Renewable energy

I spent most of yesterday cutting down a tree limb on the big oak tree in front of Rancho de BCP. The limb made the tree look a little off balance. But, the real reason I decided to cut it down was it's removal would allow more early morning sun winter sun to come streaming in to the house. Once the I finish cutting the limb up it and it's branches will be used to fuel my Franklin wood stove to further provide heat in the house. A few more dollars in MY pocket and a few less sent to the gas company. And I've got a number of other trees that need trimming too.

2007: A big story you might have missed. I did.

I am not sure how I missed this story but, being a sailor to me it is big news! 2007 was an historic year because the first transatlantic passage by solar power was achieved. It seems to have been covered by most of the major news organizations (at least online) but, I guess Brittany Spears probably got more air time. Anyway you can read about this historic crossing here and here and there are some great clips on You Tube also. This is big news! The kind of big news that the big oil companies want you to forget about as soon as possible.

Saving energy? Not in the Senate.

An article in today's Washington Post points out that the Senate is about to fold on the new energy bill. Here are the money quotes:

"Democratic leaders in the Senate are planning a vote on a retooled energy bill late next week after they failed to muster enough support yesterday to prevent a filibuster of ambitious legislation passed by the House on Thursday. "

"A new version of the bill will probably scale back some elements of the House's tax package and jettison a requirement that electric utilities use renewable energy for 15 percent of their power generation, but a White House veto threat citing a broad range of objections continued to cast uncertainty over the ultimate fate of the proposed legislation. "

Hmmm Why would anybody in this country not want our utilities to use even a small amount of renewable energy?

"The failure to close debate was a victory for the major oil companies, Southeastern utilities and coal-mining firms that had opposed the legislation. "

Doh! Forget I even asked the question.

Speaking of energy

The natural gas meter for my house is located inside my house. Because my life keeps me on the go quite a bit it seems I have never been home when the meter reader comes by. So it has been a long time since the meter was read. So I went to Gas utilities website a few days later to see what the bill would be. Since I have modified my 1980's installed solar hot water system to provide heat for the house I figured that the gas company's estimated billing should give me some savings. They still had an estimated bill number for the account balance. Strange I thought the meter readers updated numbers should have been entered by now. So I tried to enter the actual gas meter numbers my self. The Gas Company's computer kicked it back saying: "According to our projections regarding usage you should have a reading of 1120-1175 ( my actual reading was 848). It refused to believe the numbers so i had to call a talk to a person and explain I have modified my solar hot water panels to provide heat into the house and have also made other solar and energy efficient changes to my fifty year old house to help heat it. She finally entered the new numbers into the computer and I receive a new updated bill with a $650 credit. Kaching! Houston you do have a problem because I have only begun to make energy efficient modifications to the rancho de BCP. My personal energy plan is about more money in my pocket and less heading to Houston and Saudi Arabia. Stay tuned!

Greening our schools with green from our wallets?

I spend much as much of my time as I can during the summer on a sailboat in the waters around Long Island. I am very much involved and aware of the natural surroundings and live with a small footprint and green with my solar panels, no air conditioning etc...but I am still able to enjoy a cold beer. When I am forced back to land I continue to keep my lifestyle the same. The solar panels that were on the boat are taken down and used to drive fans that pump solar heated air around the house. Helping my personal energy policy know as SST (starving the Saudis and Texans) it is working pretty good and every year I improve on my efficiency.
While I do practice energy efficiency in my daily life as much as possible. I am a little suspect of the recent buzz about "greening our schools". I am suspect about organizations that have as an action plan "Form a committee". Pretty soon all kinds of organizations and businesses are piling on spending money for the sake of "going green". Saving energy in homes and schools often does not require alot of money especially taxpayers money which seems is easier to spend for those in school districts than their own. As I move back on land I will be posting on this blog some of the things I do around Rancho BCP to save energy and money. They are not expensive and do help to save money, energy and the planet and you don't need to join a committee to do them.

Time for new energy

As the summer winds down the Washington Post has an article about some companies exploring new clean energy technologies. I am reminded it is time for me to think about ramping up the BCP energy plan for winter. I'll be posting about it from time to time in the near future.

Save your energy President Bush

While George Bush was out visiting the latest example of our failing U.S. infrastructure with his dog and pony show. The House passed an energy bill that would among other things require utilities to get 15% of their energy from renewable sources like solar and wind. But our clueless President George Bush threatened a veto because the bill did not encourage increased drilling for oil. Ah, Mr President that is the point of using renewable energy in the first place.

I got your energy plan. Right here!

Two influential House Democrats backed away yesterday from proposals that had split members of their party and delayed debate on energy legislation that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has vowed to pass before July 4.-Washington Post

What a surprise! This is why I don't wait for Washington to solve the country's energy problems. I have my own energy policy which is to keep as much money in my pocket and put less into the wallets of the Texans and Saudis. And it is working! In fact sometimes to much. This week the BCP energy plan is to cover up the solar panels on the roof because the sun is causing too much heat to be contained in the storage tank. That is my energy plan this week.

Krauthammer is half right.

It was 8 degrees Fahrenheit outside of Rancho de BCP here on Long Island this morning. It is cold but, a reality check of the calender shows that it is winter. Of course energy is on my mind today. Energy is also on the mind that neo-con thinker Charles Krauthammer in his column in the Washington Post today too.
Krauthammer has it half right. He calls for a tax on gasoline to raise it to about $4.00 which would help to discourage Americans buying over sized gas guzzeling SUV's as they make trips to go get milk or the visit to the mall. Maybe then there would be less American blood being spilled in places like Iraq in order to make sure there is no oil left behind for America's oil guzzling bender. One of the areas where Krauthammer fails is in his promotion of nuclear power, Krauthammer obviously has not read the memo. But, also more importantly Krauthammer makes no mention of one of the most abundant energy sources on earth and that is solar and wind. Conservatives like Krauthammer always seem to forget about these energy sources even though probably it is the most renewable resource as the sun comes up every morning. Perhaps another reason is because once solar takes hold there won't be a continuing revenue stream for their cronies in the corporate offices.

Unlike U.S. energy policy Rancho de BCP uses a variety of sources to heat it's interior. When I wake up I open the blinds to allow the east facing windows to let in the warm morning sun to allow some of that free energy to start the heating up the house. Today, because of the low temperature after I started making the coffee I lit a fire in the fireplace. The fireplace is actually a cast iron Franklin stove centrally located in the house that radiates heat to the living room and up stairs rooms. It is fueled by the tree limbs and wood gathered over the year from the quarter acre rancho de BCP. It is also fueled by the paper junk mail, newspapers that come in the mailbox. Those tree limbs and junk mail never end up in the local landfill they are put to use adding BTU's to the house which also keeps dollars in my wallet.

After the fireplace and morning sun have taken care of the early morning warm up. The two hot water solar panels I installed back in the mid eighties take over and through my conversion scheme actually pumps air heated of about 90 to 115 degrees into the house. Only after all these energy sources have done all they could do I turn to natural gas for heating. There are still plenty of energy improvements I need to make to make things even more efficient that allow me to tell the energy companies to shove it and I am not waiting for the Federal government to help me do them.