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I opted to put my laundry out in the backyard as opposed to dryer......whattaya know on this glorious 99 degree day it dryed the cloths in a 1/3 of the time.
I am also changing all my lights to Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs.
If every household in the U.S. replaced one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL), it would prevent enough pollution to equal removing one million cars from the road. CFLs provide high-quality light, smart technology, and design, requiring less energy while lasting longer than typical incandescent bulbs.
-------------------- "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" Posts: 4005 | From: Shaolin | Registered: Oct 2005
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Took out the circut breaker for the kids room now she can't leave the light on all day.
Posts: 3417 | From: Cleveland, Ohio | Registered: Jan 2000
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I would like to make my house utility company FREE...not only for $ purposes...but for the independence of being at their mercy! Or even in a time of outtages.
When was the last time you heard of Con Ed or Keysapn lowering their prices? They never will! I dont care how many resources they stumble on in the future. Everybodys gouging across the board and im sick of it.
Theres so many more advantages then meets the eye..my favorite would be telling the Sauds F off we dont need your oil
Next on list....WOOD BURNING STOVE or i could just go with baseboard elec...nahhhhh i like the way a vintage wood burner looks
-------------------- "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" Posts: 4005 | From: Shaolin | Registered: Oct 2005
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We have become so dependant on these companys....they could quadruple there prices and what could we do....
My brother inlaw spends a nice chunk of his check in fuel commutting to work every day...i feel bad for him cause hes praying they lower gas and I know it aint hapnin...well its gonna go alot higher first
-------------------- "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" Posts: 4005 | From: Shaolin | Registered: Oct 2005
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Many can't afford to live anywhere near where they work. I was pulling in $80k at an engineering job about five years ago. I still had to commute an hour to and from work as the real estate and rent prices were out of reach anywhere closer.
-------------------- "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
- Benjamin Franklin Posts: 3898 | Registered: Dec 2005
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Solar panels are good. Solar water heaters can be good too.
I want a big windmill personally. But I gotta get the land to put it on first.
Methane converters are getting a lot of attention too. Finally a place to put all that cow sh*t and make it work for you! They've had a lot of stories in the papers around here about dairy farms moving to converters and opening up whole new revenue streams for farmers.
Honestly...I almost want big business to stay out of the renewable resource game a while longer. Gives the few small farms left a chance to get the foot in the door to help themselves stay alive.
-------------------- No longer eligible for government service due to lack of tax issues. Posts: 5178 | From: Up North | Registered: Dec 2005
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I have forgotten the numbers, but a suprising percentage the cost of energy (usually electricity) is actually the moving of it from the supplier to the user (usually electric transmission lines) and the maintainence of that transportations system.
It becomes obvious quickly upon consideration that the simple act of not having an energy provider would lower the cost of energy dramatically. Certainly, though, those businesses that now supply our energy and those in the business of transporting it are NOT going to want that to become the norm. (There is also a significant saving due to loss of energy during transportation vs. a system that does not require transportation of the energy.)
What is needed is a scheme that produces the energy that is needed on site and that provideds the user with a non-poluting source of energy that is itself non-poluting. The savings from not having to pay the cost of transporting the energy from a provider to a user wound, over time, pay for the initioal cost of installation.
Such a system can be hypothesized as a combination of solar and wind generated electricity, NOT used directly but, first, as a source of separating the hydrogen and oxygen of the water molecule, then, those gases stored rather than storing electricity in expensive batteries, second, and then, third, the hydrogen feeding fuel cells for the actual energy to use.
It produces no grenhouse gasses, relies on no outside energy sources, and leaves behind no noxous or dangerous waste.
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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Why stop at cow sh*t? There's an endless supply of human waste as well. Take a dump, power your porch light!
quote:Originally posted by Sasquatch: Solar panels are good. Solar water heaters can be good too.
I want a big windmill personally. But I gotta get the land to put it on first.
Methane converters are getting a lot of attention too. Finally a place to put all that cow sh*t and make it work for you! They've had a lot of stories in the papers around here about dairy farms moving to converters and opening up whole new revenue streams for farmers.
Honestly...I almost want big business to stay out of the renewable resource game a while longer. Gives the few small farms left a chance to get the foot in the door to help themselves stay alive.
-------------------- "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
- Benjamin Franklin Posts: 3898 | Registered: Dec 2005
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I don't go into the mountains and back woods anymore because my knee won't let me, but when I used to, I packed in a plastic watering can, the kind meant for sprinkling flowers. Fill it with water from a cold mountaain stream and set it the sun for a couple of hours, then tie it over head by the handle and.......hot shower!
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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Although I like the thought, Gordon, I don't think that is a good idea. The minute you pass such a regulation, the "regulators" will decide to "define "solar panel" and we will end up with someone's brother-in-law's business telling them that what the business sells is a "solar Panel"
There are extensive research results proving that with a pile of rocks and some sort of "sheeting" to contain and direct the heat (plastic, aluminum foil, even old wooden shiplap) it is possible to keep a house, anywhere in the country, heated through the winter via solar heat. (In one of my previous lives, I did a thourough study and produced a map of the "recoverable" solar and wind energy potentials in the contiguous 48. Away from absolute mountain tops (I could not obtain data there), there is plenty of usable solar and wind energy, just about anywhere.)
It certainly would be possible, with modern technology, to replace standard roofing shingles with plyable plastic solar cells that would be installed much as shingles are now, would last the same amount of time, and, with mass production, cost about the same as the shingles, while supplying the building with sufficient electricity to match or exceed most needs.
But would such roofing meet some law-maker's definition of a "solar panel"?
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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what legislation could do is frame the context in energy-audit terms: "structure A capable of producing x watts of power" with "y minimum load." ( In other words, not able to buy a series of conventional generators and meet requirements that way. ) Then let folks meet the requirements with products/innovation of their choosing.
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Yep, and there also is siding and window panes and so on and so forth.
It is important, though, to avoid the temptation to "store" the electricity in batteries with present day battery technology. Present day batteries are really 19th century devices and extremely inefficient and poluting.
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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