Guest guest Posted July 22, 2008 Report Share Posted July 22, 2008 Honestly, JW, we are going to compute our expected longevity and expected consumption of chandelier lights, and go buy up a bunch. I have no intention of replacing all my lights when I can't get bulbs to fit. If there are bulbs left over when we die, our children can sell them and make a fortune! BTW, the Democrats passed the legislation banning incandescent lights, and Pres Bush signed it. Neither of them thought of all the mercury that will go into land fills. Pick your villain. Yeah, it's a great country. No one bans certain Internet sites, no one tells me what doctors I can see, no one determines the size of my family and on and on and on. And every time they pass a new law, we have new entrepreneurial opportunities! Val From: hyperaldosteronism [mailto:hyperaldosteronism ] On Behalf Of jwwright Is this a great country or what? We COULD buy up all the incandescents and sell them at garage sales. Regards ----- Original Message ----- From: Valarie Unfortunately, the " fad " that will make incandescent bulbs unavailable in 2012 is embedded in federal statute. In reality, the Internet makes commerce possible and stupid laws irrelevant. When the US bans incandescent bulbs, the Chinese will be happy to produce them. When the US regulates oil trading enough, American capital markets will just move overseas. Its all very simple. When an oil " speculator " makes a dollar on oil futures, another " speculator " loses a dollar. Oddly, the politicians have missed that minor point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2008 Report Share Posted July 23, 2008 Recall, Jimmy got a law passed to use the metric system. We just avoided those gas stations that sold by liter. They also insisted gov't contractors use ADA prog language, and A/C temps of 80 deg, and several other things. those all went away. We adapted. Things change, and then back again, as if our generation never thought of things before. I live on a dirt road, and I'm fighting to keep it that way to keep the city people out of my " Waldron " . All they do is mow. I'm planning to dish the dish and go back to a TV antenna as soon as I find a 60 ft mast. Regards RE: Now totally OT Honestly, JW, we are going to compute our expected longevity and expected consumption of chandelier lights, and go buy up a bunch. I have no intention of replacing all my lights when I can't get bulbs to fit. If there are bulbs left over when we die, our children can sell them and make a fortune! BTW, the Democrats passed the legislation banning incandescent lights, and Pres Bush signed it. Neither of them thought of all the mercury that will go into land fills. Pick your villain. Yeah, it's a great country. No one bans certain Internet sites, no one tells me what doctors I can see, no one determines the size of my family and on and on and on. And every time they pass a new law, we have new entrepreneurial opportunities! Val Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 24, 2008 Report Share Posted July 24, 2008 Our geothermal works beautifully. We've been keeping the inside at 70 degrees this summer. It is wonderful for my increasingly bad sweats. Winter is comfortably warm. We have a geothermal field 130 ft by 30ft x 6-8 ft deep. Also high ground water (6 ft) that makes geothermal work better. While our geothermal field is horizontal, they can also be made vertical. We have heating and cooling with very little any energy consumption other than from the solar we produce. Our carbon footprint is small to nonexistent. Right now, we're paying $11.20/month for the hookup to natural gas for the fireplace and are seriously considering changing that over to propane. The investment in solar would be totally without economic justification if Colorado didn't have a major rebate system. The primary public utility company here (Xcel) decided that the way to meet the 20% Constitutional requirement of alternative energy was to pay people to install solar systems. Our system cost about $56,000 and Xcel paid us just over $50,000. That's the only way solar can be justified on an economic basis. Had we hired all the work done, the cost would have been much higher and the pay-back period would have been too long to make the system economically justifiable, even with the rebate. Whoever can invent an economical, efficient solar panel/system will be a wealthy woman/man. Val From: hyperaldosteronism [mailto:hyperaldosteronism ] On Behalf Of jwwright Another engr and I fully evaluated, several times how to get enough energy in a remote location, and it always came down to a diesel generator. Use the exhaust heat to heat home and water. Funny thing, an internal combustion engine is a better heat producer than anything else. The electric you get for free. The investment in solar, batteries, wind all require a gimmick. You either live in a place where you get the energy or not. Most not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 24, 2008 Report Share Posted July 24, 2008 Well, CO is different country - cool, low humidity. We need the sun for reheat, otherwise the inside would grow stuff. Another engr and I fully evaluated, several times how to get enough energy in a remote location, and it always came down to a diesel generator. Use the exhaust heat to heat home and water. Funny thing, an internal combustion engine is a better heat producer than anything else. The electric you get for free. The investment in solar, batteries, wind all require a gimmick. You either live in a place where you get the energy or not. Most not. The only new tech is if they could make a 70% efficient solar panel that didn't cost 1000$ per square foot. Best I can do is paint the roof white, where the neighbors can't see it. An example, Walmart had just finished a display of their plasma TV's, and I questioned the e cost, which was no where to be found. That made me suspicious and I found the LCD's was far better. The cost of running the plasma was 14$ per month. That's how close I track stuff. So they dumped the plasma stuff. Regards RE: Now totally OT Speaking of being a hermit and seeing opportunity where it presents itself, we just built a house heated and cooled with geothermal. We have a 9.6 kw solar system. Our electric meter runs backwards during the day (but not as fast as it runs forward when the sun doesn't shine). The solar system was paid for primarily by the poor people and apartment dwellers of Colorado because of a state government mandate that the power company produce 20% of its electricity from alternative sources. I didn't vote for it but surely appreciate the opportunity to have a free lunch. The geothermal heating and cooling is wonderful and has a payback period of about five years. We're keeping the inside temp at 70 this summer which is really fine for the sweats I'm having. Val Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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