It is easy to take cheap, abundant, reliable electricity for granted. And it is easy to hold the presumption that it will always be available to run whatever equipment we have available. So you chain power strips together and keep plugging electrical devices in – i.e. ad infinitum.

However, there is a limit to how much current any one circuit will bear. I have discovered that the hard way. And there are places in the world where electricity is unreliable – also another personal discovery. What do you do?

We all need to be conservation minded about electricity. We need to only power up those devices that have a purpose, and not just leave everything running because it is convenient. A recent TV spot recommended disconnecting the cell phone charger when not in use. Sounds like a good idea. And we need to assess the load we are putting on circuits, lest we put them in an overloaded state (i.e. if you cause more electricity to flow through a wire than it was designed to carry, you increase the risk of fire.) Most powerstrips have a built in 15 amp circuit breaker, so that limits the number of devices on any one circuit – no matter how many powerstrips you chain together.

In foreign lands, electricity is not necessarily reliable. You can add surge protectors, UPSs, extra generators. However, you can not always guarantee that the electrons will flow reliably. You need to be conservation minded, and choose which devices to power when needed.