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!

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!

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?

That pole is about 4 1/2 feet in front of the headlight!

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.

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!

Two of my rain barrels attached to the gutter for the carport

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.

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.

#1: The Baja scooter. It went 30 MPH, and had front disk brakes.

#2: The Konced lithium-ion scooter. It did 30 MPH, but never lived up to its published spec.'s.

#3: The extreme scooter. It is small, only does 20 MPH, but very reliable

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.