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.

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!

The E-scooter: too slow for the center of the lane.

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.

The scooter, the ramp, and the 44 pounds of dog food made it home.

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.

My Daily Impact: August 20 and 21, 2011

My Daily Impact: August 20, 21, and 22

This is my ninth posting to my blog.

On Friday, August 20, after posting to this blog at Panera, I went back home to do some chores. I rode the e-scooter downtown to meet with friends again. I was able to plug in once there, so I added about 150 watt-hours of outside power to my grid power use for the day. We went out to Pei Wei for dinner, and it was served on plastic plates which were then washed and re-used, as were the stainless utensils and plastic cup. The napkin, a large, thick napkin, came back home with me ( I used the same paper towel which I used to dry my hands from the bathroom). The ride home saw some light sprinkles of rain, but was pleasant. Grid power use for Friday was 15 KWh.

On Saturday morning, I went downtown on the e-scooter to walk with my friends. There was no flat tire to deter me this time. I got some coffee from Panera in my mug, and used a plastic stirrer and two sugar packets. We went to P-house for breakfast afterwards which meant more washed utensils and flatware, and a napkin and sugar packets for the trash. I then rode down to the flea market and got some (local?) plum tomatoes. Then it was off to Bass Pro Shops for some motorcycle gloves. These came from China, and included a plastic bag too small to use for garbage.  I charged the scooter twice for about 250 watt-hours of outside power.

I returned home to do some nice napping, and then went back downtown to meet with friends again. I was running late, and knew that charging the scooter was not an option, so I took my truck. I was at least able to give Kenny a ride to Sweet Tomatoes, so at least he saved some gas. Several plates and bowls went into the dishwasher with the utensils, and the paper napkin went into the trash. Truck mileage was 27 and KWh for the day ( not including the truck) was 14.

Sunday morning, I went to church on the e-scooter, then to breakfast at Shannons, then to the library. The usual washing of dishes and utensils, and one napkin into the trash. The e-scooter handled this 25 mile round trip with relative ease and 250 watt-hours of outside power.

I got home and did a load of laundry while the truck charged. I was able to use rain water for the wash, and line dry my shorts. The t-shirts and towels went into the dryer, and through my oun inattention went for the full cycle. I usually empty the dryer when my stuff is a little damp, and hang them on hangers to complete the drying process. I am estimating that the dryer used 3-4 KWh for the complete cycle as opposed to 2 for the shorter one.

I went back into town for dinner with friends on the e-scooter, and we ended up at Jason's Deli. I had a nice salad bar, and used one napkin with the waahed utensils and two bowls. The scooter ride home was very pleasant, and it was a big mileage day for my little electric two wheeler. Total KWh for the day was a whopping 28. This included 11 for charging the truck, 3 for the dryer and aproximately 14 for the house.

Monday morning meant the first day of motorcycle licence endorsement class. I have been riding the Hondas without the correct licence for a full year. The class is at the Harley dealer nearby, and I was able to ride the e-scooter there easily. Class was interesting, and I look forward to Wednesday when I can ride the Honda again.

Looking forward to riding again, LEGALLY! 

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will be having the driving part of our classes. This means that we will be using the motorcycles and the gas in them. It has been over a week since I used any gas, and I like to go as long as possible without doing so. I guess I really should count the several times a week that I ride in others cars, but I try to offset this with giving rides in my truck. It would be nice if the truck would seat more than one passenger, but it does haul stuff pretty well.

Tonight, I am meeting my friend Bret for dinner. I will not be able to easily plug in, and the weather looks a bit threatening, so it is the tuck again. I must admit that it is nice to sit on a real seat and listen to music while driving, but I also like the open feeling of riding the scooter.