The 330-Watt Person

The other day an article titled “The 330-Watt Person” appeared in one of the Zurich newspapers. This refers back to the 2000-Watt Society, a goal for energy use in Switzerland’s future. Each person should then use no more than 2000 watts, which is the equivalent of having 20 bulbs of 100 watts burning continuously. While the measure for the goal is expressed in units usually reserved for electricity, other forms of energy are also included, i.e. fossil fuels, biomass etc. and then measurement in watts becomes an equivalent. This is all very confusing, but what is important is that it is estimated that energy use per person in Switzerland today is 3 times this value, so 2000 watts is an ambitious goal indeed.

Given that 2000 watts is several times greater than 330 watts, what is the meaning of this article? It seems that the author measured his home electricity use during one day. For this purpose he used a measuring device into which all the applicable devices and apparatus could be plugged: lights, cell phone charger, fridge, coffee maker etc. At the end of the day, all of his measurements added up to 330 watts.

The author learned a few valuable lessons from this exercise. The enormous use of electricity by old-fashioned light bulbs, when compared to LEDs, was a shock. He saw in quantitative detail just how much energy is wasted by apparatus in standby mode. But was this exercise really worth an article covering nearly an entire newspaper page? To be sure, he says clearly that he could not measure energy-gobbling apparatus such as boilers and heating, as they could not be plugged into his measuring device. He also mentions the fact that private electricity use in the home is a fraction of total energy use, with heating and mobility making up by far the largest percentage.

If the author has encouraged a number of readers to clean up their act as regards old-fashioned light bulbs and standby, he will perhaps have increased awareness of the need to cut back on one’s own electricity use. But given the overwhelming portion of energy use laid at the door of heating and mobility, it seems misleading and out of proportion to the size of the problem to go into such detail as regards only the use of electricity in the home. Perhaps I am being cynical, but I can imagine a smug person thinking he has really contributed to saving energy by turning off apparatus on standby, but who then gets into his powerful car and zooms to a shop easily reachable by bike or tram. Once there he – or she! – purchases out-of-season produce flown thousands of miles, cancelling out the switching off standby many times over.

Let’s have a sense of proportion here.

The NGOs in One’s Life

Now that income tax return time looms, I am receiving confirmations of donation in 2014 to various NGOs and organizations. There are a surprising number thereof, given the fact that I have tried to pare them down to the most essential. But who is to say what need is most dire, what area underfunded? Donations are not only matters of money, as needs vary from immediate (crisis relief) to long term (climate related) and from local to international. Some organizations are reputed to spend altogether too many of their donations on administration. Giving is colored by one’s personal situation, interests and beliefs, and rightly so, I think. After covering rent, food, insurance and the like, one spends one’s money where it is individually meaningful, after all.

I’ll start with the medically related: the Swiss Heart Foundation, the Swiss Lungenliga (lung association) and the Krebsliga Schweiz (cancer association). These are all personal: I have a minor heart problem and many acquaintances and relatives have succumbed to cancer. The good friend who had lung cancer found the lung association most helpful. Then there is the Swiss Red Cross, which provides a host of services, including lifesaving training, rescue, school programs as well as practical, personal services by volunteers, like driving people to and from hospital. In a country where not everyone has a car, this is much appreciated.

Also personal is Pro Senectute. This is the Swiss organization for older people, and it provides a great variety of valuable benefits, like home help, financial advisory services, courses in IT, sports and everything else imaginable. Not only is this organization of inestimable practical help to us oldies, it takes us seriously and realizes that we can still learn and take an active part in life. It represents us well in society.

One organization that always receives my support is Helvetas, which is involved in projects in developing countries. The money goes directly to the projects, and administrative and advertising costs are low. This is such a contrast to donations to countries where much, perhaps most of the money lines the pockets of government officials, that this organization impresses me, as do its wide-ranging projects in areas of very basic need.

As I have a strong interest in environmental issues, I have chosen 3 organizations active in this field. The first is the Biovision Foundation for Ecological Development, which is like Helvetas in its direct support for individual projects, with an emphasis in recent years on fighting malaria. The others are the internationally active Worldwide Fund for Nature, which has some imaginative programs to involve children, as well as a host of programs throughout the world. Through the WWF I once gave two of my grandchildren deeds to small plots of protected land in Africa and my very young granddaughter wanted to visit her land and see what it was like.

Finally there is Greenpeace, which I admire no end for their daring, feisty, attention-getting presence where egregious things are being done to the environment. One reads about their imaginative protests the next day in the newspaper, looks at the striking pictures and remembers the particular involvement for a long time. Greenpeace has its detractors, some of whom deplore the rough, in-your-face demonstrations and find it only proper when the participants are arrested. I feel that this environmental organization is badly needed, with its individual approach. Considering the enormous financial advantage and clout of those who are detrimental to the environment, it is only proper that attention-getting methods be used by those working to support it. Greenpeace and the above-mentioned organizations will continue to receive my support.