As I watch my new PowerCost Monitor, we can tell when the dryer is running; our normal $0.08/hour of usage spikes to $1.25 to $1.50/hour. Whoa. I will work on making line drying some our wash a possibility, but sometimes you need to use the dryer. I have seen two separate instances where cleaning a dryer vent speeds up drying time significantly, and therefore uses less electricity.
Danger!!
Have you had a vacation this summer? When I go, away, it’s usually exciting, different, fun, and interesting for a while. Maybe I’m just getting old and set in my ways, but after a while, a week or two, the novelty wears off and I start missing the comforts of home. Nothing beats that first night back in one’s own bed.
Change can be good, and exciting, and interesting, and beneficial. And it’s often a little painful. Some of us work in jobs we dislike, or accept marriages in which we’re unhappy, or accept other bad situations for years, even lifetimes, fearing change. Others tend to embrace change: thrill seekers who need to have their lives shaken up a little — I tend to change jobs, or change my role in a job frequently, lest I get complacent. To be honest, in the first few years of my marriage, I wondered if I would feel the same and decide to change, but it turns out that our marriage is a wonderfully changing and evolving relationship (we’re lucky, I guess).
But change is hard; you could see it as a fearful thing, or as a challenge, but either way, it’s hard. As we prepare for our vacation, I know I’ll be glad to be back to my regular bed when I get home. (more…)
Amazon Green
I hope they continue to make attempts to improve their shipping practices. They do claim that their packaging is “right sized” and mostly made of recycled materials, but they have to be able to do better. As one of the country’s (world?) leading online retailers, they should have some power.
Here’s my list of suggestions: (more…)
No Standby
Judging from the traffic I have been getting on that post, it seems that many others are having the same standby issues as I. And there are some other standby solutions I have found since then. I’ll try to keep updating this post, and I encourage anyone with other findings or questions to comment.
In my first tome post on why we need to act right away to address global warming, I argued that even if you don’t agree with the scientists, there’s still a case for acting now.
Only a few days after writing my epistle bit, I turned around to hear my lovely wife listening to a You Tube video that she had found. It sounded familiar. As it turns out, last fall, I came across this same piece — it’s hard to forget, and far, far (far) more amusing and convincing than anything I could ever write.
So if I was less than convincing or you were unable to follow my convoluted impeccable logic (or just fell asleep after chapter 27), try this one. Short and sweet.
My challenge to anyone: stop viewing the following after 50 seconds. (more…)
Tom's Gravatar
In a few recent posts I found myself digging ever deeper into websites claiming to have accurate scientific data on global warming. Just doing the search “global warming” on google brings up page after page of sites.
But who are they? Do they have an agenda, and if so, why?
That’s the problem with the web. Crackpots such as myself can run a website for less than $30/month, and anyone who wants can sound authoritative. Not a high barrier to entry. So how do you tell who’s who?
Follow the money.
Check out this document: ExxonMobil’s form 990-PF, which lists all the money they got from private and corporate donors for their 501(c)(3) called the ExxonMobil Foundation.
WikiPedia describes such organizations as “operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes, or to foster national or international amateur sports competition, or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals”. They cannot “influence elections”, and have limitations on their right to lobby for specific legislation. In other words, they can SwiftBoat your ass.
Ok, look, ExxonMobil does some good things with their foundation, I am sure. But if you saw the name of a person, or their company on this list, then saw them arguing against global warming, or for offshore drilling, it tends to throw a little question into the mix. Even if you don’t agree with this, it makes for interesting reading.
This Spring and Summer, oil prices spiked. They got our attention. Boy did they get our attention!
But prices are falling again, and are now down. This is good.
So why are lower prices good? The recent oil price spike has done what it can to wake us up. We need a respite; a chance to calm down, and a chance to see that the oil market is doing what markets do. They go up, they go down. When things are clear and investors are confident, markets respond calmly. When there’s a surprise, markets over-react, then settle. When there’s general nervousness, they become volatile and hard to predict. (more…)
Environmental Defense is a very solid organization, despite a name that might suggest radicalism. Who knows, maybe it is “radical”. But mostly, I believe they have good ideas, and solid, defensible positions. When they asked
Tell us your ideas—big and small—for how you, your family, and our country can rethink the way we live and work in a time when oil doesn’t come cheap.
here’s how I responded. (more…)
No Senator, we’re not. However inflating our tires will help a great deal more over the next ten years than will, for example, drilling for oil offshore.
Here’s a case for action, now for those people who may be skeptical about global warming, or whether it’s caused by humans, or whether there’s anything we can do about it.
First, I think we need to agree on at least one point, to wit: there is a valid, if unresolved, theory being investigated by many scientists relating to global warming. By “valid”, I mean that it’s not a conspiracy or hoax, it’s not some horrible manifestation of group-think, and there are at least some scientists with reasonable methods and credentials who either have done studies, or have reviewed those of others.
If we cannot agree on this point, then I would certainly be interested in seeing any indications that this is not true. Without agreement, though, there’s no need to read further.
Still with me? Then here goes:
Science is equivocal by nature. There’s always a debate. I won’t characterize that debate here; you can read my previous post.
Some reasonable number of climate scientists believe, based on their studies or reviews of others’:
You do not have to agree with these conclusions. And that word, “catastrophic” carries some baggage — in this case, I mean that there will be catastrophes (major floods, fires, storms, etc) that significantly disrupt the way people live across the planet. (more…)
Yes. Global Warming is a hoax, and I can prove it. Please take a moment to carefully read numerous postings from the International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC). More come every day. Each is backed with a link to an article by a scientist, showing why various claims are wrong, or pointing out flaws.
For example, Professor Bob Carter asserts in The Age that a green paper published by the climate minister of Australia has seven scientific errors.
The first sentence of the opening section of her paper, entitled “Why we need to act”, contains seven scientific errors — almost one error for every two words.
Here is the sentence: “Carbon pollution is causing climate change, resulting in higher temperatures, more droughts, rising sea levels and more extreme weather.”
The article continues, enumerating the seven errors. It’s worth reading, I think, as I think it helps me understand why there continues to be a debate amongst scientists about the realities of global warming and the veracity of claims made by various bodies. (more…)
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