In the northern hemisphere, it gets dark outside as early as 5-6pm during the fall-winter. In olden days, people got up at dawn and went to bed shortly after it became dark in the evening-- between 7-8pm most people went to sleep. Today, however, we have many activities during daylight hours and so must continue our work during the evening. Below is a beginning list of the ways our lives would not be the same if we had no electricity:
- We'd still be using candles, which would require us to make candles at home.
- We might use gas lights (after 1880s), but risk fires and deaths.
- We'd still be beating carpets and rugs with a wire racket outside.
- We'd have to rely on manually bringing water into our homes---no treatment plants and no pumps.
- There'd be more risk of contaminated water--no treatment plants.
- Speaking of treatment plants, without those, we'd still use out-houses for toilets.
- All household chores would need to be done during daylight hours.
- We wouldn't enjoy physical safety going out because without lights we could trip, fall, etc.
- Studies and schooling would be much harder.
- More people's eyesight would suffer from reading in low light.
- We wouldn't have manufacturing or jobs.
- Mining would be set back 100 years, with using mules and donkeys.
- Oil production would suffer.
- Home heating would rely on coal, possibly gas, if we figured out how to get it from underground. If you never lived with a coal fired furnace, let me say, it is a lot of work every 2 to 4 hours just to keep warm.
- We wouldn't have electric rail, mass transit. We'd be set back to before the electric streetcar.
- No television.
- No computers or computer devices.
- No ipads.
- No stereos, Boom Boxes, other electrical devices that play music.
- No telephones.
- No DvDs, CDs, on Demand TV, or recording TV programs.
- Without electricity, manufacturing would not have developed. So, no batteries, generators, etc.
- Heat! We'd swelter in summers with no fans, no AC.
- Because there'd be no pumps to bring water to homes, we'd have to tote water to bathtubs--- lots of people would be stinky because bathing would be too much of a chore.
- Of course, without manufacturing, we wouldn't have the assortment of clothing, coats, and shoes!
- We wouldn't have washers and dryers--- lots of hand washed laundry and hanging it out to dry in the sun.
- Of course, we'd be dependent on weather! Clothes can't dry outside in a snowstorm!
- Without electricity, many machines would never have been invented. As one example, we'd be back to using a pedal sewing machine or hand sewing, or using a pedal powered organ or pitch pipe for singing.
- Look around your town, and mentally make an X over anything that requires electric.
- Look around your home and outside. Write down all the things that use electric to operate.
