reddykilowatt.org » Conservation

Selling the Energy-Intensive Lifestyle

Bill — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:26:12 +0000

Inventing Green: The Lost History of Alternative Energy in America has a good piece on Reddy (and other industry mascots). It gives an overview of how electricity needed to be sold in the early days (everyone used clotheslines before dryers and washed dishes by hand before dishwashers), which might seem unbelievable now, but definitely took some work back then.

…before we get into the cult of Reddy and the story of his battle with a knockoff, Willie Wiredhand, we should talk about why these mascots are important.

It’s funny to laugh at these weird, old animated figures, but they clearly meant something to the companies who used them. They were — first and foremost — effective marketing gimmicks. That should make us wonder: if electricity was so obviously great, as most technologists would contend, why did the utilities have to push it with lame mascots? Wasn’t it just, like, something people wanted?

Well, the investor-owned utilities in the cities and suburbs had a very specific task. They needed to promote electricity demand so they could justify building new plants. That was how they got paid, so they had to get people to abandon other ways of doing work and providing heating and cooling.

Hey now, Reddy wasn’t “lame!” He was just a little dorky.

On that note, here’s BrandlandUSA’s list of America’s Top 20 Advertising Mascots.

Smart power usage could save $120 billion

Bill — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:10:23 +0000

Something else from the Northwest, over at Dvorak Uncensored:

Technology to help Americans reduce electricity use when the grid is stressed could help utilities save $120 billion on spending for new power plants and transmission lines, government officials and researchers said on Wednesday after a study in the Pacific Northwest.

Use CFLs to Retire Reddy Kilowatt

Bill — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 01:17:22 +0000

Good advice for reducing electricity consumption:

Six months ago, a friend pressed on me a six-pack of compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. Odd little pig-tail curls, but they fit in standard light bulb places. He’s a retired electrician, so I listened.. I followed his advice, added some aggressiveness turning off unused lights and “vampire” rechargers and “instant on” appliances. And now, I’m looking at an electric bill showing my usage is half — 50% — of what it was a year ago.

80 years ago, Alabama Power created Reddy Kilowatt, the little lightning-bolt figure, to promote electricity usage. Not surprisingly, today the electric utilities are less interested in encouraging conservation than promoting consumption, but they had the sensitivity to retire Reddy Kilowatt years ago…

‘Milly Watt’ Research Yields New Approach to Managing Computer Electricity Use

Bill — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 12:08:07 +0000

Have a look at this ghastly adaptation of Reddy. Even if it’s for a good cause I have to say, um, yuck! :-)

Duke University computer scientists are developing a new approach to managing electric power use by computers. Their “Milly Watt” project not only promises to greatly increase the energy efficiency of computers, but alleviate the frustration of computer users who find their laptops or desktops abruptly shutting down because of drained batteries or unwanted “decisions” by the machinesÃ¢ power management software.