This is the 39th posting to this blog.
Again, I have let quite a bit of time pass between blog postings. It is that time of year when there a lot of things going on, and I must say that I have been blessed to be invited to some nice social events. One of these events was a birthday party for one of my close friends. It was a great party, and we all had a lot of fun, but there was a lot of garbage generated. Plastic plates, utensils and cups are really convenient, but they leave a nasty environmental mess. Since it was not my duty to host the party, I kept my mouth shut.
I also enjoyed a small dinner party with three friends. There were on plastic plates or utensils there, but there was a very tasty roast. I have been doing well to avoid most meat products lately, but it is hard to pass on a well-cooked prime rib.
A party that I attended last night was fairly environmentally responsible. Stoneware plates, stainless steel utensils, and real glasses were used even though there were about 35 people there. I must commend Jeffery and Todd for not succumbing to the ease of disposable party ware.
On the transportation front, I have put some mileage on the van the past two weeks. I drove to St. Cloud to pick up some angle iron, and I drove Kenny and myself to that birthday party in Altamonte Springs. By coincidence, both trips were 55 miles each. With the van running so well, I figure that the total CO2 output for both trips to be about 85 pounds. I have been riding the Honda scooter a lot also, and probably put out about 25 or 30 pounds per week of CO2 from that. I have been also using the e-scooter for short trips, and have been using up the old batteries.
We have been very lucky with the mild, sunny weather lately, and power use is very low. My last power bill was $ 16.11 for a record low use of 53 KWh for the month. I only drove the truck eight miles last month, and that accounts for some of the savings of power. Since the meter was last read, use continues to be quite low. In 11 days, there has only been 19 KWh taken from the grid. Gotta love this nice weather!
Although I only generate a small bit of trash for the landfill at home, I do still have some issues with disposable napkins and utensils at restaurants. Today, for example, I am sitting at Panera, and drinking coffee while writing this blog. There is a napkin on my table with two (soon to be more) empty sugar packets and a plastic stir stick on it. This may not seem like much, but it can really add up over time, and I am only one person.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Daily Impact November 25 - December 7, 2011
This is the 38th posting to this blog.
I have not been very good with keeping up with this blog lately. I have been keeping pretty busy doing a lot of miscellaneous stuff. I have been doing pretty well keeping the use of gasoline to a minimum. I do ride the Honda a lot, but because it is so efficient, my total fuel use is very low. The average miles per gallon for the scooter for the last three months is 107. I am very pleased with this number, and that is why I don't mind riding it so much. I have been very lucky to have good weather for riding, and I have not had to use the rain suit for about a month.
The e-scooter is in need of new batteries. The ones which are in the scooter now only last for about 8 miles. This is not enough for me to ride downtown anymore, and I have only been using it for local trips. I have more batteries to put in the scooter, but I want to use the existing ones for a little longer. I am not sure what I will do with the old batteries once I make the change, but they may be good enough to add to my solar power system.
Speaking of the solar power system, shading has really become a factor. Because the sun is so low in the sky this time of year, the oak tree in my front yard now shades the panels from 12:30 until dusk. Power production has been quite low, and I have had to plug the fridge into the grid on most evenings. There is a better spot on the roof which has more sun, and a move of the panels is forthcoming.
The wind generator has been a disappointment. Even when it is spinning well, it does not seem to charge the batteries well. I was hoping that a decent wind at night would at least produce enough power to run the fridge, but that does not seem to be the case. I have also had trouble with the company from whom I bought the generator, and a separate blog deals with that issue. That blog is under construction, and will premiere shortly.
I have been a little better at eating local food. Publix has been selling nice Florida produce, and I have been buying it. They have even been putting the squash, green beans, and navel oranges on sale. Yummy! I have still been eating more meat than I probably should, but that intake is also decreasing slowly. That free Ikea bacon is still my downfall. Maybe I can ask them to substitute grits for those two slices of bacon. Maybe I can open up my wallet, and buy some grits and leave the bacon. I will ponder that one for a while, because this guy can really be cheap sometimes!
There is good news on grid power side of my energy use. I am on track to meet my goal of a total of 60 kilowatt-hours for the month. I am not sure when Progress Energy will be reading my meter next, but it should be next Monday or earlier. I am proud of this accomplishment, and this will be the lowest monthly total ever for me in this house. I am also happy to report that my total energy use for the year will be significantly less than last year. This will be the third year in a row with a big drop in power use. From 2008 to 2009, I cut my use by 28%. This was also true from 2009 to 2010. I think that the percentage drop will actually be higher, but I have not calculated the exact percentage yet.
I have not been very good with keeping up with this blog lately. I have been keeping pretty busy doing a lot of miscellaneous stuff. I have been doing pretty well keeping the use of gasoline to a minimum. I do ride the Honda a lot, but because it is so efficient, my total fuel use is very low. The average miles per gallon for the scooter for the last three months is 107. I am very pleased with this number, and that is why I don't mind riding it so much. I have been very lucky to have good weather for riding, and I have not had to use the rain suit for about a month.
The e-scooter is in need of new batteries. The ones which are in the scooter now only last for about 8 miles. This is not enough for me to ride downtown anymore, and I have only been using it for local trips. I have more batteries to put in the scooter, but I want to use the existing ones for a little longer. I am not sure what I will do with the old batteries once I make the change, but they may be good enough to add to my solar power system.
Speaking of the solar power system, shading has really become a factor. Because the sun is so low in the sky this time of year, the oak tree in my front yard now shades the panels from 12:30 until dusk. Power production has been quite low, and I have had to plug the fridge into the grid on most evenings. There is a better spot on the roof which has more sun, and a move of the panels is forthcoming.
The wind generator has been a disappointment. Even when it is spinning well, it does not seem to charge the batteries well. I was hoping that a decent wind at night would at least produce enough power to run the fridge, but that does not seem to be the case. I have also had trouble with the company from whom I bought the generator, and a separate blog deals with that issue. That blog is under construction, and will premiere shortly.
I have been a little better at eating local food. Publix has been selling nice Florida produce, and I have been buying it. They have even been putting the squash, green beans, and navel oranges on sale. Yummy! I have still been eating more meat than I probably should, but that intake is also decreasing slowly. That free Ikea bacon is still my downfall. Maybe I can ask them to substitute grits for those two slices of bacon. Maybe I can open up my wallet, and buy some grits and leave the bacon. I will ponder that one for a while, because this guy can really be cheap sometimes!
There is good news on grid power side of my energy use. I am on track to meet my goal of a total of 60 kilowatt-hours for the month. I am not sure when Progress Energy will be reading my meter next, but it should be next Monday or earlier. I am proud of this accomplishment, and this will be the lowest monthly total ever for me in this house. I am also happy to report that my total energy use for the year will be significantly less than last year. This will be the third year in a row with a big drop in power use. From 2008 to 2009, I cut my use by 28%. This was also true from 2009 to 2010. I think that the percentage drop will actually be higher, but I have not calculated the exact percentage yet.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
My Daily Impact, November 16-24, 2011
This is post number 37.
Happy Thanksgiving. It has been over a week again since posting. I am sitting at a McDonnalds having coffee and writing this. I had to convince the guy at the counter to serve my coffee in my cup instead of using one of their disposable ones. He was nice enough to comply; he will not be assimilated yet!
I drove my van down here with the Honda scooter inside. Astro did not have quite as much room to wander around, but he did not seem to mind. The temperature was cool enough to use only the windows, and the gas mileage seems to be good. I will have to wait until I fill the tank before I know for sure.
I took a long ride on the scooter last night. I wanted to park in South Miami, and walk around for a while. There was no parking available, and even if there was, there was no two-wheeled vehicle parking. I will make sure that I just did not see any before I write a letter to city hall. The same was true of Coconut Grove. I would be happy to pay a reasonable rate to park my scooter; four or five can fit in a regular parking space, so the price should be about one-third or one-quarter of regular car rates.
I have had mixed results with my quest to stop eating so much meat. There is still that Ikea bacon, and my friend Kenny and I went to Golden Coral for the buffet. I had about a half of pound of Steak, some chicken and some fish. I did do well on other days by having veggie curry at the Thai restaurant, and salad at Sweet Tomatoes.
The amount of garbage which I generate continues to be small. There were only two small plastic grocery bags in the can for the past week. Most of that was yogurt cups, snack wrappers, and other packaging from my food. I try to limit the purchase of over=packaged food, but I do not buy enough fresh stuff to do that yet. Maybe I can start a garden co-op with my neighbors. It can't hurt to try.
Grid power use is very low this month, and I hope to keep the total below 60 kilowatt-hours. I still owe the truck a good, full charge. I drove to Ikea with my neighbor, Peggy on Tuesday. At least I kept her from using her truck and her gas. I need to find the truck a new owner. I do not use it enough to keep the batteries in good working condition. It really likes to be driven and charged daily.
There are 20 batteries to try to keep fresh. It seems that the older that they get, the easier it is for them to loose charge when sitting. I may need to drive it a couple of days in a row to refresh them.
Each battery weighs about 75 pounds. That means about 1500 pounds of extra weight to push around. There is some savings from a lighter motor and no gas tank, but it still will not win any races!
Happy Thanksgiving. It has been over a week again since posting. I am sitting at a McDonnalds having coffee and writing this. I had to convince the guy at the counter to serve my coffee in my cup instead of using one of their disposable ones. He was nice enough to comply; he will not be assimilated yet!
I drove my van down here with the Honda scooter inside. Astro did not have quite as much room to wander around, but he did not seem to mind. The temperature was cool enough to use only the windows, and the gas mileage seems to be good. I will have to wait until I fill the tank before I know for sure.
I took a long ride on the scooter last night. I wanted to park in South Miami, and walk around for a while. There was no parking available, and even if there was, there was no two-wheeled vehicle parking. I will make sure that I just did not see any before I write a letter to city hall. The same was true of Coconut Grove. I would be happy to pay a reasonable rate to park my scooter; four or five can fit in a regular parking space, so the price should be about one-third or one-quarter of regular car rates.
I have had mixed results with my quest to stop eating so much meat. There is still that Ikea bacon, and my friend Kenny and I went to Golden Coral for the buffet. I had about a half of pound of Steak, some chicken and some fish. I did do well on other days by having veggie curry at the Thai restaurant, and salad at Sweet Tomatoes.
The amount of garbage which I generate continues to be small. There were only two small plastic grocery bags in the can for the past week. Most of that was yogurt cups, snack wrappers, and other packaging from my food. I try to limit the purchase of over=packaged food, but I do not buy enough fresh stuff to do that yet. Maybe I can start a garden co-op with my neighbors. It can't hurt to try.
Grid power use is very low this month, and I hope to keep the total below 60 kilowatt-hours. I still owe the truck a good, full charge. I drove to Ikea with my neighbor, Peggy on Tuesday. At least I kept her from using her truck and her gas. I need to find the truck a new owner. I do not use it enough to keep the batteries in good working condition. It really likes to be driven and charged daily.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
My Daily Impact, November 12-15 2011
This is the 36th posting to this blog.
Things are going along in a nice green way. The van remains parked in the carport, and the truck in the garage. It has been all Honda with the nice cool, dry weather. I did finally repair the front tire on the e-scooter, and drove it to Panera today where I write this entry. I like to have some coffee, and watch the various people come through here while I write; it is much more interesting than sitting at home.
I have done better with my food lately too. There was some bacon at Ikea yesterday, and half of a chicken from Publix on Sunday night (the other half is for tonight), but other than that no meat. We went to the Siam Garden Restaurant on Friday night, and I had a nice red curry with tofu and veggies. It was yummy, and the tofu absorbed the delicious sauce nicely. Saturday was cheese pizza, and last night was a veggie plate at Cecil's Bar B Q. There are a lot of good vegetarian choices available, and I am trying to take advantage of them.
Power production from my solar and wind system has not been what I would hope it would be. I have been plugging the fridge into the grid at night because of lack of power. The batteries in my system are getting a bit older, and I will be testing each one today to see if there is a problem there. There is also some additional shade from the oak tree in the front yard. I had trimmed it way back about two years ago in an effort to save it, and it is doing very well. The added growth now present shades my solar panels for about 2 hours during the day. I may re-locate the panels to a more sun-drenched part of the roof, but that will be quite the project. The panels produce DC power, and the power must travel through large (6 gauge) wire to reach the batteries. If I move the panels, I will have to move the batteries to keep the wires short.
The big box on the roof which makes hot air seems to be doing fine. The temperature sensor in it often reads over 140 degrees even if there is not too much sun. It has been too warm to run the fan to heat the living room, and the internal temperatures in the box have been over 160 degrees. Maybe I can rig it to heat up my dinner!
There will be plenty of time to see how effective this box is over the coming few months. I will keep this blog posted with the results.
Grid power use for the past few days has been low. Since the meter was read, there have been six days. The number of KWh for those six days totals 7. This number includes two wash loads with one of those loads going into the dryer for about 20 minutes. I am trying to beat the records set last month and last April with a total number of kilowatt-hours under 60. So far, I am well on track to do this. As these records keep getting broken, it gets harder to improve from month to month and year to year. I am considering adding about 400 watts to my solar generating capacity, but this will cost some money. I will need two panels each costing $ 430.00, and I will need a second charge controller which is about $ 200.00. Should my quest for employment be successful, those improvements will be coming soon. Wish me luck!
Things are going along in a nice green way. The van remains parked in the carport, and the truck in the garage. It has been all Honda with the nice cool, dry weather. I did finally repair the front tire on the e-scooter, and drove it to Panera today where I write this entry. I like to have some coffee, and watch the various people come through here while I write; it is much more interesting than sitting at home.
I have done better with my food lately too. There was some bacon at Ikea yesterday, and half of a chicken from Publix on Sunday night (the other half is for tonight), but other than that no meat. We went to the Siam Garden Restaurant on Friday night, and I had a nice red curry with tofu and veggies. It was yummy, and the tofu absorbed the delicious sauce nicely. Saturday was cheese pizza, and last night was a veggie plate at Cecil's Bar B Q. There are a lot of good vegetarian choices available, and I am trying to take advantage of them.
Power production from my solar and wind system has not been what I would hope it would be. I have been plugging the fridge into the grid at night because of lack of power. The batteries in my system are getting a bit older, and I will be testing each one today to see if there is a problem there. There is also some additional shade from the oak tree in the front yard. I had trimmed it way back about two years ago in an effort to save it, and it is doing very well. The added growth now present shades my solar panels for about 2 hours during the day. I may re-locate the panels to a more sun-drenched part of the roof, but that will be quite the project. The panels produce DC power, and the power must travel through large (6 gauge) wire to reach the batteries. If I move the panels, I will have to move the batteries to keep the wires short.
The big box on the roof which makes hot air seems to be doing fine. The temperature sensor in it often reads over 140 degrees even if there is not too much sun. It has been too warm to run the fan to heat the living room, and the internal temperatures in the box have been over 160 degrees. Maybe I can rig it to heat up my dinner!
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| This is where the cool air comes from the back of the box to be heated |
Grid power use for the past few days has been low. Since the meter was read, there have been six days. The number of KWh for those six days totals 7. This number includes two wash loads with one of those loads going into the dryer for about 20 minutes. I am trying to beat the records set last month and last April with a total number of kilowatt-hours under 60. So far, I am well on track to do this. As these records keep getting broken, it gets harder to improve from month to month and year to year. I am considering adding about 400 watts to my solar generating capacity, but this will cost some money. I will need two panels each costing $ 430.00, and I will need a second charge controller which is about $ 200.00. Should my quest for employment be successful, those improvements will be coming soon. Wish me luck!
Friday, November 11, 2011
My Daily Impact, November 10 and 11 2011
This is the 35th posting to this blog.
There has been some good news this week; the power bill came! Those two thoughts usually do not go well together, but for me, they did. The total cost for my grid power last month was $ 18.48. That is the lowest bill I have ever had for power in that house, and I have lived there for 25 years! This bill also indicates a total KWh use of 73 for the month which equals my usage for April, and both reflect the lowest monthly totals ever. I am really happy with this result. Can I beat it this next month?
I also have good news about my latest mad scientist project. The outdoor temperature this morning was just below 50 degrees with a strong breeze. By 8:30 AM, the temperature inside the solar space heater box was over 120 degrees. I switched on the fan, and got a nice flow of hot air into my living room. Success! The total cost of the system was about $95.00. This cost includes the 50 feet of drain hose left over from the first incarnation of this device. To be able to heat the living room of my house for the cost of running a 60 watt fan is awesome. The success of this device relies on a good sunny day, so I will have to keep track of how many days it can really be used.
In my other efforts to reduce my impact, I have mixed results. It seems that meat always comes onto my plate. It sneaks on there somehow. Today, I went to a CFHLA luncheon (the local lodging association), and there was a big chunk of pot roast on the plate. It did not stay there too long, and is now working its way through my body. Last night, I went to Chipotle with a friend, and again had beef. Ikea also put some bacon on my breakfast plate, and it went away as well. The up side of all this is that I have some job leads to work on, and that I will do.
Transportation has been all Honda this week. I have not yet fixed the tire on the electric scooter, and I may not ride it too much when I do. As I mentioned before, the side of the road is a nasty, dirty, sharp-object-filled place. The e-scooter's lack of speed requires me to ride there, and that makes for flat tires. The Honda can reach speeds of 50 MPH, and that means that I can ride it in the much clearer traffic lanes. I have logged about 7000 miles on the two Honda scooters without a tire problem (knock wood); I have repaired tires on my various e-scooters and bikes many times with much less mileage to show for it. A "real" electric scooter would be the answer, but they are really expensive now. Maybe that will be my next mad scientist endeavor!
There has been some good news this week; the power bill came! Those two thoughts usually do not go well together, but for me, they did. The total cost for my grid power last month was $ 18.48. That is the lowest bill I have ever had for power in that house, and I have lived there for 25 years! This bill also indicates a total KWh use of 73 for the month which equals my usage for April, and both reflect the lowest monthly totals ever. I am really happy with this result. Can I beat it this next month?
I also have good news about my latest mad scientist project. The outdoor temperature this morning was just below 50 degrees with a strong breeze. By 8:30 AM, the temperature inside the solar space heater box was over 120 degrees. I switched on the fan, and got a nice flow of hot air into my living room. Success! The total cost of the system was about $95.00. This cost includes the 50 feet of drain hose left over from the first incarnation of this device. To be able to heat the living room of my house for the cost of running a 60 watt fan is awesome. The success of this device relies on a good sunny day, so I will have to keep track of how many days it can really be used.
In my other efforts to reduce my impact, I have mixed results. It seems that meat always comes onto my plate. It sneaks on there somehow. Today, I went to a CFHLA luncheon (the local lodging association), and there was a big chunk of pot roast on the plate. It did not stay there too long, and is now working its way through my body. Last night, I went to Chipotle with a friend, and again had beef. Ikea also put some bacon on my breakfast plate, and it went away as well. The up side of all this is that I have some job leads to work on, and that I will do.
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| The Honda at rest. It averages 110 MPG! |
Transportation has been all Honda this week. I have not yet fixed the tire on the electric scooter, and I may not ride it too much when I do. As I mentioned before, the side of the road is a nasty, dirty, sharp-object-filled place. The e-scooter's lack of speed requires me to ride there, and that makes for flat tires. The Honda can reach speeds of 50 MPH, and that means that I can ride it in the much clearer traffic lanes. I have logged about 7000 miles on the two Honda scooters without a tire problem (knock wood); I have repaired tires on my various e-scooters and bikes many times with much less mileage to show for it. A "real" electric scooter would be the answer, but they are really expensive now. Maybe that will be my next mad scientist endeavor!
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| The E-scooter: too slow for the center of the lane. |
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Daily Impact November 8 and 9, 2011
This is the 34th posting to this blog.
I have mixed results to share about my impacts on the planet these past two days. Food continues to be one of the largest problems for me. Last night, I ate at Wendy's. I had a coupon for a free single with the purchase of a fries and a drink. In addition to the beef in the burger, there was all of that paper packaging. There is also the transportation of all of that stuff from Wendy's warehouses. I also had those two bacon slices at Ikea, but at least there was no paper involved (I washed my hands after breakfast, and used the awesome jet dryer).
Monday evening, I had dinner at home. I had packaged bar-b-q chicken and frozen veggies. Both of these have packaging and transportation issues which come with them. Today (Wednesday), I had cereal at home, and now I sit at Panera with my coffee writing this. I had to ask specifically for a "real" knife, but the napkin was already on the plate under my bagel. I understand the convenience and hygiene of using a napkin (not to mention the manners), but if I am careful, there is really no need for a napkin most of the time.
My latest "mad scientist" project went through its redesign yesterday. I removed the 60 feet of black hose from inside of the heat box, and replaced it with a sheet of galvanized metal. I had the metal in my garage from the dismantling of a big box years ago, and it finally got its chance to be of use again. I painted the metal black (after etching it with vinegar, a very important step), and mounted it inside the box about 2 inches from the back. Air flows into the box behind the metal sheet, runs down to the bottom corners of the box, runs along the hot area between the metal and the glass, and exits the box at the top through one of those black hoses. This design meant that the box had to be air-tight, and that the metal plate had to isolate the cool and hot portions of the back and front of the box.
The result of the redesign is significantly improved air flow. With the squirrel-cage fan that I bought at Skycraft pulling air from the hot side, there is a strong flow of hot air coming from my creation. Now I just need to mount this fan in a nice box, add a speed controller, and wait for a cold day for the real test. This heater only will work if the sun is shining, so we shall see how often it becomes useful.
I have mixed results to share about my impacts on the planet these past two days. Food continues to be one of the largest problems for me. Last night, I ate at Wendy's. I had a coupon for a free single with the purchase of a fries and a drink. In addition to the beef in the burger, there was all of that paper packaging. There is also the transportation of all of that stuff from Wendy's warehouses. I also had those two bacon slices at Ikea, but at least there was no paper involved (I washed my hands after breakfast, and used the awesome jet dryer).
Monday evening, I had dinner at home. I had packaged bar-b-q chicken and frozen veggies. Both of these have packaging and transportation issues which come with them. Today (Wednesday), I had cereal at home, and now I sit at Panera with my coffee writing this. I had to ask specifically for a "real" knife, but the napkin was already on the plate under my bagel. I understand the convenience and hygiene of using a napkin (not to mention the manners), but if I am careful, there is really no need for a napkin most of the time.
My latest "mad scientist" project went through its redesign yesterday. I removed the 60 feet of black hose from inside of the heat box, and replaced it with a sheet of galvanized metal. I had the metal in my garage from the dismantling of a big box years ago, and it finally got its chance to be of use again. I painted the metal black (after etching it with vinegar, a very important step), and mounted it inside the box about 2 inches from the back. Air flows into the box behind the metal sheet, runs down to the bottom corners of the box, runs along the hot area between the metal and the glass, and exits the box at the top through one of those black hoses. This design meant that the box had to be air-tight, and that the metal plate had to isolate the cool and hot portions of the back and front of the box.
The result of the redesign is significantly improved air flow. With the squirrel-cage fan that I bought at Skycraft pulling air from the hot side, there is a strong flow of hot air coming from my creation. Now I just need to mount this fan in a nice box, add a speed controller, and wait for a cold day for the real test. This heater only will work if the sun is shining, so we shall see how often it becomes useful.
Monday, November 7, 2011
My Daily Impact, November 1-7 2011
This is the 33rd posting to this blog.
Well it has been a busy week. There have been good things happening, and a couple of bad events as well. November 1st was a day of mixed weather. There was some sun, some wind, and some clouds. The clouds really make for low power production because my solar panels produce much more electricity than the wind generator.
The main event of the day was taking the e-scooter over to Target to get some dog food. I got almost there when I heard a clicking sound coming from the front wheel. The front tire found a roofing nail. The tires of my various two-wheeled vehicles seem to find a lot of junk on the side of the road. It is the side of the road that is really the problem; it is full of sharp crap! Well, after inspecting the tire at Target, I determined that it would probably make it home OK if I left the nail in the tire. I went inside, and bought Astro some food.
When I got back to the scooter with the 44 pound bag of Dog Chow, the scooter tire still had plenty of air, and was not hissing at all. That lasted about half way home, and the tire went flat. A flat tire on a scooter or motorcycle is no fun. The bike feels like it is riding on ice mixed with mud; it gets really squirley. I walked the scooter to a parking lot for a condominium, and parked it. I had to stash the dog food, or carry it the mile plus home. I decided to knock on a door to see if some kind soul would help me.
The first door I knocked on was answered with a gracious " come on in ". The man continued with " Hello, I am Bill Traenor ". Bill is a very friendly, older gentleman, and he agreed to let me store the dog food in his condo while I walked home to get the truck. Meeting him completely negated any bad feelings I had about the flat tire. I feel honored to have met him, and talked with him.
Wednesday, November 2nd was a nice enough day; it was windy and not quite as cloudy. I washed my sheets, and dried them on the line. They dried quickly with the strong breeze and the sunshine. I was also able to get my latest mad scientist project ready for the installation on Thursday.
Thursday, November 3rd was the big day on the roof. My friend Dean cam by, and after breakfast at Ikea, we got to work. I had procured two sliding glass doors a while back, and now it was time to put one to use. I also had purchased some 4" plastic hose a while back, and the two would meet for my big project. The idea is to heat the black hose inside of a wood box with the sun that shines through the sliding glass door on top. Installation went very well, and the box gets really hot when the sun shines on it.
There is one problem. If you look at the picture, you may be able to tell that the hose runs back and forth across the box in one continuous circuit. This makes plenty of heat, but that 60 feet plus of 4" hose is very restrictive to any air being pushed through it. The fan can only manage a slight current through the pipes, and the warm air blows out with the speed of an exhale. OOPS! I have a plan for fixing this, and I will report on the results when they are available. Sometimes a mad scientist has to go back to the drawing board.
The rest of the week went well enough, and grid power use was a mere 8 KWh, with one of those going into the truck. The van sat still in its parking spot in my carport, and the Honda got quite a bit of use. I approximate that there was about 22 pounds of CO2 produced from the week's riding.
Progress Energy probably read my meter today, and there should be a nice result for the month's power use. The total should be 70 KWh total, and this would be my second lowest usage for a month since April. I will update that on the next posting.
Well it has been a busy week. There have been good things happening, and a couple of bad events as well. November 1st was a day of mixed weather. There was some sun, some wind, and some clouds. The clouds really make for low power production because my solar panels produce much more electricity than the wind generator.
The main event of the day was taking the e-scooter over to Target to get some dog food. I got almost there when I heard a clicking sound coming from the front wheel. The front tire found a roofing nail. The tires of my various two-wheeled vehicles seem to find a lot of junk on the side of the road. It is the side of the road that is really the problem; it is full of sharp crap! Well, after inspecting the tire at Target, I determined that it would probably make it home OK if I left the nail in the tire. I went inside, and bought Astro some food.
When I got back to the scooter with the 44 pound bag of Dog Chow, the scooter tire still had plenty of air, and was not hissing at all. That lasted about half way home, and the tire went flat. A flat tire on a scooter or motorcycle is no fun. The bike feels like it is riding on ice mixed with mud; it gets really squirley. I walked the scooter to a parking lot for a condominium, and parked it. I had to stash the dog food, or carry it the mile plus home. I decided to knock on a door to see if some kind soul would help me.
The first door I knocked on was answered with a gracious " come on in ". The man continued with " Hello, I am Bill Traenor ". Bill is a very friendly, older gentleman, and he agreed to let me store the dog food in his condo while I walked home to get the truck. Meeting him completely negated any bad feelings I had about the flat tire. I feel honored to have met him, and talked with him.
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| The scooter, the ramp, and the 44 pounds of dog food made it home. |
Thursday, November 3rd was the big day on the roof. My friend Dean cam by, and after breakfast at Ikea, we got to work. I had procured two sliding glass doors a while back, and now it was time to put one to use. I also had purchased some 4" plastic hose a while back, and the two would meet for my big project. The idea is to heat the black hose inside of a wood box with the sun that shines through the sliding glass door on top. Installation went very well, and the box gets really hot when the sun shines on it.
There is one problem. If you look at the picture, you may be able to tell that the hose runs back and forth across the box in one continuous circuit. This makes plenty of heat, but that 60 feet plus of 4" hose is very restrictive to any air being pushed through it. The fan can only manage a slight current through the pipes, and the warm air blows out with the speed of an exhale. OOPS! I have a plan for fixing this, and I will report on the results when they are available. Sometimes a mad scientist has to go back to the drawing board.
The rest of the week went well enough, and grid power use was a mere 8 KWh, with one of those going into the truck. The van sat still in its parking spot in my carport, and the Honda got quite a bit of use. I approximate that there was about 22 pounds of CO2 produced from the week's riding.
Progress Energy probably read my meter today, and there should be a nice result for the month's power use. The total should be 70 KWh total, and this would be my second lowest usage for a month since April. I will update that on the next posting.
Monday, October 31, 2011
My Daily Impact, October 27 - 31, 2011
This is the 32nd posting in this blog.
We have had mixed weather the last few days. There have been some sunny times, some windy times, and some rainy times. Some days like today have been a little bit of each. The rain and clouds really did a number on my solar energy production lately, and I am glad that I have grid power to use when this happens. I have used 5 KWh of grid energy over the last five days, and three of those were on Friday night and Saturday morning. I am still on track to beat my last years' October energy use if all goes well. It is my goal to constantly improve from one year to the next, and for the last two years, that has been the case every month. I must admit that it gets harder every year because the low-hanging fruit of easy energy savings has been picked.
I have been driving the Honda scooter much more lately. I put about 120 miles on it last week. That is only about 1.1 gallons of gas, but I like to use less if possible. I also drove the van to a party in Altamonte Springs with my friend Kenny. This 40 mile trip was respondible for about 36 pounds of CO2, and the Honda made about 22 pounds. I also car pooled with my friend Michael to Christmas for a group hike at the wetlands park there. That trip in his jeep probably made about 50 pounds of CO2.
The emissions from those three tailpipes are not the only things that made impacts this week. My food intake did some damage too. On Thursday evening, we went to O'boy's Bar-B-Que, and I had the pulled pork dinner. There was probably over a pound of the stuff on my plate, and I ate every bit. Sometimes, I just lack discipline! At least the food was served on reusable dished with real utensils. Only the 2 napkins went into the trash.
Friday night, I had a roast beef sub from subway. It was not a huge amount of meat, but there was the was paper wrapper, the napkin, and the plastic bag. Saturday was the Halloween party. There was a foam plate, a plastic cup, 2 napkins, and plastic utensils. I held back on any protest of this waste because my friends were gracious enough to invite me to an awesome party.
Last night, seven of us went to Pollo Tropical for dinner. The chicken and side items were all good, but the trash was ridiculous. Foam plates, plastic containers, plastic utensils, and plastic cups all over that table which all went into the trash. It is a shame that good, inexpensive food comes at such a cost to our environment.
Today, I sit here writing this blog entry at Panera Bread. So far, I have poured myself two cups of coffer, and used four sugar packets and a plastic knife. The real knives had not come back from the dishwasher, and a plastic one was already on my plate before I could stop it. I will rinse it off, wipe it down, and put it into my computer bag for a second use later.
I want to share my inspirations for writing this blog. I have previously mentioned my friends at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage who live the most sustainable lives of anyone I know. Click here to go to their website. They are not just trying to save our planet, but they also are some very nice people. I also have to credit a book titled "No Impact Man" by Colin Beavan. This is an interesting and humorous account of a New York City man who tries to make the smallest footprint possible. He also takes his wife and child along for the ride. This book taught me a lot about how the choices I make can influence the footprint I make.
I recommend taking this book for a read. I really recommend the audio book because the author's enthusiasm really comes through.
We have had mixed weather the last few days. There have been some sunny times, some windy times, and some rainy times. Some days like today have been a little bit of each. The rain and clouds really did a number on my solar energy production lately, and I am glad that I have grid power to use when this happens. I have used 5 KWh of grid energy over the last five days, and three of those were on Friday night and Saturday morning. I am still on track to beat my last years' October energy use if all goes well. It is my goal to constantly improve from one year to the next, and for the last two years, that has been the case every month. I must admit that it gets harder every year because the low-hanging fruit of easy energy savings has been picked.
I have been driving the Honda scooter much more lately. I put about 120 miles on it last week. That is only about 1.1 gallons of gas, but I like to use less if possible. I also drove the van to a party in Altamonte Springs with my friend Kenny. This 40 mile trip was respondible for about 36 pounds of CO2, and the Honda made about 22 pounds. I also car pooled with my friend Michael to Christmas for a group hike at the wetlands park there. That trip in his jeep probably made about 50 pounds of CO2.
The emissions from those three tailpipes are not the only things that made impacts this week. My food intake did some damage too. On Thursday evening, we went to O'boy's Bar-B-Que, and I had the pulled pork dinner. There was probably over a pound of the stuff on my plate, and I ate every bit. Sometimes, I just lack discipline! At least the food was served on reusable dished with real utensils. Only the 2 napkins went into the trash.
Friday night, I had a roast beef sub from subway. It was not a huge amount of meat, but there was the was paper wrapper, the napkin, and the plastic bag. Saturday was the Halloween party. There was a foam plate, a plastic cup, 2 napkins, and plastic utensils. I held back on any protest of this waste because my friends were gracious enough to invite me to an awesome party.
Last night, seven of us went to Pollo Tropical for dinner. The chicken and side items were all good, but the trash was ridiculous. Foam plates, plastic containers, plastic utensils, and plastic cups all over that table which all went into the trash. It is a shame that good, inexpensive food comes at such a cost to our environment.
Today, I sit here writing this blog entry at Panera Bread. So far, I have poured myself two cups of coffer, and used four sugar packets and a plastic knife. The real knives had not come back from the dishwasher, and a plastic one was already on my plate before I could stop it. I will rinse it off, wipe it down, and put it into my computer bag for a second use later.
I want to share my inspirations for writing this blog. I have previously mentioned my friends at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage who live the most sustainable lives of anyone I know. Click here to go to their website. They are not just trying to save our planet, but they also are some very nice people. I also have to credit a book titled "No Impact Man" by Colin Beavan. This is an interesting and humorous account of a New York City man who tries to make the smallest footprint possible. He also takes his wife and child along for the ride. This book taught me a lot about how the choices I make can influence the footprint I make.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
My Daily Impact, October 20 - 26, 2011
This is the 31st posting to this blog.
I did it again. I let a week go by between postings. This is not nescesarily a bad thing, but small things that I do on a daily basis slip through the cracks. There are the paper towels in the wash rooms, the broken plastic utensils, the napkins, the sugar packets, the meat, and all of the frozen food that I find so convenient.
Let's start with frozen food. I use frozen, concentrated orange juice, and drink a glass full every morning. I eat frozen veggies about 4 times per week, and I ate frozen fish three times over the past week. All of this food must be transported and stored frozen, and this uses a lot of electricity and fuel. I do not know what the difference is in transporting frozen over dry or canned goods is, but I know that there is a difference. At least the frozen OJ reduces the transport of cold water in regular OJ, and it reduces the packaging as well.
I have mentioned meat before in this blog. Besides the fact that the cow, pig, lamb, or chicken must die, there is the feeding, grazing land ( hopefully ), and the poop. There is also the cold storage energy, and all of this adds up to a lot of impact. One of the most environmentally friendly things to do is to become a vegitarian. I attempt to be at least a part-time vegitarian, but I still have that carnivore side. Meat intake this past week involved some of those bacon-wrapped fillets, which I served at a small dinner party, two Wendy's singles, 6 slices of Ikea bacon, that frozen fish, and small ammounts of chicken from Sweet Tomatoes' salad and soup bar.
There have been some improvements lately. I went to Clemmon's produce, and bought some locally-grown oranges and tomatoes. They clearly label all of their produce with the place of origin. I would really like Publix to do the same thing. I know that Publix does label some things, but it would be nice to highlight local produce.
Power use from the grid continues to be low this month. There were several overcast days until the 21st when I had to use more from the power company than usual. Since then, the only grid use was to cook, and to do two loads of laundry. I was able to line dry most of the wash, and therefore only used 9 KWh for the whole week. Just using the dryer for those two loads would have accounted for most of those nine.
I started construction of my next solar project yesterday. The mad scientist is back at work, and details with pictures will follow on new postings. Until then, be as green as possible!
I did it again. I let a week go by between postings. This is not nescesarily a bad thing, but small things that I do on a daily basis slip through the cracks. There are the paper towels in the wash rooms, the broken plastic utensils, the napkins, the sugar packets, the meat, and all of the frozen food that I find so convenient.
Let's start with frozen food. I use frozen, concentrated orange juice, and drink a glass full every morning. I eat frozen veggies about 4 times per week, and I ate frozen fish three times over the past week. All of this food must be transported and stored frozen, and this uses a lot of electricity and fuel. I do not know what the difference is in transporting frozen over dry or canned goods is, but I know that there is a difference. At least the frozen OJ reduces the transport of cold water in regular OJ, and it reduces the packaging as well.
I have mentioned meat before in this blog. Besides the fact that the cow, pig, lamb, or chicken must die, there is the feeding, grazing land ( hopefully ), and the poop. There is also the cold storage energy, and all of this adds up to a lot of impact. One of the most environmentally friendly things to do is to become a vegitarian. I attempt to be at least a part-time vegitarian, but I still have that carnivore side. Meat intake this past week involved some of those bacon-wrapped fillets, which I served at a small dinner party, two Wendy's singles, 6 slices of Ikea bacon, that frozen fish, and small ammounts of chicken from Sweet Tomatoes' salad and soup bar.
There have been some improvements lately. I went to Clemmon's produce, and bought some locally-grown oranges and tomatoes. They clearly label all of their produce with the place of origin. I would really like Publix to do the same thing. I know that Publix does label some things, but it would be nice to highlight local produce.
Power use from the grid continues to be low this month. There were several overcast days until the 21st when I had to use more from the power company than usual. Since then, the only grid use was to cook, and to do two loads of laundry. I was able to line dry most of the wash, and therefore only used 9 KWh for the whole week. Just using the dryer for those two loads would have accounted for most of those nine.
I started construction of my next solar project yesterday. The mad scientist is back at work, and details with pictures will follow on new postings. Until then, be as green as possible!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
My Daily Impact for the week of October 11 - 19, 2011
This is the 30th posting to this blog.
Well, I did it again, I let this blog go for a week. I have been busy, but really not that busy. I will start by saying that there were a lot of daily impacts of mine that will go unsaid. There are the sugar packets, the napkins, the bananas, the meat, the Ikea bacon, and probably many more. I do my best every day to keep these small things to an absolute minimum.
I do keep good records of my electricity and gasoline use, and I will report that now. The week's total power use for my house was 30 KWh. This total actually includes eight days of power, and 16 miles in the truck. Two of those days the meter sat still ( no grid power use ). There was some cloud cover on a few of those days, and I had to plug the fridge back into the grid. Why do I bother watching my power use? Well, beside caring for the planet, my last power bill was $ 35.00.
Most of my travel was with the electric scooter, but there were several trips on the Honda as well. The Honda trips added up to about 60 miles for about 10 pounds of CO2. Yesterday and today, I drove the van. The 51 mile total is responsible for about 40 pounds of CO2.
There were two things that I did this week which helped lower my impact on the planet. I had the starter fopr the van repaired at a local shop. This not only saved me $ 20.00 over a rebuilt one, it keeps the local economy going, saves the transportation of a starter from who-knows-where and back, and keeps the high-quality original equipment starter motor in my van. It is too bad that the local repair shops for electronics struggle because of our disposable society.
Along the lines of electonic repair, I was able to successfully repair a portable DVD player which was malfunctioning. The removal of a stray piece of plastic, and a little solder did the trick. I must admit that it took me about 2 1/2 hours to get this done, but it kept that little player working.
I have been doing pretty well staying away from red meat. I have eaten some chicken and fish, but have mostly been eating veggies. There is always that free Ikea bacon, but it is free, and it tastes so good!
Well, I did it again, I let this blog go for a week. I have been busy, but really not that busy. I will start by saying that there were a lot of daily impacts of mine that will go unsaid. There are the sugar packets, the napkins, the bananas, the meat, the Ikea bacon, and probably many more. I do my best every day to keep these small things to an absolute minimum.
I do keep good records of my electricity and gasoline use, and I will report that now. The week's total power use for my house was 30 KWh. This total actually includes eight days of power, and 16 miles in the truck. Two of those days the meter sat still ( no grid power use ). There was some cloud cover on a few of those days, and I had to plug the fridge back into the grid. Why do I bother watching my power use? Well, beside caring for the planet, my last power bill was $ 35.00.
Most of my travel was with the electric scooter, but there were several trips on the Honda as well. The Honda trips added up to about 60 miles for about 10 pounds of CO2. Yesterday and today, I drove the van. The 51 mile total is responsible for about 40 pounds of CO2.
There were two things that I did this week which helped lower my impact on the planet. I had the starter fopr the van repaired at a local shop. This not only saved me $ 20.00 over a rebuilt one, it keeps the local economy going, saves the transportation of a starter from who-knows-where and back, and keeps the high-quality original equipment starter motor in my van. It is too bad that the local repair shops for electronics struggle because of our disposable society.
Along the lines of electonic repair, I was able to successfully repair a portable DVD player which was malfunctioning. The removal of a stray piece of plastic, and a little solder did the trick. I must admit that it took me about 2 1/2 hours to get this done, but it kept that little player working.
I have been doing pretty well staying away from red meat. I have eaten some chicken and fish, but have mostly been eating veggies. There is always that free Ikea bacon, but it is free, and it tastes so good!
I attended the #occupy Orlando rally on Saturday. It was encouraging to see people speaking out to try to improve things in this country. I think that the best thing for me to do is to buy from local businesses when ever possible. I am lucky that Publix is a local business, but I will need to make sure that more food which I buy from them is actually locally grown.
A scene from Occupy Orlando. ( I'm in the green on the left )
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
My Daily Impact, October 8, 9, and 10, 2011
This is the 29th posting to this blog.
Saturday, October 8th was a day full of rain. There was not much sun on Friday, and there was little wind either. I had to shut off the solar power because the batteries were very low. I also had to use 1 KWh of power to heat the water to a temperature comfortable enough for a nice shower. I have become quite reliant on nice sunny Florida weather.
I stayed home all day, watched the boob tube, and did some small things around the house. I rarely spend all day at home, and I got a little stir crazy!
Total grid power use for the house was 4 KWh. Not too bad considering the lack of sun.
Sunday, October 9th brought some relief from the constant rain of the day before, but there was little sun. I kept the solar feed to the house turned off to give the batteries some much-needed charge. I did manage to get out in the late afternoon to my Thai Chi group, but I took the van. I had not filled it with gas from my return from DC, and I did not want to leave it empty for any longer. I also went to pick up my friend Kenny because he was stranded at his house because he could not drive. He had problems with his teeth, and was on pain medication. Kenny has given me rides more times than I can count, and it was my turn to return the favor.
The traffic lights were not kind to me on Sunday, and the 31 miles driven probably meant about 33 pounds of CO2 put into the atmosphere. There is also a problem with the starter on the van. It has been acting up for a while. It often only clicks when the key is turned, and requires several turns of the key before the starter engages. The problem with this is that the repeated clicking resets the computer, and the van does not run as efficiently as it could. Repair of the starter is now on my to-do list.
Total grid power use for the house was 3 KWh. This figure probably represents the power generated by my system of solar panels on a sunny day.
Monday, October 10th was a fairly sunny day. I decided to give the batteries more opportunity to charge, and used grid power only. I did some work on the sliding door for my guest bathroom, and mostly stayed around the house. I did go to the library and to Publix in the evening, and used the e-scooter for this trip. Because the solar was resting, there was probably about 300 watt-hours of grid power used for this trip. This is quite a bargain for 10 miles.
I have neglected to mention my impact due to food for the last few days. There was one breakfast at Ikea with the two strips of bacon, there was a good day on Saturday when I consumed no meat, and there was a good day on Sunday when I ate at Jason's salad bar for dinner. Monday was a frozen chicken dinner. Each day there were bananas, frozen OJ, and several snacks of cereal bars and yogurt. Any packaging from these snacks went into the garbage. Yogurt comes in a type of plastic which Orange County does not recycle. I wonder why this is?
Total grid power use for the house on Monday was 4 KWh. It was almost too hot to sleep with no A/C, but a fan managed to do the trick.
Saturday, October 8th was a day full of rain. There was not much sun on Friday, and there was little wind either. I had to shut off the solar power because the batteries were very low. I also had to use 1 KWh of power to heat the water to a temperature comfortable enough for a nice shower. I have become quite reliant on nice sunny Florida weather.
I stayed home all day, watched the boob tube, and did some small things around the house. I rarely spend all day at home, and I got a little stir crazy!
Total grid power use for the house was 4 KWh. Not too bad considering the lack of sun.
Sunday, October 9th brought some relief from the constant rain of the day before, but there was little sun. I kept the solar feed to the house turned off to give the batteries some much-needed charge. I did manage to get out in the late afternoon to my Thai Chi group, but I took the van. I had not filled it with gas from my return from DC, and I did not want to leave it empty for any longer. I also went to pick up my friend Kenny because he was stranded at his house because he could not drive. He had problems with his teeth, and was on pain medication. Kenny has given me rides more times than I can count, and it was my turn to return the favor.
The traffic lights were not kind to me on Sunday, and the 31 miles driven probably meant about 33 pounds of CO2 put into the atmosphere. There is also a problem with the starter on the van. It has been acting up for a while. It often only clicks when the key is turned, and requires several turns of the key before the starter engages. The problem with this is that the repeated clicking resets the computer, and the van does not run as efficiently as it could. Repair of the starter is now on my to-do list.
Total grid power use for the house was 3 KWh. This figure probably represents the power generated by my system of solar panels on a sunny day.
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| This is where the solar panels and wind generator store power. I am waiting for better battery technology, but this works for now. |
Monday, October 10th was a fairly sunny day. I decided to give the batteries more opportunity to charge, and used grid power only. I did some work on the sliding door for my guest bathroom, and mostly stayed around the house. I did go to the library and to Publix in the evening, and used the e-scooter for this trip. Because the solar was resting, there was probably about 300 watt-hours of grid power used for this trip. This is quite a bargain for 10 miles.
I have neglected to mention my impact due to food for the last few days. There was one breakfast at Ikea with the two strips of bacon, there was a good day on Saturday when I consumed no meat, and there was a good day on Sunday when I ate at Jason's salad bar for dinner. Monday was a frozen chicken dinner. Each day there were bananas, frozen OJ, and several snacks of cereal bars and yogurt. Any packaging from these snacks went into the garbage. Yogurt comes in a type of plastic which Orange County does not recycle. I wonder why this is?
Total grid power use for the house on Monday was 4 KWh. It was almost too hot to sleep with no A/C, but a fan managed to do the trick.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
My Daily Impact, October 6 and 7, 2011
This is the 28th posting to this blog.
Thursday, October 6th was a slower day than Wednesday. I hung up the sliding doors, and one worked perfectly. The other one needed a different hole drilled for the roller, but ended up just fine. I am pleased with the results, and will add a third door to the second bathroom.
Food wise, I did well until dinner with friends. I had a BBQ beef sandwich with greens and sweet potatoes. The guy at Cecil's really piled on the beef, and that made the major impact for the day. Travel to dinner was with the e-scooter, and that was charged mostly with solar power. About 200 watt-hours was from our meeting house.
The grid power was off at the house for a ZERO KWh day. Yippee!
Friday, October 7th meant a trip to Home Depot in the truck. This was for the new bathroom door. I ate at Ikea on the way there, so bacon was ingested. I did not do too much work with the new door, and went out on the Honda to meet friends. The 24 mile round trip put out about 4 pounds of CO2. Dinner was one of those bacon-wrapped fillets and the remainder of that broccoli from Target. The other impact came from charging the truck for the 15 miles run for the week. That was 8 KWh. The truck is much less efficient when it sits without charging for a while. Batteries leak power quite a bit unfortunately
Total grid power for the house was 1 KWh, and the truck's 8 makes a total of 9. The presence of rain and overcast skies forced me to use grid power for the fridge. I am lucky that there was still enough solar hot water for a nice shower. I do not know if that will be true if the rain sticks around too long..
Thursday, October 6th was a slower day than Wednesday. I hung up the sliding doors, and one worked perfectly. The other one needed a different hole drilled for the roller, but ended up just fine. I am pleased with the results, and will add a third door to the second bathroom.
Food wise, I did well until dinner with friends. I had a BBQ beef sandwich with greens and sweet potatoes. The guy at Cecil's really piled on the beef, and that made the major impact for the day. Travel to dinner was with the e-scooter, and that was charged mostly with solar power. About 200 watt-hours was from our meeting house.
The grid power was off at the house for a ZERO KWh day. Yippee!
Friday, October 7th meant a trip to Home Depot in the truck. This was for the new bathroom door. I ate at Ikea on the way there, so bacon was ingested. I did not do too much work with the new door, and went out on the Honda to meet friends. The 24 mile round trip put out about 4 pounds of CO2. Dinner was one of those bacon-wrapped fillets and the remainder of that broccoli from Target. The other impact came from charging the truck for the 15 miles run for the week. That was 8 KWh. The truck is much less efficient when it sits without charging for a while. Batteries leak power quite a bit unfortunately
Total grid power for the house was 1 KWh, and the truck's 8 makes a total of 9. The presence of rain and overcast skies forced me to use grid power for the fridge. I am lucky that there was still enough solar hot water for a nice shower. I do not know if that will be true if the rain sticks around too long..
Thursday, October 6, 2011
My Daily Impact, October 5, 2011
This is the 27th posting to my blog.
Wednesday was a very productive day. I met my friend Michael for breakfast at Ikea, and had the usual eggs, potatoes, and bacon. Maybe I should pass on the bacon to make less of an impact, but it tastes so good!
From Ikea, I went to Home Depot to get a few things to finish installing the sliding doors. One of the things I got was primer. I should have purchased latex primer, but got oil-based instead. It has been a long time since I used oill-based paint, and it is nasty. It does go on thick, and covers well, but I had to toss the brush when I was through. Nasty stuff. I am also not sure what kinds of gasses come from that stuff, but at one point I felt a little high. A little fresh air, and it passed though.
I worked all afternoon on the doors and painting, and wanted a quick dinner. I had a coupon for buy one, get one free chicken sandwiches at Burger King, and I wolfed both of them down. Not much of a ballanced meal, but it was good.
I charged the e-scooter using grid power, and used power tools and lights all afternoon. The result was 1 KWh of grid power for the day.
Wednesday was a very productive day. I met my friend Michael for breakfast at Ikea, and had the usual eggs, potatoes, and bacon. Maybe I should pass on the bacon to make less of an impact, but it tastes so good!
From Ikea, I went to Home Depot to get a few things to finish installing the sliding doors. One of the things I got was primer. I should have purchased latex primer, but got oil-based instead. It has been a long time since I used oill-based paint, and it is nasty. It does go on thick, and covers well, but I had to toss the brush when I was through. Nasty stuff. I am also not sure what kinds of gasses come from that stuff, but at one point I felt a little high. A little fresh air, and it passed though.
I worked all afternoon on the doors and painting, and wanted a quick dinner. I had a coupon for buy one, get one free chicken sandwiches at Burger King, and I wolfed both of them down. Not much of a ballanced meal, but it was good.
I charged the e-scooter using grid power, and used power tools and lights all afternoon. The result was 1 KWh of grid power for the day.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Daily Impact October 4, 2011
This is the 26th posting to this blog.
Tuesday was a beautiful day here in Orlando. It was cool and sunny, and the solar panels made lots of power. The windmill sat idle, but the winds will return. I was able to stay off-grid for most of the day until I tried to run the table saw. My little inverter would not have it, and shut down. Lucky for me, it was just a matter of reseting the inverter, and juice flows once again.
I was using the table saw to cut some wood for the installation of the sliding doors for the house. One is installed, and it works very well. There were several new raw materials used in the process, and each has its impact. The doors probably made the most of that impact. They are hollow core wood doors 36 inches wide. I wonder how much CO2 the manufacture and shipping of the two doors produced. There is also the hardware. Two aluminum tracks, and the steel nuts and bolts to hold everything together.
I only know that I owe for the 6 mile round trip in the truck ( I did not charge it yet ), and the power to run the table saw, and cook my dinner. Dinner was again a fillet and broccoli.
On the plus side, total grid power use was again only 1 KWh. Gotta just love that!
Tuesday was a beautiful day here in Orlando. It was cool and sunny, and the solar panels made lots of power. The windmill sat idle, but the winds will return. I was able to stay off-grid for most of the day until I tried to run the table saw. My little inverter would not have it, and shut down. Lucky for me, it was just a matter of reseting the inverter, and juice flows once again.
I was using the table saw to cut some wood for the installation of the sliding doors for the house. One is installed, and it works very well. There were several new raw materials used in the process, and each has its impact. The doors probably made the most of that impact. They are hollow core wood doors 36 inches wide. I wonder how much CO2 the manufacture and shipping of the two doors produced. There is also the hardware. Two aluminum tracks, and the steel nuts and bolts to hold everything together.
I only know that I owe for the 6 mile round trip in the truck ( I did not charge it yet ), and the power to run the table saw, and cook my dinner. Dinner was again a fillet and broccoli.
On the plus side, total grid power use was again only 1 KWh. Gotta just love that!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
My Daily Impact, October 3, 2011
This is post number 25 to this blog.
My impact on our planet for Monday was mixed. I was able to go through the day using no gas or oil, and I rode the e-scooter with mostly solar power. I did charge it for about 75 minutes at the meeting house last night; that was about 200 watt-hours of grid electricity.
My food intake was where I probably did some damage. I went to Ikea for free breakfast, and had those two strips of bacon and that coffee. I had a banana and some snacks during the day, and there was some wrapping which went into the trash. Dinner was one of those bacon-wrapped fillets from Aldi and some broccoli. I do not know the origin of broccoli from Target, but it is probably not too close.
The grid power was mostly off in the house except for cooking dinner and washing sheets. These two activities used only 1 KWh of grid power. I just love fall in Florida; I hope to have only used about 225 KWh for this past month, and hope to be less than 70 for next month. That will be my goal.
My impact on our planet for Monday was mixed. I was able to go through the day using no gas or oil, and I rode the e-scooter with mostly solar power. I did charge it for about 75 minutes at the meeting house last night; that was about 200 watt-hours of grid electricity.
My food intake was where I probably did some damage. I went to Ikea for free breakfast, and had those two strips of bacon and that coffee. I had a banana and some snacks during the day, and there was some wrapping which went into the trash. Dinner was one of those bacon-wrapped fillets from Aldi and some broccoli. I do not know the origin of broccoli from Target, but it is probably not too close.
The grid power was mostly off in the house except for cooking dinner and washing sheets. These two activities used only 1 KWh of grid power. I just love fall in Florida; I hope to have only used about 225 KWh for this past month, and hope to be less than 70 for next month. That will be my goal.
Monday, October 3, 2011
My Daily Impact, October 2, 2011
Daily Impacts: September 29, 30, October 1, and October 2
This is the 24th posting to my blog.
I have neglected this blog again. I guess that I have been busy. I will just do a dialy summary for the past few days.
Thursday, September 29, 2011:
I rode the Honda about 25 miles for about 4 or 5 pounds of CO2.
I got a Styrofoam to-go box from Il Piscatore for my left-over Stromboli.
The house used 10 KWh of grid power.
Friday, September 30, 2011:
I rode the Honda about 25 more miles for 4 or 5 pounds more of CO2
I rode with three friends to dinner. The part which was out-of-the-way for me was about 3 miles for 6 pounds of CO2.
The house used 6 KWh of grid power; I was able to open the windows at night.
Saturday, October 1, 2011:
This is the day that the weather turned cool. It happened on October first last year too! It is what we Floridians wait for all summer: that first cold front!
I turned off the grid power at the meter beforew I left the house at 7 AM. This is one of my favorite things to do! I rode the e-scooter downtown to meet friends for our weekly walk, and went to breakfast. I did have coffee and eggs with sausage; so there were the transportation issues and the meat issue. I also used some sugar packets and two stir sticks. I charged the scooter in a parking garage for about 200 watt-hours of grid power.
When I returned home, I charged the scooter from the solar and wind system I have at my house. There had been a steady wind from the northwest, and the generator was making juice. It was also very sunny; so the solar panels were juicing as well. It was a good day to be making renewable energy.
That evening, I met Kenny for dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. I rode with him for about 6 miles for about 5 pounds of CO2. I also charged the scooter for about 300 watt-hours of grid power. Dinner was mostly vegie, but there was some chicken in one of the salads, and some meat in one of the soups. I do eat out a lot, and that helps keep the grid power use at home down. When I am off-grid, I can not cook or do laundry; that requires me to hook back up by flipping a breaker or two.
Total grid power use for the house on Saturday was ZERO! Grid power use from other sourses was about 500 watt-hours ( 1/2 KWh ).
Sunday, October 2, 2011:
I rode the e-scooter to Aldi for some milk and groceries. There is no plug accessable there, so all scooter power was from the wind and sun. My brother Mike and his wife JUne stopped by on their way home to Miami. We had a nice visit, and went for some lunch at Checkers. The ride there and back was about 5 miles for about 4 pounds of CO2. The food had paper packaging which went into the trash, and there was meat involved. Sometimes, it is hard to be green.
Later that afternoon, I changed the oil in the van. I will take the used oil to be recycled, and the new synthetic oil should be good for five or six thousand miles. The old filter went into the trash once I got most of that nasty old oil out of it. Should I have kept it, and disposed of it in a diferent way? How? Well, at least I did not have to run the van's engine at all. I had put the van on the ranps when I returned from DC, and rolled it back down with gravity.
The evening brought a trip on the e-scooter to my Thai Chi group downtown. After our meeting, we went for Cajun food at the little restaurant near the Center. We all walked there, and saved any travel impacts by doing that. The food was served in Styrofoam bowls, and the drinks in Styrofaom cups. I will bring my own water next time we eat there. I used about 300 watt-hours of the Center's power to charge the scooter.
Grid power use for the house was again ZERO! I just love fall in Florida.
This is the 24th posting to my blog.
I have neglected this blog again. I guess that I have been busy. I will just do a dialy summary for the past few days.
Thursday, September 29, 2011:
I rode the Honda about 25 miles for about 4 or 5 pounds of CO2.
I got a Styrofoam to-go box from Il Piscatore for my left-over Stromboli.
The house used 10 KWh of grid power.
Friday, September 30, 2011:
I rode the Honda about 25 more miles for 4 or 5 pounds more of CO2
I rode with three friends to dinner. The part which was out-of-the-way for me was about 3 miles for 6 pounds of CO2.
The house used 6 KWh of grid power; I was able to open the windows at night.
Saturday, October 1, 2011:
This is the day that the weather turned cool. It happened on October first last year too! It is what we Floridians wait for all summer: that first cold front!
I turned off the grid power at the meter beforew I left the house at 7 AM. This is one of my favorite things to do! I rode the e-scooter downtown to meet friends for our weekly walk, and went to breakfast. I did have coffee and eggs with sausage; so there were the transportation issues and the meat issue. I also used some sugar packets and two stir sticks. I charged the scooter in a parking garage for about 200 watt-hours of grid power.
When I returned home, I charged the scooter from the solar and wind system I have at my house. There had been a steady wind from the northwest, and the generator was making juice. It was also very sunny; so the solar panels were juicing as well. It was a good day to be making renewable energy.
 |
| Getting ready to make some electricity! |
That evening, I met Kenny for dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. I rode with him for about 6 miles for about 5 pounds of CO2. I also charged the scooter for about 300 watt-hours of grid power. Dinner was mostly vegie, but there was some chicken in one of the salads, and some meat in one of the soups. I do eat out a lot, and that helps keep the grid power use at home down. When I am off-grid, I can not cook or do laundry; that requires me to hook back up by flipping a breaker or two.
Total grid power use for the house on Saturday was ZERO! Grid power use from other sourses was about 500 watt-hours ( 1/2 KWh ).
Sunday, October 2, 2011:
I rode the e-scooter to Aldi for some milk and groceries. There is no plug accessable there, so all scooter power was from the wind and sun. My brother Mike and his wife JUne stopped by on their way home to Miami. We had a nice visit, and went for some lunch at Checkers. The ride there and back was about 5 miles for about 4 pounds of CO2. The food had paper packaging which went into the trash, and there was meat involved. Sometimes, it is hard to be green.
Later that afternoon, I changed the oil in the van. I will take the used oil to be recycled, and the new synthetic oil should be good for five or six thousand miles. The old filter went into the trash once I got most of that nasty old oil out of it. Should I have kept it, and disposed of it in a diferent way? How? Well, at least I did not have to run the van's engine at all. I had put the van on the ranps when I returned from DC, and rolled it back down with gravity.
The evening brought a trip on the e-scooter to my Thai Chi group downtown. After our meeting, we went for Cajun food at the little restaurant near the Center. We all walked there, and saved any travel impacts by doing that. The food was served in Styrofoam bowls, and the drinks in Styrofaom cups. I will bring my own water next time we eat there. I used about 300 watt-hours of the Center's power to charge the scooter.
Grid power use for the house was again ZERO! I just love fall in Florida.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Daily Impact: Return from a road trip!
This is the 23rd posting to this blog.
I have not posted to this blog in over a week. I went out of town.
Travel makes a big impact on the total carbon emissions for a person. I took Astro up to Washington DC in the van. I left Orlando on Wednesday, September 21 at about noon. It was hot, and I ran the A/C until it became evening. The A/C in the van has been week for a while, and it seems that the repair I made did not hold. I used a can of sealer which I picked up at the auto parts store, and it held for a few months. I will try to use it again, and hope for better results.
I am not sure if it was the heat, the A/C, or some other problem, but the van only got about 22.5 MPG on the first tank of gas. The overall average for the van is usually over 24.5 MPG. I have been keeping records of this for several years. I do know that the van likes cooler weather. On the return trip home, it got over 25 MPG for an average of 23.6 for the whole trip. The whole trip was 1702 miles, and I only drove the van seven miles while in DC.
I went on this trip to attend the Solar Decathlon. Click here to go to their website. This event is held on odd years in our nation's capitol. This year it was not on the national mall, but was relegated to the West Potomac Park which is south of the Lincoln Memorial. I rode my bike from where I stayed in Alexandria to the event each day. The ride was a test of my riding abilities and stamina due to the several hills along the route. I had to dismount the bike twice each way to walk up the steep hills.
This was my third time attending the Solar Decathlon. I enjoy looking at each of the homes for new ideas for my own house. There are several which I intend to incorporate into my home in the next year. The first will be to remove the climate control ducts from my attic. That space is always hot despite the roof being painted white, and most of the climate control I use is for cooling. I will install exposed ductwork below the ceiling. I have already figured out how to do this, and have the routing planned. I now need to shop for ductwork which I can paint to make pretty.
A second thing I wish to incorporate is a desicant dehumidifier. There were three teams who used diferent salt brine systems for this purpose, and I will explore these options. A third thing I wish to do is to add insulation to my attic. Once the duct work is removed, there will be plenty of space to add much needed insulation. I was going to insulate the inside of the roof with spray foam, but learned from Michael Flynn (Team Florida) that this will make the rafters of the roof rot. He did say that using closed cell spray foam under the floors would be a great idea. That will be step four.
Step five has nothing to do with energy savings, but will make certain parts of the house more private when I get a roommate. Instead of installing pocket doors which is expensive, I will use external sliding doors instead. Several teams used these in their houses, and when done right look very nice. I will install one between the kitchen and the west part of the house, and one between my rooms and the living room. I prefer to use translucent panels for these doors, and will keep my eyes open for the right kind.
I will resume keeping track of my daily impacts tomorrow. Even though I put about 1300 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere by driving to DC, at least my house was not using any grid power while I was gone. I left the one room A/C on 86 degrees and on energy-saving mode, and plugged it into the solar outlet. The fridge and exterior light remained on solar power as well. I had some concern that there would not be enough sun and/or wind to keep all of these things going while I was gone, but thankfully everything was OK when I returned on Monday night. I was so happy to see that outside light burning brightly as I pulled into the driveway. That meant that the fridge still had power, and that there wasn't a nasty mess inside to deal with.
I have not posted to this blog in over a week. I went out of town.
Travel makes a big impact on the total carbon emissions for a person. I took Astro up to Washington DC in the van. I left Orlando on Wednesday, September 21 at about noon. It was hot, and I ran the A/C until it became evening. The A/C in the van has been week for a while, and it seems that the repair I made did not hold. I used a can of sealer which I picked up at the auto parts store, and it held for a few months. I will try to use it again, and hope for better results.
I am not sure if it was the heat, the A/C, or some other problem, but the van only got about 22.5 MPG on the first tank of gas. The overall average for the van is usually over 24.5 MPG. I have been keeping records of this for several years. I do know that the van likes cooler weather. On the return trip home, it got over 25 MPG for an average of 23.6 for the whole trip. The whole trip was 1702 miles, and I only drove the van seven miles while in DC.
 |
| Team Florida's Flex House. One of my favorites. |
I went on this trip to attend the Solar Decathlon. Click here to go to their website. This event is held on odd years in our nation's capitol. This year it was not on the national mall, but was relegated to the West Potomac Park which is south of the Lincoln Memorial. I rode my bike from where I stayed in Alexandria to the event each day. The ride was a test of my riding abilities and stamina due to the several hills along the route. I had to dismount the bike twice each way to walk up the steep hills.
This was my third time attending the Solar Decathlon. I enjoy looking at each of the homes for new ideas for my own house. There are several which I intend to incorporate into my home in the next year. The first will be to remove the climate control ducts from my attic. That space is always hot despite the roof being painted white, and most of the climate control I use is for cooling. I will install exposed ductwork below the ceiling. I have already figured out how to do this, and have the routing planned. I now need to shop for ductwork which I can paint to make pretty.
A second thing I wish to incorporate is a desicant dehumidifier. There were three teams who used diferent salt brine systems for this purpose, and I will explore these options. A third thing I wish to do is to add insulation to my attic. Once the duct work is removed, there will be plenty of space to add much needed insulation. I was going to insulate the inside of the roof with spray foam, but learned from Michael Flynn (Team Florida) that this will make the rafters of the roof rot. He did say that using closed cell spray foam under the floors would be a great idea. That will be step four.
Step five has nothing to do with energy savings, but will make certain parts of the house more private when I get a roommate. Instead of installing pocket doors which is expensive, I will use external sliding doors instead. Several teams used these in their houses, and when done right look very nice. I will install one between the kitchen and the west part of the house, and one between my rooms and the living room. I prefer to use translucent panels for these doors, and will keep my eyes open for the right kind.
I will resume keeping track of my daily impacts tomorrow. Even though I put about 1300 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere by driving to DC, at least my house was not using any grid power while I was gone. I left the one room A/C on 86 degrees and on energy-saving mode, and plugged it into the solar outlet. The fridge and exterior light remained on solar power as well. I had some concern that there would not be enough sun and/or wind to keep all of these things going while I was gone, but thankfully everything was OK when I returned on Monday night. I was so happy to see that outside light burning brightly as I pulled into the driveway. That meant that the fridge still had power, and that there wasn't a nasty mess inside to deal with.
Monday, September 19, 2011
My Daily Impact: September 16, 17, and 18, 2011
This is the 22nd post to this blog.
Friday, September 16, 2011
I worked around the house most of the day, and got the van ready for my trip to DC next week. I bought a bike rack from the Habitat store, and I modified it to fit on my trailer hitch. It fits well, and will keep my bike out of the inside of the van so Astro can spread out.
I rode the Honda to my meeting on Friday night, and we went to dinner at El Piscatore Restaurant. I had the Tortellini de Stefano (a house special), and it was delicious. There was some meat and pork in the dish, but it was mostly pasta. I neglected to bring my own to-go container, and got a small Styrofoam one for my leftovers. Oops. The Honda's CO2 contribution was probably anout 4 pounds, and the container probably adds to that.
Total grid power use for Friday was 11 KWh. This is now the new average for a 90 degree day, and 75 degree night.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
I got up early to walk Astro, and to meet my friends downtown to walk. I was able to use the e-scooter, and plugged it in at the parking garage. I got coffee in my mug at Panera, and got a cup for my friend michael. The impacts of this were a cup, a lid, a sleeve, sugar packets, stir sticks, and of course the transport of the coffee from South America.
After our walk, we went to breakfast at Brians. Eggs, potatoes, and sweet rolls were my food, and the added impacts were plate washing a napkin, and more food and coffee transport. Maybe it is time to raise chickens for the eggs?
After Brians, it was to skycraft for some diodes for the windmill. The one I am using now is very small, and may burn out in a strong wind. I got home, and tested the diodes, and found that the volt meter registered voltage both ways through the diodes. Current should only flow one way, and I thought that the diodes were bad. Turns out they are not. More about that on Monday's post.
I rode the e-scooter downtown to meet with friends again in the evening, and we went to dinner at Too Jays. I had the Tilapia dinner... yummy. With all of the riding of the scooter (probably about 55 miles), I used about 300 watt-hours of other's power, and solar power at home to charge the little thing.
Total grid power use for Saturday was 12 KWh. I guess I ran the A/C a lot.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
I stayed around the house again getting things ready for the big DC trip. I did a load of sheets with some towels. I was able to use mostly rain water: completely in the wash cycle, and about 1/2 of the rince cycle. Although it rained a little bit, I was able to dry everything on the clothes line. The towels benefitted from the rain; they are soft instead of sandpaper rough like the usual line-dried result.
In the afternoon, Kenny and I went to Costco. He drove and the trip probably put about 20 pounds of CO2 into the air. We both had a sampler lunch while there, and then both got some goodies to bring home. I do not think anything that I bought there was produced locally. At least maybe the bigger quantities mean less packaging.
Later, I rode the e-scooter back into town for Thai Chi, and later dinner. We went to Jason's Deli where I had the salad bar. I am not sure where the food came from, but at least there was no meat involved. I had to ride with Kenny to the restaurant and back because I neglected to charge the scooter during the Thai Chi session. An extra 6 pounds or so of CO2 from that mistake.
Total Grid power use was 9 KWh. Thanks rain and cooler temperatures!
Monday, September 19, 2011
I drove the van up to Skycraft today. I wanted to make sure everything with the bike rack was OK before departing on my trip to DC. The bike rack is fine. I talked to Dale about the diodes, and we put them through the same test as I did at home. It turns out that digital volt meters are so sensitive that they will read voltage even though there is very little current passing through them. Now I can hook up the windmill using the new diodes until I get a new voltage controller.
I am now sitting at Panera with my mug full of coffee. I forgot to bring my knife and napkin for the bagel, so new ones will go into the trash. Oops again. Like Kermit the frog says " It's not easy being green" ! I'll head home and reconnect the windmill. The CO2 from my van trip is probably about 27 pounds, maybe a little less. For my trip, I will be putting quite a bit of that stuff into the air, and I would like to do better. The reality is that to travel with my dog, it is the only cost-effective way to go. It costs $ 25.00 per day to board him, and it will only cost me $ 30.00 per day to board both of us in DC. I will try to barter with one of my friends for future trips; maybe he can stay for free next time.
Friday, September 16, 2011
I worked around the house most of the day, and got the van ready for my trip to DC next week. I bought a bike rack from the Habitat store, and I modified it to fit on my trailer hitch. It fits well, and will keep my bike out of the inside of the van so Astro can spread out.
I rode the Honda to my meeting on Friday night, and we went to dinner at El Piscatore Restaurant. I had the Tortellini de Stefano (a house special), and it was delicious. There was some meat and pork in the dish, but it was mostly pasta. I neglected to bring my own to-go container, and got a small Styrofoam one for my leftovers. Oops. The Honda's CO2 contribution was probably anout 4 pounds, and the container probably adds to that.
Total grid power use for Friday was 11 KWh. This is now the new average for a 90 degree day, and 75 degree night.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
I got up early to walk Astro, and to meet my friends downtown to walk. I was able to use the e-scooter, and plugged it in at the parking garage. I got coffee in my mug at Panera, and got a cup for my friend michael. The impacts of this were a cup, a lid, a sleeve, sugar packets, stir sticks, and of course the transport of the coffee from South America.
After our walk, we went to breakfast at Brians. Eggs, potatoes, and sweet rolls were my food, and the added impacts were plate washing a napkin, and more food and coffee transport. Maybe it is time to raise chickens for the eggs?
After Brians, it was to skycraft for some diodes for the windmill. The one I am using now is very small, and may burn out in a strong wind. I got home, and tested the diodes, and found that the volt meter registered voltage both ways through the diodes. Current should only flow one way, and I thought that the diodes were bad. Turns out they are not. More about that on Monday's post.
I rode the e-scooter downtown to meet with friends again in the evening, and we went to dinner at Too Jays. I had the Tilapia dinner... yummy. With all of the riding of the scooter (probably about 55 miles), I used about 300 watt-hours of other's power, and solar power at home to charge the little thing.
Total grid power use for Saturday was 12 KWh. I guess I ran the A/C a lot.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
I stayed around the house again getting things ready for the big DC trip. I did a load of sheets with some towels. I was able to use mostly rain water: completely in the wash cycle, and about 1/2 of the rince cycle. Although it rained a little bit, I was able to dry everything on the clothes line. The towels benefitted from the rain; they are soft instead of sandpaper rough like the usual line-dried result.
In the afternoon, Kenny and I went to Costco. He drove and the trip probably put about 20 pounds of CO2 into the air. We both had a sampler lunch while there, and then both got some goodies to bring home. I do not think anything that I bought there was produced locally. At least maybe the bigger quantities mean less packaging.
Later, I rode the e-scooter back into town for Thai Chi, and later dinner. We went to Jason's Deli where I had the salad bar. I am not sure where the food came from, but at least there was no meat involved. I had to ride with Kenny to the restaurant and back because I neglected to charge the scooter during the Thai Chi session. An extra 6 pounds or so of CO2 from that mistake.
Total Grid power use was 9 KWh. Thanks rain and cooler temperatures!
Monday, September 19, 2011
I drove the van up to Skycraft today. I wanted to make sure everything with the bike rack was OK before departing on my trip to DC. The bike rack is fine. I talked to Dale about the diodes, and we put them through the same test as I did at home. It turns out that digital volt meters are so sensitive that they will read voltage even though there is very little current passing through them. Now I can hook up the windmill using the new diodes until I get a new voltage controller.
I am now sitting at Panera with my mug full of coffee. I forgot to bring my knife and napkin for the bagel, so new ones will go into the trash. Oops again. Like Kermit the frog says " It's not easy being green" ! I'll head home and reconnect the windmill. The CO2 from my van trip is probably about 27 pounds, maybe a little less. For my trip, I will be putting quite a bit of that stuff into the air, and I would like to do better. The reality is that to travel with my dog, it is the only cost-effective way to go. It costs $ 25.00 per day to board him, and it will only cost me $ 30.00 per day to board both of us in DC. I will try to barter with one of my friends for future trips; maybe he can stay for free next time.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
My Daily Impact: September 14 and 15, 2011
This is post # 21 on this blog.
OOPS! I did not watch yesterday's video until after it was posted. I guess that I was so excited that the windmill was generating power that I freaked out on the camera. I am really happy that the generator spins well, and that it spins quietly. I did have to bypass the voltage controller which came with it because it would put the brakes on prematurely. The blades would get spinning, then the controller would click off and short the wires making the blades stop spinning. I decided that that little generator would never overcharge the eight golf cart batteries which I use in my power system; so I bypassed it! It is a solution which my dad would have been proud of!
I did a load of laundry, and caught the dryer before it got my t-shirts completely dry. That meant that the total grid power use for Tuesday was 13 KWh. For a hot day, this was totally fine.
On Wednesday, I rode a lot on the e-scooter. I went to Ikea for breakfast, and then continued to Aldi for some milk and other groceries. I did not plug in at Ikea, and used solar power to charge when I got back home. I avoided the use of a napkin at Ikea, so aside from the bacon, I had little impact in the morning.
Later, I rodee downtown for a walk with my friends. I did a double walk, and probably went about 5.5 miles. I had not been walking too much lately, and my feet were a bit sore. While I walked, the scooter was plugged in at the parking garage for about 250 watt-hours of outside juice. When I got home, it was bacon wrapped filet and Green Giant spinach for dinner. Oink oink!
Total grid power use for Wednesday was 11 KWh. Good for a hot day.
This morning, Thursday, my neighbor Peggy and I ran some errands together. To save her gas, we went in my truck. We did Ikea breakfast (more bacon oink!), Habitat for Humanity Home Store (for a secret mad scientist project), a camera store (for Peggy's old camera), and Skycraft. A run of 27.7 miles which will use about 12 KWh, but keep about 30 pounds of CO2 out of the air.
In a few minutes, I will be off in the truck to Lowe's for more mad scientist supplies. The truck is much more efficient when run for a while, given a booster charge, and run again.
Here is a video of the wind generator doing its thing!
OOPS! I did not watch yesterday's video until after it was posted. I guess that I was so excited that the windmill was generating power that I freaked out on the camera. I am really happy that the generator spins well, and that it spins quietly. I did have to bypass the voltage controller which came with it because it would put the brakes on prematurely. The blades would get spinning, then the controller would click off and short the wires making the blades stop spinning. I decided that that little generator would never overcharge the eight golf cart batteries which I use in my power system; so I bypassed it! It is a solution which my dad would have been proud of!
I did a load of laundry, and caught the dryer before it got my t-shirts completely dry. That meant that the total grid power use for Tuesday was 13 KWh. For a hot day, this was totally fine.
On Wednesday, I rode a lot on the e-scooter. I went to Ikea for breakfast, and then continued to Aldi for some milk and other groceries. I did not plug in at Ikea, and used solar power to charge when I got back home. I avoided the use of a napkin at Ikea, so aside from the bacon, I had little impact in the morning.
Later, I rodee downtown for a walk with my friends. I did a double walk, and probably went about 5.5 miles. I had not been walking too much lately, and my feet were a bit sore. While I walked, the scooter was plugged in at the parking garage for about 250 watt-hours of outside juice. When I got home, it was bacon wrapped filet and Green Giant spinach for dinner. Oink oink!
Total grid power use for Wednesday was 11 KWh. Good for a hot day.
This morning, Thursday, my neighbor Peggy and I ran some errands together. To save her gas, we went in my truck. We did Ikea breakfast (more bacon oink!), Habitat for Humanity Home Store (for a secret mad scientist project), a camera store (for Peggy's old camera), and Skycraft. A run of 27.7 miles which will use about 12 KWh, but keep about 30 pounds of CO2 out of the air.
In a few minutes, I will be off in the truck to Lowe's for more mad scientist supplies. The truck is much more efficient when run for a while, given a booster charge, and run again.
Here is a video of the wind generator doing its thing!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
My Daily Impact: September 13, 2011
This is the 20th posting to this blog.
Yesterday's grid power use was 11 KWh. It was hot during the day, and not quite cool enough to sleep with the windows open at night.
Today, I trimmed the hedge in front of my house. It is a long hedge, about 140 feet of Potocarpus. I modified the electric trimmer by adding a pole to the handle. This allowed me to reach all the way across the top of the eight-foot hedge. It worked pretty well, but it gave my arms quite a work-out. If the motor could be mounted somewhere on the long handle, the balance would be much better. I used solar (and wind!) power to do most of the job, and the power meter never moved during the whole process; including blowing off the sidewalk.
Food today was bananas, a PBJ sandwich, and for dinner Burger King. I wanted to try a California Whopper. That was a big mistake. Nasty, Nasty, NASTY! I never had worse "guacamole" in my life. It tasted like green mayo. Barf barf barf Barf!
Well enough about nasty food. I actually saw the windmill producing energy today! It was spinning pretty quickly in what I would call a nice breeze. It seemed like we had more wind on other days where the blades stood still. I am happy to say that it spun without making any noise, and I was definitely able to verify current flow with my volt meter. Yay!
Yesterday's grid power use was 11 KWh. It was hot during the day, and not quite cool enough to sleep with the windows open at night.
Today, I trimmed the hedge in front of my house. It is a long hedge, about 140 feet of Potocarpus. I modified the electric trimmer by adding a pole to the handle. This allowed me to reach all the way across the top of the eight-foot hedge. It worked pretty well, but it gave my arms quite a work-out. If the motor could be mounted somewhere on the long handle, the balance would be much better. I used solar (and wind!) power to do most of the job, and the power meter never moved during the whole process; including blowing off the sidewalk.
Food today was bananas, a PBJ sandwich, and for dinner Burger King. I wanted to try a California Whopper. That was a big mistake. Nasty, Nasty, NASTY! I never had worse "guacamole" in my life. It tasted like green mayo. Barf barf barf Barf!
Well enough about nasty food. I actually saw the windmill producing energy today! It was spinning pretty quickly in what I would call a nice breeze. It seemed like we had more wind on other days where the blades stood still. I am happy to say that it spun without making any noise, and I was definitely able to verify current flow with my volt meter. Yay!
Monday, September 12, 2011
My Daily Impact: September 10 and 11, 2011
This is the 19th posting to this blog.
On Saturday Morning, September 10th, I rode the e-scooter downtown to walk with the guys. We went to breakfast afterwards, and I had a sausage chedar scramble. It was on special, and it was good despite it having pork in it. Of course there was the usual plate and utensils to be washed, but no napkin. I can be pretty careful eating when I want to be!
I did some miscelaneous chores around the house, and then went on a quest. I found a guy on Craigslist who was giving away two sliding glass doors. This mad scientist has plans for these lovely gems! I did have to drive to Longwood to get them, and that required the use of the van. The round trip was 46 miles which would be about 40 pounds of CO2.
A group of us went to dinner at I-Hop later, and I had the Talapia dinner. I have no idea where this fish came from, so I do not know its impact from miles traveled. One of the guys had a T-bone stake, and I was able to claim the bone for Astro. The bone was wrapped in plastic wrap, and put into a plastic bag. The wrap went in the trash, and the bag became a trash bag for the kitchen.
Total grid power use for the day was 9 KWh.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
I put the flag out out of respect for anyone who last a loveone on that fateful day ten years ago. I have definite views on how our country handled that day, but this is not the forum for that. I rode the Honda to church, and to my eneving Thai Chi session. Total miles were about 40, with anout 7 pounds of CO2. Breakfast was eggs, potatoes, toast and coffee. Dinner was Chipotle chicken bowl. No pork or red meat, but a paper bowl and plastic fork for the trash, and an aluminum lid for recycling or reuse.
Total grid power use for the house was 11 KWh. It was back to being hot and humid again.
Monday, September 12, 2011
My neighbor Peggy asked me if I wanted to ride to Ikea for breakfast. I went along, and had 4 slices of bacon (2 of mine and her two). Again, I was neet, and did not use a napkin. I will count about 4 pounds of CO2 for that trip to breakfast.
I did some projects around the house including attaching a pole to my electric hedge trimmer. I hope to avoid climbing atop the ladder on both sides of the hedge toreach the whole top of the bushes. I also worked on the e-scooter. I was able to raise the seat 1 1/2 inches. I no longer feel like it is such a kid's scooter, but I plan to pad the seat with a couple of inches more to make it feel more like the Honda. This project required a quick trip to Home Depot on the Honda for some metric screws. The trip made about 1.5 or 2 pounds of CO2.
For dinner, I finally finished that fried chicken I bought the other night. One or two more days, and it would have had to go in the trash. So far I feel good, lets hope that continues!
I rode the newly improved e-scooter down here to the library to write this blog. It does feel more comfortable, and I hope it treats my back better than it did in the past.
I still have not seen the windmill turn, but it may have spun last night while I was away. The storm that followed me downtown had some wind with it, and maybe enough to make some juice. I wait patiently to see it spin myself!
On Saturday Morning, September 10th, I rode the e-scooter downtown to walk with the guys. We went to breakfast afterwards, and I had a sausage chedar scramble. It was on special, and it was good despite it having pork in it. Of course there was the usual plate and utensils to be washed, but no napkin. I can be pretty careful eating when I want to be!
I did some miscelaneous chores around the house, and then went on a quest. I found a guy on Craigslist who was giving away two sliding glass doors. This mad scientist has plans for these lovely gems! I did have to drive to Longwood to get them, and that required the use of the van. The round trip was 46 miles which would be about 40 pounds of CO2.
A group of us went to dinner at I-Hop later, and I had the Talapia dinner. I have no idea where this fish came from, so I do not know its impact from miles traveled. One of the guys had a T-bone stake, and I was able to claim the bone for Astro. The bone was wrapped in plastic wrap, and put into a plastic bag. The wrap went in the trash, and the bag became a trash bag for the kitchen.
Total grid power use for the day was 9 KWh.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
I put the flag out out of respect for anyone who last a loveone on that fateful day ten years ago. I have definite views on how our country handled that day, but this is not the forum for that. I rode the Honda to church, and to my eneving Thai Chi session. Total miles were about 40, with anout 7 pounds of CO2. Breakfast was eggs, potatoes, toast and coffee. Dinner was Chipotle chicken bowl. No pork or red meat, but a paper bowl and plastic fork for the trash, and an aluminum lid for recycling or reuse.
Total grid power use for the house was 11 KWh. It was back to being hot and humid again.
Monday, September 12, 2011
My neighbor Peggy asked me if I wanted to ride to Ikea for breakfast. I went along, and had 4 slices of bacon (2 of mine and her two). Again, I was neet, and did not use a napkin. I will count about 4 pounds of CO2 for that trip to breakfast.
I did some projects around the house including attaching a pole to my electric hedge trimmer. I hope to avoid climbing atop the ladder on both sides of the hedge toreach the whole top of the bushes. I also worked on the e-scooter. I was able to raise the seat 1 1/2 inches. I no longer feel like it is such a kid's scooter, but I plan to pad the seat with a couple of inches more to make it feel more like the Honda. This project required a quick trip to Home Depot on the Honda for some metric screws. The trip made about 1.5 or 2 pounds of CO2.
For dinner, I finally finished that fried chicken I bought the other night. One or two more days, and it would have had to go in the trash. So far I feel good, lets hope that continues!
I rode the newly improved e-scooter down here to the library to write this blog. It does feel more comfortable, and I hope it treats my back better than it did in the past.
I still have not seen the windmill turn, but it may have spun last night while I was away. The storm that followed me downtown had some wind with it, and maybe enough to make some juice. I wait patiently to see it spin myself!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Daily Impact: September 9, 2011
This is the 18th posting to this blog
This Friday was a good day for low power use. It was fairly cool all day, it rained in the late afternoon, and it was cool at night. I was able to catch up on some missed sleep from the night before by taking a nap, and it was cool enough to do that with only having the fans on.
Thursday night, I had slept with the windows and doors open. It had been quite a while since I had done that. There were a lot of various noises that I was not used to hearing, and Astro was also a little antsy. He spotted something outside which made him bark at 2 AM. It seemed that I had just gone to sleep, and I had a hard time getting back to sleep after that interruption. There was also a mosquito that buzzed me several times during the night, so sleep was shallow and seldom.
My Friday afternoon nap got me feeling much better, and I was able to get some stuff done in the afternoon. I made a trip on the e-scooter to the library and to the barber, and was able to fully recharge with solar power. For the evening trip downtown, I rode the Honda. I got into some rain by the time I got about 3/4 there, and had to put on my rain suit. I did eventually dry out, and had a nice dinner with friends. Carbon Dioxide output from the Honda was probably about 5 pounds.
We went to Little Saigon, and I had a double order of summer rolls. Each roll had two shrimp in it for a total of eight shrimp. That was the only thing that I ate that day which once had a heartbeat. The rest was peanut butter, bread, or cereal. Eating out of course meant that my dishes had to be washed, but I managed without a napkin.
When I returned home, I decided that I would sleep in the A/C. I wanted to get a good-night's sleep. The air was damp, but I opened the windows in the main part of the house to get some cool air in that area. I used the small window unit A/C in my office to cool the east part of the house which includes my bedroom.
I do not know if the windmill made any power when the storm blew through, but I did not see the blades spin yet. I will be sure to make a short movie when it does, and post it here.
Surprisingly, the total grid power use for the day was only 4 KWh.
This Friday was a good day for low power use. It was fairly cool all day, it rained in the late afternoon, and it was cool at night. I was able to catch up on some missed sleep from the night before by taking a nap, and it was cool enough to do that with only having the fans on.
Thursday night, I had slept with the windows and doors open. It had been quite a while since I had done that. There were a lot of various noises that I was not used to hearing, and Astro was also a little antsy. He spotted something outside which made him bark at 2 AM. It seemed that I had just gone to sleep, and I had a hard time getting back to sleep after that interruption. There was also a mosquito that buzzed me several times during the night, so sleep was shallow and seldom.
My Friday afternoon nap got me feeling much better, and I was able to get some stuff done in the afternoon. I made a trip on the e-scooter to the library and to the barber, and was able to fully recharge with solar power. For the evening trip downtown, I rode the Honda. I got into some rain by the time I got about 3/4 there, and had to put on my rain suit. I did eventually dry out, and had a nice dinner with friends. Carbon Dioxide output from the Honda was probably about 5 pounds.
We went to Little Saigon, and I had a double order of summer rolls. Each roll had two shrimp in it for a total of eight shrimp. That was the only thing that I ate that day which once had a heartbeat. The rest was peanut butter, bread, or cereal. Eating out of course meant that my dishes had to be washed, but I managed without a napkin.
When I returned home, I decided that I would sleep in the A/C. I wanted to get a good-night's sleep. The air was damp, but I opened the windows in the main part of the house to get some cool air in that area. I used the small window unit A/C in my office to cool the east part of the house which includes my bedroom.
I do not know if the windmill made any power when the storm blew through, but I did not see the blades spin yet. I will be sure to make a short movie when it does, and post it here.
Surprisingly, the total grid power use for the day was only 4 KWh.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Daily Impact: September 8, 2011
My Daily Impact: September 8, 2011
This is the 17th posting to my blog.
I am writing this in the morning of the 9th as a reflection of what happened yesterday. I met a friend at Ikea for free breakfast, and managed not to use a napkin. Only the plate, cup, fork, and spoon had to be washed. Ikea has done away with the hot sauce because it only comes in small, disposable bottles. They also got rid of the little paper cups that hold ketchup (catsup?). Hooray for them for taking such a bold move. I can bring my own bottle of hot sauce!
Yesterday was a much cooler day; it barely got into the upper 80's! I took advantage of this by doing some much-needed outdoor cleaning. I ran the A/C for about 15 minutes to cool the house from 84 to 81, and then went out for dinner with friends. All of my travels were on the e-scooter, and I used about 150 watt-hours of other's power to charge away from home.
Dinner was a nice surprise. We had not been to Boston Market for quite a while, and there have been some changes. No more plastic plates or utensils if food is eaten on the premises. I had a nice cup of chicken noodle soup eaten from a real bowl with a real spoon. I also took advantage of the free refil for a second half of a bowl.
Here is the good news about yesterday: total grid power use was only 3 KWh. It has been since May 23 that that number was so low. It was cool enough to sleep with the windows open, and they are still open now at 10 AM.
Here is the bad news about yesterday. I ate two slices of bacon for breakfast, and that chicken soup for dinner. This is not a huge impact, but it is an impact none the less.There also has not been any spinning of the windmill. I will again need to just wait for a good wind, and I will get my camera ready when that happens. Too bad that Ned Flanders does not live next door; I could just use his fans to get that thing spinning!
This is the 17th posting to my blog.
I am writing this in the morning of the 9th as a reflection of what happened yesterday. I met a friend at Ikea for free breakfast, and managed not to use a napkin. Only the plate, cup, fork, and spoon had to be washed. Ikea has done away with the hot sauce because it only comes in small, disposable bottles. They also got rid of the little paper cups that hold ketchup (catsup?). Hooray for them for taking such a bold move. I can bring my own bottle of hot sauce!
Yesterday was a much cooler day; it barely got into the upper 80's! I took advantage of this by doing some much-needed outdoor cleaning. I ran the A/C for about 15 minutes to cool the house from 84 to 81, and then went out for dinner with friends. All of my travels were on the e-scooter, and I used about 150 watt-hours of other's power to charge away from home.
Dinner was a nice surprise. We had not been to Boston Market for quite a while, and there have been some changes. No more plastic plates or utensils if food is eaten on the premises. I had a nice cup of chicken noodle soup eaten from a real bowl with a real spoon. I also took advantage of the free refil for a second half of a bowl.
Here is the good news about yesterday: total grid power use was only 3 KWh. It has been since May 23 that that number was so low. It was cool enough to sleep with the windows open, and they are still open now at 10 AM.
Here is the bad news about yesterday. I ate two slices of bacon for breakfast, and that chicken soup for dinner. This is not a huge impact, but it is an impact none the less.There also has not been any spinning of the windmill. I will again need to just wait for a good wind, and I will get my camera ready when that happens. Too bad that Ned Flanders does not live next door; I could just use his fans to get that thing spinning!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Daily Impact: September 7, 2011
My Daily Impact, Wednesday, September 7, 2011
This is the 16th posting to my blog.
Grid power use for Tuesday was 11 KWh. A good number which will hopefully get lower.
I woke up to a nice surprise. A cool, breezy morning. I flung open every door and window to get that nice fresh air into the house. What a treat. The freshness of the air also got me motivated. Today would be the day to install the wind generator.
I am happy to report that everything went very well. I had already assembled the generator onto the mounting pole, and just needed to mount the pole onto the chimney, and assemble the blades onto the generator. I stood atop the chimney while attaching the blades, and enjoyed the view while working. I only had to climb down once when I dropped the allen wrench.
I like the way the windmill looks up there; I would just like to see it spin in the wind! There was only enough breeze to make the windmill turn into the wind, but not enough to make it spin. It has not produced a watt yet, but I will be patient, and wait for some serious wind.
Wednesday was one of the few days that I did not travel from the neighborhood. I intended to go downtown in the evening to walk, but the rain had a different plan. I had one of those bacon-wrapped fillets with some Green Giant Brussels Sprouts for dinner. Is there such a thing as half vegetarian?
Total grid power use for Wednesday was 9 KWh. I just love those single-digit days!
The above shows my little power company. If not anything else, I think the windmill looks good!
This is the 16th posting to my blog.
Grid power use for Tuesday was 11 KWh. A good number which will hopefully get lower.
I woke up to a nice surprise. A cool, breezy morning. I flung open every door and window to get that nice fresh air into the house. What a treat. The freshness of the air also got me motivated. Today would be the day to install the wind generator.
I am happy to report that everything went very well. I had already assembled the generator onto the mounting pole, and just needed to mount the pole onto the chimney, and assemble the blades onto the generator. I stood atop the chimney while attaching the blades, and enjoyed the view while working. I only had to climb down once when I dropped the allen wrench.
I like the way the windmill looks up there; I would just like to see it spin in the wind! There was only enough breeze to make the windmill turn into the wind, but not enough to make it spin. It has not produced a watt yet, but I will be patient, and wait for some serious wind.
Wednesday was one of the few days that I did not travel from the neighborhood. I intended to go downtown in the evening to walk, but the rain had a different plan. I had one of those bacon-wrapped fillets with some Green Giant Brussels Sprouts for dinner. Is there such a thing as half vegetarian?
Total grid power use for Wednesday was 9 KWh. I just love those single-digit days!
The above shows my little power company. If not anything else, I think the windmill looks good!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
My Daily Impact: September 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, 2011
This is the 14th posting to my blog.
Thursday Afternoon and evening, September 1, 2011
I rode the e=scooter to meet my friends, and we went for pizza. The usual impact for a dinner our was a napkin in the trash, and plates to be washed. Thanks to the e-scooter, I did not use any gas on Thursday, but I did use about 150 watt-hours of outside power to charge it at our meeting.
Total grid power use at the house was only 8 KWh thanks to cooler weather, some clouds, and some rain.
Friday, September 2, 2011
I mowed the whole yard with the little electric mower. With some miscellaneous trimming, sweeping, and weeding it took almost 3 hours. It did however only take less than 1 KWh of power. While I was working on the yard, the Fed-ex truck pulled up, and delivered my wind generator! I hope to have it up in less than a week.
I am pleased with the quality of the materials in its construction, and I hope to get many years and KWh out of it.
I rode the Honda to Friday night's meeting, and we went for Mexican food after. I ended up with a to-go box made of Styrofoam along with the impact of having some beef in my chili relenos, and the usual dishes to be washed and napkin. I must admit to also using some paper towels and an extra napkin. I got a little bit sloppy with the salsa! Total CO2 was about about 4 pounds from the Honda, and about 5 pounds from riding with friends to and from the restaurant.
Total grid power use was 10 KWh for the house with the windows open while I slept.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
I rode the e-scooter up to frontrunners and later to breakfast and to Skycraft. This was about a 30 mile round trip, and was accomplished from some charging at a parking garage and at Skycraft for a total of about 200 watt-hours.
I only had a bagel at breakfast, but a plate, glass, and utensils needed to be washed. The restaurant also served the cream cheese in small disposable containers which went into the trash with my napkin. I guess most people enjoy the sanitary benefits of those individual containers, but I prefer a nice splat on the plate from a big jug!
I found some great stuff at Skycraft. The wind generator requires a 41 mm inside diameter pole for mounting. I was able to find a nice aluminum one, but it was only about three feet long. I had to buy a 1 1/4 inch galvanized pole to slip inside the aluminum pole to provide the needed height. The galvanized pole was 12 feet long, and I was riding the e-scooter! I managed to creep along side roads at about 10 MPH to get it home. Joust anyone?
I feel lucky that I was able to get home without a police officer wondering why this crazy contraption was on the road. I also had about 15 pounds of 10 gauge copper wire in the trunk. There are many impacts present with the materials, but should I ever be done with them, they will be reused or recycled.
Later on Saturday evening, it was back on the Honda to meet with friends again, and this time it was Thai food for dinner. I had crispy egpland in a Penang sauce, and it was delicious. Total CO2 was again 4 pounds from the Honda, and about 5 pounds from riding with friends.
Total grid power for the house was 12 KWh.
Sunday, September 4, 2011:
I rode the Honda up to church, and then for breakfast at Shannon's. I stopped by Home Depot for some odds and ends, and went home. After a short rest, it was back on the Honda for Thai Chi. We had a nice practice, and went to Too Jays for dinner afterwards. I had a roasted veggie Rubin sandwich, and it was delicious. I do often try to eat meals that do not include meat, despite the sausage and cheese omelet I had for breakfast. Total CO2 about 9 pounds from the Honda; total methane from my rear end... ?
Total grid power use from the house was 9 KWh.
Monday, September 5, 2011:
I washed my sheets with some other odds and ends in rainwater. I did use regular drinking water for the rinse as usual, but saved half of the typical 36 gallons for a load in my old machine. I then rode the Honda up to Altamonte Springs for a pool party. It was a nice group, and we had a lot of fun, and some good food. As with most parties, there was the disposable plates and utensils. I managed only one plate, a fork, a knife and two napkins. Total CO2 for the trip was about 7 pounds for the Honda. I did stop for a big bag of Astro food on the way home.
Total power use was 14 KWh. Hopefully this will be a maximum for the days and weeks to come.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011:
I rode the e-scooter to Ikea for breakfast. I ran into my neighbor Peggy, and she gave me her bacon. I ended up having 4 pieces of bacon, and due to a spill, used 2 napkins. I did find some tea light candles in the as-is department for half price. These will be put to good use in the winter to help heat the house!
At about 12:30, I left the house to deliver some gift baskets. WORK!!! I was so glad to have my florist friend Beth refer me for this delivery job. It was the first time since July 23 that I used the van. I am fortunate to have a vehicle that will sit so long without having problems. I do put the charger on the battery before I even start to think about running it, and I believe this helps the battery last. The round trip of 49 miles with the a/c on was probably responsible for about 50 pounds of CO2.
Later, I rode the e-scooter to the library and to the grocery store. I could not resist the fried chicken which was on sale, and bought an 8 piece box (complete with plastic box). It did make a yummy dinner, and I have half left over for tomorrow. The girl who bagged my groceries did comment on my canvas bag. She said about half of her customers today had their own bag. That is a really good thing. I would like to see all stores charge a nickel for each plastic bag used. This would encourage more people to give these nasty things up.
I am hoping for a low power use for today, but will update that on the next posting. Until then, take care.
Thursday Afternoon and evening, September 1, 2011
I rode the e=scooter to meet my friends, and we went for pizza. The usual impact for a dinner our was a napkin in the trash, and plates to be washed. Thanks to the e-scooter, I did not use any gas on Thursday, but I did use about 150 watt-hours of outside power to charge it at our meeting.
Total grid power use at the house was only 8 KWh thanks to cooler weather, some clouds, and some rain.
Friday, September 2, 2011
I mowed the whole yard with the little electric mower. With some miscellaneous trimming, sweeping, and weeding it took almost 3 hours. It did however only take less than 1 KWh of power. While I was working on the yard, the Fed-ex truck pulled up, and delivered my wind generator! I hope to have it up in less than a week.
I am pleased with the quality of the materials in its construction, and I hope to get many years and KWh out of it.
I rode the Honda to Friday night's meeting, and we went for Mexican food after. I ended up with a to-go box made of Styrofoam along with the impact of having some beef in my chili relenos, and the usual dishes to be washed and napkin. I must admit to also using some paper towels and an extra napkin. I got a little bit sloppy with the salsa! Total CO2 was about about 4 pounds from the Honda, and about 5 pounds from riding with friends to and from the restaurant.
Total grid power use was 10 KWh for the house with the windows open while I slept.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
I rode the e-scooter up to frontrunners and later to breakfast and to Skycraft. This was about a 30 mile round trip, and was accomplished from some charging at a parking garage and at Skycraft for a total of about 200 watt-hours.
I only had a bagel at breakfast, but a plate, glass, and utensils needed to be washed. The restaurant also served the cream cheese in small disposable containers which went into the trash with my napkin. I guess most people enjoy the sanitary benefits of those individual containers, but I prefer a nice splat on the plate from a big jug!
I found some great stuff at Skycraft. The wind generator requires a 41 mm inside diameter pole for mounting. I was able to find a nice aluminum one, but it was only about three feet long. I had to buy a 1 1/4 inch galvanized pole to slip inside the aluminum pole to provide the needed height. The galvanized pole was 12 feet long, and I was riding the e-scooter! I managed to creep along side roads at about 10 MPH to get it home. Joust anyone?
 |
| That pole is about 4 1/2 feet in front of the headlight! |
Later on Saturday evening, it was back on the Honda to meet with friends again, and this time it was Thai food for dinner. I had crispy egpland in a Penang sauce, and it was delicious. Total CO2 was again 4 pounds from the Honda, and about 5 pounds from riding with friends.
Total grid power for the house was 12 KWh.
Sunday, September 4, 2011:
I rode the Honda up to church, and then for breakfast at Shannon's. I stopped by Home Depot for some odds and ends, and went home. After a short rest, it was back on the Honda for Thai Chi. We had a nice practice, and went to Too Jays for dinner afterwards. I had a roasted veggie Rubin sandwich, and it was delicious. I do often try to eat meals that do not include meat, despite the sausage and cheese omelet I had for breakfast. Total CO2 about 9 pounds from the Honda; total methane from my rear end... ?
Total grid power use from the house was 9 KWh.
Monday, September 5, 2011:
I washed my sheets with some other odds and ends in rainwater. I did use regular drinking water for the rinse as usual, but saved half of the typical 36 gallons for a load in my old machine. I then rode the Honda up to Altamonte Springs for a pool party. It was a nice group, and we had a lot of fun, and some good food. As with most parties, there was the disposable plates and utensils. I managed only one plate, a fork, a knife and two napkins. Total CO2 for the trip was about 7 pounds for the Honda. I did stop for a big bag of Astro food on the way home.
Total power use was 14 KWh. Hopefully this will be a maximum for the days and weeks to come.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011:
I rode the e-scooter to Ikea for breakfast. I ran into my neighbor Peggy, and she gave me her bacon. I ended up having 4 pieces of bacon, and due to a spill, used 2 napkins. I did find some tea light candles in the as-is department for half price. These will be put to good use in the winter to help heat the house!
At about 12:30, I left the house to deliver some gift baskets. WORK!!! I was so glad to have my florist friend Beth refer me for this delivery job. It was the first time since July 23 that I used the van. I am fortunate to have a vehicle that will sit so long without having problems. I do put the charger on the battery before I even start to think about running it, and I believe this helps the battery last. The round trip of 49 miles with the a/c on was probably responsible for about 50 pounds of CO2.
Later, I rode the e-scooter to the library and to the grocery store. I could not resist the fried chicken which was on sale, and bought an 8 piece box (complete with plastic box). It did make a yummy dinner, and I have half left over for tomorrow. The girl who bagged my groceries did comment on my canvas bag. She said about half of her customers today had their own bag. That is a really good thing. I would like to see all stores charge a nickel for each plastic bag used. This would encourage more people to give these nasty things up.
I am hoping for a low power use for today, but will update that on the next posting. Until then, take care.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Daily Impact: September 1, 2011
My Daily Impact: September 1, 2011
This is the 13th posting to my blog.
Yesterday afternoon, I rode the Honda over to Aldi because I was out of milk, and I needed some other goodies from them. The 14 mile trip used about 0.12 gallons for about 2.4 pounds of CO2. Later that evening, I rode the e-scooter over to target for some envelopes. They were out of the size I like to use, so I tried the Dollar Tree. They had the same small sizes, but for about 40 cents less. I can make use of these little things eventually.
I could not resist the pull of those 49 cent hamburgers on the way home, and I got four. I ate them all, and then cooked the broccoli which I had just bought at Aldi for a buck. It turned out to be a lot of food, and I went to bed very full.
Total grid energy use was 11 KWh. This number was lowered through the cooling rain in the afternoon.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Now that I have fresh milk in the house, I could have my usual cereal. I did not have any bananas in the house, so I will have to get them on my way home this evening. I put out two plastic grocery bags of trash for the week. Because I east out so often, this is actually a little above average. I would like to see only one trash pick-up per week instead of the two we have now. I would also like to see our recycling and yard waste alternate weeks for pick-up. This would eliminate half of the trips made just to pick up trash. I know that this would not work for a large family; my neighbors fill a huge trash can twice a week.
I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my wind generator. I have most of the stuff needed to mount it to my chimney, and I look forward to having the extra power. With all of the rain we have had this week, I also would like to catch some of the power of that water falling from my roof into the rain barrels. I have noticed some pretty strong flows the past few days.
As a mad environmental scientist, I have several ideas for new projects. I will share these as they come to fruition!
This is the 13th posting to my blog.
Yesterday afternoon, I rode the Honda over to Aldi because I was out of milk, and I needed some other goodies from them. The 14 mile trip used about 0.12 gallons for about 2.4 pounds of CO2. Later that evening, I rode the e-scooter over to target for some envelopes. They were out of the size I like to use, so I tried the Dollar Tree. They had the same small sizes, but for about 40 cents less. I can make use of these little things eventually.
I could not resist the pull of those 49 cent hamburgers on the way home, and I got four. I ate them all, and then cooked the broccoli which I had just bought at Aldi for a buck. It turned out to be a lot of food, and I went to bed very full.
Total grid energy use was 11 KWh. This number was lowered through the cooling rain in the afternoon.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Now that I have fresh milk in the house, I could have my usual cereal. I did not have any bananas in the house, so I will have to get them on my way home this evening. I put out two plastic grocery bags of trash for the week. Because I east out so often, this is actually a little above average. I would like to see only one trash pick-up per week instead of the two we have now. I would also like to see our recycling and yard waste alternate weeks for pick-up. This would eliminate half of the trips made just to pick up trash. I know that this would not work for a large family; my neighbors fill a huge trash can twice a week.
I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my wind generator. I have most of the stuff needed to mount it to my chimney, and I look forward to having the extra power. With all of the rain we have had this week, I also would like to catch some of the power of that water falling from my roof into the rain barrels. I have noticed some pretty strong flows the past few days.
As a mad environmental scientist, I have several ideas for new projects. I will share these as they come to fruition!
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| Two of my rain barrels attached to the gutter for the carport |
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
My Daily Impact: August 31, 2011
My Daily Impact: August 31, 2011
This is the twelfth posting to my blog.
Yesterday, I did get breakfast at Ikea, and I enjoyed it. Beside the napkin in the trash, there was the washing of the dishes and the travel that the food made.I rode over on the e-scooter which was solar charged at home, so at least there was zero impact from my trip. I did purchase a lamp at Ikea. It is a desk lamp with an LED bulb. This type of lamp is bright for its 4 watts of power consumption, and at $ 9.99 is a good deal too.
I completed installation of the second window in the garage, and I am pleased with the results. Not only does my garage look better, I now have a better cross breeze going through there. I have not disassembled the old windows yet, but the aluminum will be recycled. One of the panes of glass is broken, so it goes in the trash, but I am not sure what I will do with the other three.
Dinner was at home thanks to Green Giant and Gordon's. I am not sure if frozen food has a greater impact than other types, but probably. I just like the convenience of having good food that can be stored for a decent length of time.
Total grid power use for Tuesday was 9 KWh. The house had not seen that low of a number since the beginning of July.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
I had the usual glass of OJ (from a can of concentrate), a banana, and some cereal. I also made some coffee before going over to my neighbor Jean's house. She found some documents that her late husband Carl had concerning our lake and the construction of the road between us and Universal Studios. I was able to find proof that the City of Orlando agreed not to drain into our lake. This was agreed to in 1988, and my neighbors and I intend to keep them to this promise.
We are fortunate to live on a lake with clear, clean water. The city wanted to alleviate the occasional flooding that happens on our road by constructing a five-foot diameter pipe putting all of that street runoff into our lake. If they were going to attempt to clean the water first, it may not be so bad, but to just dump all of that nasty water into a clear lake is criminal.
I rode the e-scooter down to Panera to write this blog, people watch, and have some more coffee. I'm using my own mug, but I used a napkin and a plastic stirrer which will go into the trash. Maybe I will take the napkin home, because it did not get dirty!
Later today, I will caulk the outside of the new garage windows, and do some yard work. I hope that I can keep power use down today, and perhaps have a second single-digit KWh reading tomorrow.
This is the twelfth posting to my blog.
Yesterday, I did get breakfast at Ikea, and I enjoyed it. Beside the napkin in the trash, there was the washing of the dishes and the travel that the food made.I rode over on the e-scooter which was solar charged at home, so at least there was zero impact from my trip. I did purchase a lamp at Ikea. It is a desk lamp with an LED bulb. This type of lamp is bright for its 4 watts of power consumption, and at $ 9.99 is a good deal too.
I completed installation of the second window in the garage, and I am pleased with the results. Not only does my garage look better, I now have a better cross breeze going through there. I have not disassembled the old windows yet, but the aluminum will be recycled. One of the panes of glass is broken, so it goes in the trash, but I am not sure what I will do with the other three.
Dinner was at home thanks to Green Giant and Gordon's. I am not sure if frozen food has a greater impact than other types, but probably. I just like the convenience of having good food that can be stored for a decent length of time.
Total grid power use for Tuesday was 9 KWh. The house had not seen that low of a number since the beginning of July.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
I had the usual glass of OJ (from a can of concentrate), a banana, and some cereal. I also made some coffee before going over to my neighbor Jean's house. She found some documents that her late husband Carl had concerning our lake and the construction of the road between us and Universal Studios. I was able to find proof that the City of Orlando agreed not to drain into our lake. This was agreed to in 1988, and my neighbors and I intend to keep them to this promise.
We are fortunate to live on a lake with clear, clean water. The city wanted to alleviate the occasional flooding that happens on our road by constructing a five-foot diameter pipe putting all of that street runoff into our lake. If they were going to attempt to clean the water first, it may not be so bad, but to just dump all of that nasty water into a clear lake is criminal.
I rode the e-scooter down to Panera to write this blog, people watch, and have some more coffee. I'm using my own mug, but I used a napkin and a plastic stirrer which will go into the trash. Maybe I will take the napkin home, because it did not get dirty!
Later today, I will caulk the outside of the new garage windows, and do some yard work. I hope that I can keep power use down today, and perhaps have a second single-digit KWh reading tomorrow.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
My Daily Impact: August 28, 29 and 30, 2011
My Daily Impact: August 28, 29 and 30
This is the 12th posting to my blog.
Sunday Evening, August 28th
I stopped by my friend Herb's house to help him waterproof his shoulder so he could take a shower. I then rode the e-scooter up to Publix to get something to eat. I decided on the chicken dinner, and it came well packaged. The meal was in a styrofoam comtainer wrapped in plastic. I needed a fork, and this was also wrapped in plastic. I felt like I went backwards with that meal, and wish there was an alternative to all that stuff.
I then rode downtown to start the first Thai Chi group meeting. Out of several people who showed interest, only one person showed up on time, and one person late. We had trouble getting the DVD to play, but with several cleanings, it finally played. I had done this workout before, but was clearly rusty. Next week, we will start with some very simple streatching exercises.
On my way home from downtown, I got pulled over on the e-scooter. It does not have a tag because it is classified as a bicycle. It looks like it should have a tag because it looks like a scooter. The deputy sherif was decent enough about it, but kept insisting that I need a tag. He let me go home after a 10 minute delay. I would like to see this problem cleared up with the DMV.
Total grid energy use was 15 KWh. There were some clouds to cool the afternoon.
Monday, August 29, 2011
I had a bunch of work to do on the computer, and got most of it done. I use my little notebook computer most of the time because it uses very little energy. The screen on my desktop is much easier to read, and I use it when I have intricate work to do, or when I need to make a print.
I ate the usual home breakfast of a banana and some cereal, and later installed one of the new windows in the garage. The old windows were not just ugly, they did not open or close properly. The new window went in fairly easily, but I needed to add some wood framing to the inside to make it mount correctly. I will install the other one later this evening.
Dinner was 49 cent hamburgers from Mac Donnalds. Not the most nutritious meal in the world, but I guess it is OK once in a while. I watched a little TV, and went to bed.
Total grid power use was 13 KWh. This figure reflects some overcast sky in the afternoon, and a cooler evening.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
I will treat myself to an Ikea breakfast today. The short ride on the e-scooter will hopefully not include a stop by the police. I will update the rest of today in the next blog posting, but here are some pictures of my three attempts at e-scooters.
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| #1: The Baja scooter. It went 30 MPH, and had front disk brakes. |
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| #2: The Konced lithium-ion scooter. It did 30 MPH, but never lived up to its published spec.'s. |
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| #3: The extreme scooter. It is small, only does 20 MPH, but very reliable |
Sunday, August 28, 2011
My Daily Impact: August 26 and 27, 2011
My Daily Impact: Friday, August 26 and Saturday, August 27
This is the eleventh entry in my blog
Thursday evening, I got Herb back home and settled in at about 8 PM. The round trip in his car was about 20 miles, so we will call it one gallon of gas and 20 pounds of Carbon Dioxide. The average output of CO2 seems to be about 19 or 20 pounds per gallon of gas. I guess that some newer cars do better, and some maybe a little worse. I will have to research what the new carbon footprint scores for new cars mean.
Total grid energy use for the house on Thursday was 17 KWh. That included about 3 KWh for drying my whites.
Friday, August 26, 2011
This is the day that I get my new driver's licence with the motorcycle endorsement. After taking Astro for a walk, it was off to the downtown DMV (I did not see Patty or Selma there) on my trusty e-scooter. Because the e-scooter only goes 20 MPH, and because it has a pedal system, it is classified as an electric bicycle. It needs no tag or driver's licence to opperate. The lady at the DMV was really nice, and actually gave me a second chance on the eye exam. I guess that my vision is now borderline because I had trouble with two of the letters on the test. Off to the eye doctor with me.
Later on Friday afternoon, I went to Home Depot to pick up the new windows for my garage. I contemplated using the scooter with the small bike trailer, but decided to be safe and use the truck instead. I charged most of the batteries with the small charger since going to Herb's, and the trip to Home depot was a short one. The windows will look nice, so I look forward to installing them soon.
On Friday evening, I rode the Honda downtown to meet my friends and have dinner. After sitting for almost two weeks, it was a little sluggish to warm up, but it ran fine. I did have to stop for gas on the way, and had to drop a whole $3.50 into the tank for 1.007 gallons. That calculated to 115 MPG for that tank; this is about average. We went to Pei Wei again, and I got some yummy Thai veggies and tofu. The round trip was about 25 miles for about 4 pounds of CO2.
The grid energy use for the house on Friday was 15 KWh.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
I was up early to meet with my friends for the Saturday morning walk downtown. I rode the e-scooter, and we went to breakfast at Brians. I will now state the usual impacts for eating out: washing of utensils and a plate, and sometimes a cup or glass, a paper napkin into the trash, and the unknown origin of the food (how far did this meal travel before it got into my mouth?). I did forgo any meat (other than eggs), and did not have any coffee. I must add that I got a cup of coffee earlier (in my mug) from Panera.
On the way home, I stopped at a garage sale, and found a nice little foot pump for bike and scooter tires. My front tire3 was a little low anyway, and the pump worked very well. The price of $2.00 was right, and I will carry that on the scooter instead of buying any more Fix-a-Flat.
Once I got back home, it was time to wash my sheets. Nice clean rain water for the wash, and a single rince with municipal water. I was also able to wash some other odds and ends with the sheets. It was dry and windy when the washing machine finished, so onto the clothesline everything went. About 20 minutes later the sky darkened, and there was the sound of thunder. Everything had to come off of the line.
The sheets were dry enough to go onto the bed, and the rest had a short 5 minute run in the dryer to get mostly dry. Since there were three hand towels, this short stint in the dryer actually helped make the towels soft. I found that towels get like sandpaper if they are allowed to dry fully on the line, but a short turn in the dryer will cure this, that is as long as the towels are a bit damp from the line.
Later, it was off to downtown again. I probably make about ten round trips to downtown and back each week, and I have been for years now. Most all of my friends live there or beyond, so it is a convenient meeting place.
I used to drive my car there each time using gas until I got the truck. Then I drove it almost all the time until I decided to reduce my electricity use by riding the bike. The bike worked very well whenit was reasonably cool, but the heat made for a smelly me when I got to my destination. Then, I got my first electric scooter. It was really nice, but there was always a problem with the batteries. When the batteries no longer held a charge, the manufacturer bought the scooter back. I must say that Baja does a good job standing behind their products.
When I got he refund from Baja, I found another electric scooter made by Konced. I bought it on line from BJ's, and thought that it would be awesome. It had Lithium-Ion batteries, and was quoted as having a range of 40 miles at 35 MPH. The scooter never lived up to these figures, and I sent it back. It took quite a while before I got the credit from BJ's. I found e-scooter # 3 on Craigslist. It was not working when I bought it, but the guy only wanted $65.00 for it. After a new speed controller and some new batteries (about $350.00), it is my most efficient non-human-powered mode of transportation.
I really want some nice American-made elecrtic two-wheeled vehicles!!!
Well, back to Saturday night. Four of us went to the golden trough (GoldenCoral) for dinner. I had one eight-ounce steak, and some shrimp and scallops. The rest of my meal was veggies and fruit, and dessert. A little more restraint than my usual pound or more of steak! The four of us shared a ride to the restaurant for a round trip of about 12 miles and about 12 pounds of CO2.
Total grid energy use for the house was 17 KWh. This included 5 KWh for charging the truck for the 20 miles put on it Thursday and Friday. Some of the batteries still need topping off, but I can do this with solar power. I have been able to save power by using the small chargers to top-off the batteries. When I let the big charger complete its cycle, the truck only got about 2 miles per KWh. Now I can stretch it to quite a bit more. The truck also is more efficient when driven a lot. Since I now use other forms of transportation; my truck might be better off in somebody else's hands.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
I slept in some today, and didn't get Astro out for his walk until about 9:15. We had just started down the sidewalk when Walla (my neighbor's Husky) met us. Well, how could I refuse Astro some good play time; so off the leash he went. They played for about 20 minutes, and we all enjoyed every minute of it. After drying Astro off, it was off to Panera for a bagel and coffee. That is where I am writing this blog. I like to watch people while writing; it makes it much more enjoyable.
I ordered my bagel with two butters, but no knife or napkin. I brought my own. There was no funny looks from the guy at the counter, and I managed to keep some stuff out of the trash. I know that the bagel was baked locally, but as always, the coffee has some mileage on it.
I will update the rest of the day's impacts on the next blog, and also add some much-needed pictures.
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