's always screaming profanities...

Being used to this at the office all day, apparently I've thought it carried over to home. So I walk in the door at night, and the light is off, and i actually stand there for a minute wondering why the light hasn't turned on. Then I flail my arms a bit, and finally realize "Oh right - I don't have motion-triggered lights at home." Oops. So I feel like an idiot for a moment, then i walk into the next room, somehow stupidly expecting the lights to turn on in that room. And this is a process that occurs almost nightly now. However, if you think about it, I'm actually saving energy for those few seconds that I actually stand there in the dark and think the lights will come on. A penny here & a penny there, and maybe I'll be able to buy a stamp in about a year...

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