The Touchwood Project

We’re up to over 100 people participating in the Power Off Weekend coming up Friday night, with 46 families officially signed up through our Facebook event page or who have emailed us directly to join in.

We are asking participants to take a survey before and after the event so that we would like to understand a bit more about:

• why people are participating
• what they’re worried about and
• what they hope to get from the weekend

If you’ve signed up to turn off the electricity this weekend but haven’t yet taken it, please take the survey now (it’s quick) here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XJP2H5B

We’ve gotten some great replies already, and I’d like to share what people are writing.

Why are you doing it?

We asked people to choose the single biggest reason they’re doing this. 62% chose “for the environment”, 25% “for fun” and 12.5% as a “personal challenge”.

What are you worried about?

The funny thing is, people don’t seem to be worried.

We asked people to rate on a scale of “Not at all” to “Extremely” in terms of how they feel about the upcoming weekend, and 62.5% said “Not at all” for “Anxious”, with 25% “A little” and 12.5% “Somewhat”. No one put down either “A lot” or “Extremely” for anxious.

In fact, people felt “Extremely” “Free” (37.5%), “Excited” (62.5%), and “Proud” (50%).

To be honest, I expected a little more anxiety and a little less enthusiasm, but I’m so glad that there’s such a feeling of optimism and excitement.

It’s like we’re planning a big slumber party and can’t wait for the weekend.

What do you hope to get from the experience?

Here’s two of my favourite quotes so far:

An understanding of how we use electricity in this house and where we can easily cut our usage to offer economies both financially and ecologically. I hope that it will be an exciting adventure and may bring back some fond childhood memories. I am sure it will be a fun experience for all the family.

It will be a challenge to do without the convenience that electricity provides and the entertainment and means of communication that it powers. Living on my own this is pretty important to me, but I hope to be inspired to reduce energy usage from now on and to be more sociable.

What are you doing to prepare?

I’ve just gotten back from party at the grocery store, having seized the opportunity of a lift offered by my friend Victoria. I’ve got butteries (a Scottish pastry kind of like flat croissants), bread and cheddar for making toasted cheese sandwiches, and more chocolate and peanut butter to make a new batch of Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls for all the guests we’re having stop by this weekend.

We’ve got at least 3 different families coming by to check out life without electricity, and from what I’m hearing from other participants, it’s become quite a social hub for many.

Here’s what some others are doing:

Made sure the alladin lamps have kerosene, brought up plenty of firewood, gased up the generator and launched a Power Off campaign at Frankston isd…Looking forward to painting, reading & snuggling by lamplight- it’s been awhile.

Running down on frozen food.
Getting candles in.
Dusting off some old board games.

I have been busy preparing meals from the stuff in our freezer that will be easy to reheat on our camping gas stove. Organising candles and oil lamps. Chatting to people about the challenge to get their ideas and thoughts. Planning games and activities to keep us amused.

We’re really pleased, proud and excited to have so many people doing this with such imagination and flair. Thank you to all of you for making this event a success before we’ve even done it!

December 11 - 13, 2009

Tags: Poweroff, survey

Trackback URI | Comments RSS