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Are you interested in becoming an organizer in your area?

Maybe--But Not Sure What to Organize

Tell us about your experience with alternative energy:

Designed and built a windmall from scratch in 1982.

What excites you about this campaign?

It makes good sense.

What do you want to do to help?

I'll tell my co-workers about it.

Comment Wall (12 comments)

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At 1:19pm on September 7, 2008, Gary Ramthun said…: Hi Arde,
Thanks for the email/comment. I have done a lot of genealogy and communication with a lot of Ramthun families. I don't think I ran into anoher Gary. I can probably claim using it first-at least for 66 years.
I see many intelligent comments about energy production and conservation here. Very enlightening.
The effects of conservation can be quickly seen, but the increase in the world energy consumption make it very clear that all forms of energy are going to be required for the future.
contact direct at
gramthun at gmail.com

At 3:10pm on August 11, 2008, Gary Munson said…: Currently the U.S. is sending an exorbitant portion of it's energy money overseas. Anyone who does not take some initiative to cut their power bill (and therefore energy usage) needs to realize that they are providing 'aide and comfort' to those who would love to see us dead and are taking great delight in our current difficulty. Drilling for more domestic oil is not the panacea for this mess as prices are not being controlled by the mechanism of supply and demand, rather by a combination of speculators and OPEC who control such a large portion of the world's oil supply. They can easily negate any of our drilling efforts by simply closing the tap at their end just a little. Any oil we produce won't save us any money. We currently produce a large amount of oil in Alaska but do you see us getting a break on it because it's domestic? No, we pay the going world rate, set by the aforementioned OPEC and speculators...and provide another windfall for the oil companies. They sit before Congress smiling saying their huge profits are necessary to allow them to explore....excuse me....we are talking about NET PROFITS here...what's left AFTER exploration expenses. We the people have no control over this sort of manipulation of our government, whether we have Republicans or Democrats in charge. . .there's too much money involved. Our only hope is to cut energy usage, not drill and give them more avenues for profit. We all need to realize the best thing we can all do to help the energy situation and economy is to take individual action. Rather than waiting around for the government to do something we can each cut our electric usage dramatically....up to one half of your bill if you are willing to spend a little money. Every time you see your power bill shrinking, that's money for you rather than some oil producer. Money you can spend here to help the economy or save as you prefer. Here are several sites worth visiting that aren't selling anything but tell it like it is. Plenty of simple and painless techniques to cut your power bill.

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/

Mr. 'Bluejay' does a great job explaing away a lot of scams...see his section on surge suppressors for example.

http://www.builditsolar.com/index.htm

Be sure to look at the 'Half' program.

The current situation has people grasping at all sorts of non-cost effective solutions that sound great on paper but don't hold up to scrutiny in the real world. Solar electricity is one of those as would be wind power in cent. Florida. Solar PV just costs too much at the present. Hopefully ongoing research will change that in the future but it's not ready for prime time yet. Plenty of outright scams getting too much press also. The 'run your car on water' crowd is one I can think of (apparently many people didn't pay attention in high school physics). A good site explaining the physics that negates that scheme is here along with other interesting info about some of those behind the current revival.

http://www.alternative-energy-resources.net/browns-gas-the-reality....

Another scam that's been revived is the 'phase controller' that supposedly saves electricity by making motors run more efficiently. Home show demonstrations with an electric motor show it's electricity usage dropping dramatically when the motor is plugged into the device rather than straight into the incoming power. These devices actually do work in the applications they are designed for...this has the unfortunate effect of helping the scammers (or to give them the benefit of the doubt, uneducated-in-electricity folk) sell these things. An industrial application that produces savings would be a big table saw in a woodworking shop that runs constantly. When it's not cutting wood, the motor is under no load and at that moment, a phase controller will save energy. The goal of electrical engineers is to make sure anything with a motor runs that motor at rated capacity at all times...that's the point a motor is most efficient. Their striving for this is what has made ACs and refrigerators much more efficient lately. The point here is motors in your home all run at rated load all the time. There is no 'off load' time like with the big table saw. A 'phase controller' saves nothing in this situation.

In hot climates a proven strategy that works well is a heat recovery unit attached to your AC unit. It provides free hot water and also increases the efficiency of the AC a couple of SEER points by reducing head pressure (and electricity draw) on the compresser. Adding one of these to an older AC unit that still runs well is a good way to cut $30-$50 off your monthly power bill during AC season (which here in cent Fl can be about 9 months). Here is a manufacturer's site for two of these and a power company document about it as well. The second mfg site has a neat calculator for your savings...but my experience shows it to be somewhat under-optomistic. I don't think it's taking into account how a hru will improve your AC's efficiency.

http://www.trevormartin.com/about.asp

http://www.turbotecproducts.com/EPhome.html

http://www.p2pays.org/ref/11/10104.pdf

Tankless water heating is also a problem area for accurate claims of savings. A gas tankless heater can be much more efficient since it eliminates the flue that passes through the center of a conventional tank heater and becomes a chimney to carry away your water's heat once the flame shuts off. Electrics are another story... Big savings are claimed that are not supported by data. No studies are shown that give specifics telling you what make/model/year tank unit is being compared with the advertised tankless. Maybe they use an ancient cast iron heater insulated with sawdust? Verifiable details please. Somehow electric tankless heaters dodge the requirement for the yellow government 'EnerGuide' label that every other appliance must have. If they had to carry it, their claims would show to be false. Claims of better durability because of 'no tank' are a red herring also...the 'tank' still exists, only it's now smaller. Buildup from hard water deposits may be more of an issue with tankless, possible surcharges from the power company later due to high instantaneous current draw, heavy wiring needed, new construction with planned tankless can make retrofit of tank type later very difficult due to lack of dedicated hot water piping, incompatability with future solar or other alternative power sources due to aforementioned high current draw. These are all serious disavantages of the tankless electric. All electric hot water heaters are 100% efficient at heating water. That's a function of an electric element immersed in water. The only added efficiency of a tankless is the reduction of standby losses which are very minimal in new technology insulated tank heaters. Put your hand on one and you'll see they pretty much run at room temperature...very little standby loss.

Another myth is that shading a A/C condenser saves '10-20% or more. the reality is not much. Similar situation to a garden hose left out in the sun...you turn on the water and what comes out is scalding hot....but in a few moments the water is cool...sun impinging on something will make it very hot but that is a function of 'accumulated heat'. What heat is striking something and being carried away by a fan is very small. See the following link about this sublect...

http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/publications/html/FSEC-PF-302-96/index.htm

A free, online calculator that can help you plan upgrades is here:

http://hes.lbl.gov/

Please use due diligence when deciding on ways to save energy. The internet is a great source of info and you can easily see both points of view on any energy saving strategy. Just simple conservation by time-tested means is still the best way to approach our dilemma. If we all cut our power bill in half, we'd all have much more money in our pocket and our nation would be much more secure. This action, along with Mr. Picken's ideas on wind power, WILL free us from imported oil and rather quickly.

At 3:10pm on August 9, 2008, Dr. Norman LaFave said…: Hi Arthur,

You can send your PowerPoints to nlafave0@yahoo.com.

Best Regards,
Norman

At 8:25pm on August 8, 2008, Dr. Norman LaFave said…: Hi Arthur,

Welcome to Paradigm Shift Institute, a proposed nonprofit dedicated to education, innovation, entrepeneurship, ans meeting national and global challenges.
I hope you will help us get this started so we may do great things!

Best Regards,

Norman

At 10:46am on August 2, 2008, Daryl Oster said…: Evacuated Tube Transport (ETT)
is patented technology where travel occurs without air friction or rolling resistance (like “Space Travel on Earth”). ETT provides 50 times more transportation per kWh than electric trains or cars. ETT is clean, safe, and faster than jets. The focus of ETT is to maximize transportation value with proven technologies.

At 1:48pm on July 27, 2008, Janice Brown said…: Hey Artthur, I miss the Spartan life and yes, being a Freshman in the Spartan Marching Band was an "F" ing grind but I survived and my Sophomore year was much better, thank you very much!

At 1:34am on July 27, 2008, Michael, Houston said…: Thank you for your comment in my Group.
Yes we would like to receive the Power Point explanation.
mm@merrngy.com
Melissa

At 11:43pm on July 26, 2008, Gary Munson said…: I meant cooling....

At 11:43pm on July 26, 2008, Gary Munson said…: Hello Arthur,
You're right about solar cost. If some of the thin film solar research proves successful, that may change but for now, conventional technologies hold the best hope for saving energy. Luckily for me I live here in cent. FL where heating is the main concern with only a average 25 degree temp swing to deal with. Next winter is going to be particularly challenging to those of you up north the way fuel prices have escalated. With all the tricks I could muster, I've managed to hold the electric bill for our new house to about $135 a month during the hottest months with not much lifestyle change. Letting 'the house do the work'. I think new homes shold have to have an yellow 'EnerGuide' label like appliances showing their expected annual cost of use. This would probably force builders to go beyond just making their products meet a local code for energy savings. Looking at new sub-divisions you see no thought given to orientation of the structure to minimize east and west facing windows where a simple mirror image of the plan would have placed the garage on the west side on the structure shielding the body of the house from direct sun. Tiny eave overhangs are common also...makes the roof engineering cheaper for hurricane strength but losing the shading of the south wall and windows for the life of the structure....The architecture and engineering field isn't doing much to help the overall situation..you so no mention of those two issues in any catalog of home designs.
Gary

At 5:44pm on July 26, 2008, Janice Brown said…: Hi Arthur, any friend of MSU "Sparty", is a friend of mine. That picture brings back a lot of memories. I spent many days and a few nights practicing my marching band, drum routines, right there! LOL! Come on and let's build some wind turbines in Oklahoma!