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Earth Hour -Who's in?
- Thread starter bentalphanerd
- Start date
Bent, my understanding of ecological air conditioning is not so much about getting the Fujitsu and not the General Electric, but more in relation to house design etc. Is this your understanding?
The coolest place when I lived in a really hot place (NW of West Aust.) was in the old homestead, which used the principle of hot air rising to about 30ft up in a high pitch roofed iron building.
Also, the use of deciduous trees on the north side of a home (in the southern hemisphere -- reverse for northern) to protect from solar heat in summer, and to assist in warming the house in winter can aid in less energy use
RS
The coolest place when I lived in a really hot place (NW of West Aust.) was in the old homestead, which used the principle of hot air rising to about 30ft up in a high pitch roofed iron building.
Also, the use of deciduous trees on the north side of a home (in the southern hemisphere -- reverse for northern) to protect from solar heat in summer, and to assist in warming the house in winter can aid in less energy use
RS
Pam said:
Not that I know of. My house came with full split system air-com/heating & I just pulled the fuse straight away.
Theres probably things out there being trialled.
My ground floor is set under the ground level a few inches & tiled...it stays nice & cool through summer.
RS - my upstairs was built in 1880...mega ceilings & lots of flow through drafts. Works a treat.
Producing electricity seems to be the answer to so much of this, and all you need for that is to make something spin & turn a DC motor & drag the power off onto a battery. It sounds so simple.
JESUS CH!!! I have done a 180 and do accept you and respect your opinions....once I have distilled them from your enormous posts. That said. From a friend. Your need to poo poo everything is causing people not to listen to you. You offered an opinion. Bent declined to agree with you, that should have been the end of it.
I am in Bent, although I didn't know that Chicago was a major capital lol.
+1 on producing electricity.
Wind or solar production could more than offset any inefficient system.
I am in Bent, although I didn't know that Chicago was a major capital lol.
+1 on producing electricity.
Wind or solar production could more than offset any inefficient system.
ring sting said:
Yeah, the house I lived in down town had been built around 1900. High ceilings, open rooms, big front porch, and a high crawl space. It was an easily cooled house, but equally hard to heat in the winter. And, although mild, our winters do require some heating, even discounting my weenie, whiny aversion to the cold.
Our newspaper's home section published two articles in the same addition, one on how to plant for energy efficiency, and another on how to improve home security. It was funny, but the articles offered opposite advice. Like, one suggested growing vines along the southern side of the house, or deciduous trees, like you suggested. The other talked about *cutting down vines, shrubs, and trees that shaded the house* so no one could hide in them.
I do have two live oaks on the south western end of the house that block a lot of the afternoon sun. They're not deciduous, though, and they're really too big to be where they are. They need to come down, but I hate to lose that protection. It'll be years before another tree could grow to half that size.
Cool on that cheezydemon. CH just has a hard time getting any cred.
Solar while being a step very much in the right direction is also very lame in so much as the amount of mining needed to produce it coupled with its efficiency which is around 10% in the best, most expensive models.
{having photons pass through a substance & hoping they hit the right way to knock out an electron onto a conductive material is by its very design...hit & miss}
Making a wheel spin is really the best option so far.
Solar while being a step very much in the right direction is also very lame in so much as the amount of mining needed to produce it coupled with its efficiency which is around 10% in the best, most expensive models.
{having photons pass through a substance & hoping they hit the right way to knock out an electron onto a conductive material is by its very design...hit & miss}
Making a wheel spin is really the best option so far.
Can't you just wait till the next tornado and rebuild on the other side of them?
bentalphanerd said:
You're a better man then I!
As I've mentioned, I'm a real whiner about cold. I do keep the heat turned down, but I hate every minute of it! Keeping the AC turned higher (76F) is easier, and since it takes the worst of the humidity out of the air, it's very comfortable.
That does sound nice. The house I'm in now just wasn't built with energy efficiency in mind. It was built in the fifties, and who cared about efficiency back then? We were supposed to have nuclear generators for the house and flying cars!
I'm still annoyed, btw, that I don't have a flying car.
Wind power is about nil around here, which is why I'm so interested in solar. Passive solar to help with heating in the winter, and solar panels to offset cooling costs. Right now, the solar systems I've been able to locate for the home would run me around $25,000. I've read about some break throughs in solar panel technology and efficiency recently, so I'm hoping they'll make getting the systems doable sometime in the near future.
Solar seems to be what we'll all have in the foreseeable future...probably because of its links to mining & therefore big biz, but there it is.
easy way to start is to change your lighting over. You'll see in your fuse box a separate circuit for lights. change your bulbs over, work out how much power all your lights are using & buy the equivalent panel, batteries, inverter. It'll probably only take 1 panel & half dozen batteries. Get an electrician to put a switch & input in to that fuse box circuit. It'll only be 10% of your total bill but its a start & 10% you'll never have to pay again.
solar panels will get cheaper, probably from the chinese, keep checking the prices.
D.C motors on the other hand are available all the time from ald factories being gutted & auctioned. A good size DC motor, get some props made & bolted on....have your own wind power.
Batteries are still a huge issue. Lead. ugly stuff. Marine Batteries are great for the $$ price, Sealed Gel even better. Get what you can afford for now. All this stuff will get cheaper over time, but watch the open cut mining cost.
nighty night everyone, I'll try to keep up with this tomorrow
well done
easy way to start is to change your lighting over. You'll see in your fuse box a separate circuit for lights. change your bulbs over, work out how much power all your lights are using & buy the equivalent panel, batteries, inverter. It'll probably only take 1 panel & half dozen batteries. Get an electrician to put a switch & input in to that fuse box circuit. It'll only be 10% of your total bill but its a start & 10% you'll never have to pay again.
solar panels will get cheaper, probably from the chinese, keep checking the prices.
D.C motors on the other hand are available all the time from ald factories being gutted & auctioned. A good size DC motor, get some props made & bolted on....have your own wind power.
Batteries are still a huge issue. Lead. ugly stuff. Marine Batteries are great for the $$ price, Sealed Gel even better. Get what you can afford for now. All this stuff will get cheaper over time, but watch the open cut mining cost.
nighty night everyone, I'll try to keep up with this tomorrow
well done
Sorry for my ignorance, how is solar linked to mining?
Also I saw an awesome invention that harnessed waves to produce electricity, but my guess is that beach front property is too expensive.
Also I saw an awesome invention that harnessed waves to produce electricity, but my guess is that beach front property is too expensive.
bentalphanerd said:
But we don't have the wind. Really, I've looked at the maps, and this part of the country is a no go on wind power. Even the light breezes are not consistent enough for me to make the investment. Remember, I can't do this work myself, I have to pay someone with the know how to get the correct sort of engine, attach the prop, and hook it into the house grid somehow.
This is all valid, but what's the alternative? Do nothing?
bentalphanerd said:
what pollution from power plants ? (other than coal power plants)
please correct me where I'm wrong here.
hydroelectric power plants dont pollute the air.
wind turbines dont pollute the air.
nuclear power plants dont pollute the air, far as I know they just give off steam.
alot of people get their electricity from those power plants. & since they do they're not polluting the air by using that electricity
so what evil group of people are you trying to send a message to ? that they pollute the air. I think you pick the wrong energy source or types of companies in general.
you say the only thing poeple will understand is through their pocket book $$. well I dont think anyone is gonna notice saving .20 cents or less for that 1 hour.
like its been mentioned already. change your ways, buy efficient products, update your house to be more efficient (insulation,windows,mechanical,etc...) make smarter choices on the everyday things you need to buy so theres less waste,etc...... the list can go on & on
doing stuff like that will send a powerful message vs turning your lights off for 1 hour, but if it makes you feel like you did your part to make the world a cleaner & better place for that 1 hour, thats good to hear.
cheezy - yea I went on about some stuff, all I can do is laugh too, my only excuse was being drunk & just rattled on
but you know what i'm talking about the gas deal.
like not buying gas on just 1 day of the year is supposed to send a message to the oil companys
how ? when you just fill your tank up the day before or fill it up the next day.so what message was sent ? the only message was to the gas stations, they didnt make as much money that 1 day but made up for that lost of revenue the next day.
imaguitargod said:
No, it's not. Not buying gas for one day doesn't accomplish anything, most people don't buy gas everyday, I certainly don't. Cutting the amount of gas we use by driving more fuel efficient cars and driving less are what works.
However, both the purpose and the result of Earth Hour will be different. Most people *do* use electric lights everyday, they won't stock up before Earth Hour, or use extra after Earth Hour. If enough people join, there will be a perceptible drop in use.
The idea, however,is not to scare the power companies into cutting their rates, but to raise awareness of non-extreme steps we can all take to cut overall power consumption. And to get more people involved in the effort. Humans are herd beasts underneath it all; get enough people moving in one direction, get some momentum going, and it's easier to get even more people involved. Once they learn that small changes that don't significantly impact their life style can make a difference, they're more open to trying yet more small changes. And it is very empowering to find you have some control over that which you thought was uncontrollable.
How mataeological of you.
Omri said:
A quarter of the CO2 emissions world wide come from power plants. Only about 17% of power generated world wide comes from nuclear power plants. I couldn't find any world wide figures on hydro, but only 7 to 8% of electricity in the US comes from hydro. Canada is the Big Dawg world wide on hydro, with some 60% of its power coming from hydroelectric plants.
Just to throw a few figures out there...
Count me in Bent. We get so many power cuts in my village when it's windy anyway I won't notice much difference. Had a power cut only yesterday.