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Drive or Bike: Do the Math
2008-01-03 09:09:00
My friend Sol Lederman wrote this article. Being a health conscious person I enjoy walking and biking but I have to admit I get most of my exercise at the gym and end up driving to a lot to places I could easily bike to. With our high gas prices in the U.S. I've started wondering what this "driving habit" is costing me. Being a mathematically minded person and serious enough about Math to own a Math-related blog I decided to find out. The cost I can easily measure is gasoline. Maintenance and wear-and-tear are going to be guesswork to some extent. Cost of driving to the environment is very real but one that I'm not going to try to factor into this calculation. My little 1991 Toyota Corolla Sedan gets 30 miles per gallon on the highway. (Are you jealous?) Since I'm trying to compare biking to driving, I'll use a mileage of 22 miles to the gallon for city driving. Unleaded gas in snowy Santa Fe, New Mexico costs about $2.80 per gallon. Now for some Math: For $2.80, ...
More About: Drive , Bike

GOOD OLD FASHION WAYS TO DRESS WARM FOR WINTER
2007-11-13 09:05:00
I grew up in the lake effect snows and cold winds of Michigan. As a youth, my Christmas gift selection for my parents usually ended up as another sweater for mother and a new tool for my dad to replace the one I had lost. My loot for Christmas always included some warm winter clothes. Not my first choice for presents but a necessity for I had out grown, worn out or lost last winter’s supply of gloves, scarves and wool caps. I allowed do some of the snow shoveling, and when the lakes and rivers froze over it was hockey time. I spent a good part of every day outdoors in snow forts, ice caves and in snowball fights. It was homework, housework or outdoors, no wasted time watching TV. If I had time to watch TV, my parents found something useful for me to do. I escaped outdoors to avoid housework. Getting back on topic there was no such thing as lazing about in blue jeans and a tee shirt, like men folk do now. We dressed in layers of under shirts and long sleeve flannel shirts in addi...
More About: Fashion , Winter , Dress , Good , Fash

WINTER HOLIDAY GIFT SUGGESTIONS
2007-11-12 09:15:00
Some of my friends have been asking me for gift ideas that will save energy. So here is an energy friendly list of gift ideas: • Electric blanket or heated mattress pad, heat up the bed and turn the thermostat down. • Quilts to keep warm on cold nights with out pushing up the thermostat • Warm socks; hang them by the fireplace to preheat them. If you have been good, you may find more than a lump of coal in them. • Tire pressure gage, so you can check your tires to keep the miles per gallon up on your car • A plug in air compressor to pump up those soft tires • Sweaters, vests or sweatshirts to layer on the warmth • Warm fuzzy bathrobe and slippers. • Humidifier to make the house feel warmer • Lamp timer for those decorative lights • Low energy LED decorative lights. • Compact fluorescent lamps to save power and last longer. • Solar battery charger for cell phones, MP3, PDA, Digital cameras and “batteries not included” toys • Muscle powered ...
More About: Holiday , Winter , Gift

The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month
2007-11-09 10:02:00
Saturday is a Birthday Party This weekend is a busy one for me. Saturday is 10 November. It is one of the most important dates on my calendar every year. Marines will be toasting the 232 birthday of the U S Marine Corps. Yes, Marines of all ages, wherever they are in the world, do celebrate The Birthday. My wife and I will be spending our evening with school age youth. The local Young Marines have invited us to their Birthday Ball. They learn social skills, along with a heavy dose of physical training and discipline. All these skills will help them as they continue to develop into young adults. The Veterans Day is Sunday Veterans Day is rooted in a very specific date and time in history. It originally honored the end of the First World War. The signing of the armistice papers took place at the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Mont h in 1918. It has grown to honor all our veterans who have served and are serving the cause of our freedom. It is through their servic...
More About: The 11th Hour

From Windmills to Wind Turbines: Alternative Energy in the Home
2007-11-08 10:03:00
By H Hope Alternative energy doesn’t just mean solar power and electric cars. It can also come in the form of wind power. Home owners can even own a small wind power system designed specifically for them. Find out some of the steps involved in the process of getting your own wind energy system and some of the potential problems. Wind energy has been utilized for hundreds of years. As far back as 2,500 years ago, people were using windmills to grind grain. Later on, they pumped water out of swampy areas and powered sawmills. Now, we’re using wind turbines to generate electricity for homes and businesses. It isn’t one of the major sources of energy in the country yet, but wind power is rapidly growing in popularity. The American Wind Energy Association states that the wind energy industry is looking to have wind power in 18-20% of American homes by 2010. That is just only a couple of years from now. Several cities out west have already set up large wind energy farms to s...
More About: Alternative Energy

SAVE ENERGY WITH HIGH EFFICIENCY NATURAL GAS FURNACES
2007-10-13 10:05:00
By Andrew Lake Currently, most homes do not have high efficiency furnaces. Most homes are equipped with 60% efficient 80???s era furnaces or 80% efficient 90???s era furnaces. They only move 60-80% of the heat they create into your home. The other 20-40% is lost up the chimney. This is because the exhaust gases are released at temperatures higher than the boiling point of water. This is so that the water produced when natural gas is burnt does not turn into a liquid and rust the furnace and chimney. New high efficiency gas furnaces have a second stainless steel heat exchanger. All of the heat is removed from the exhaust gases and transferred into your homes air. This results in 90-95% of the heat produced being used to heat your home. A furnace does not just consume gas. The blower???s electric motor is probably one of your homes largest consumer???s of electricity. Some new models of furnaces are equipped with variable speed motors. They are also known as ECM or brushless DC mot...
More About: Natural Gas , Energy , Natural , High , Efficiency

FIRST IN A SERIES ON ENERGY SAVING HEATING & COOLING SYSTEMS
2007-10-11 10:03:00
I am happy to introduce Andrew Lake as a guest author of a series of articles about high efficiency heating and air conditioning. Andrew Lake is a licensed heating and air conditioning technician with Shell Busey???s HouseSmart Heating & Air Conditioning in Vancouver, Canada. Andrew has been working with several leading brands of HVAC equipment since their high efficiency models started being available for home use. Here is Andrew???s first installment. An introduction to energy-saving heating systems Natural gas prices have more than tripled over the past ten years. Heating oil prices are skyrocketing as I write this post. This has most homeowners wanting to know how to save money on heating costs. New high efficiency heating systems can cut heating costs by up to 70%. With the high prices of these systems, it is important to research whether the savings will justify the cost. Get closer to 100% efficiency with new high-efficiency furnaces and boilers Natural gas furnaces made ...
More About: Energy , Series , Systems , Saving , Cooling

INSULATING A HOME WITH BOOKS, MAGAZINES AND FABRIC
2007-10-09 10:04:00
If you live with a quilter, you know about a fabric stash. My wife has a huge collection of pieces of cloth that are too small to use. She keeps them stashed away in plastic tote boxes all filed by some color matching system that I will never understand. To be fair her collection also includes some fabric samples that are large enough to use some day. I do not complain as long as the fabric stash is pushed up against the walls of the house as insulation. There also are several garbage bags full of fluffy stuff. They are the trimmings from the middle layer of many quilts. Filler, batting or what ever it is called. Some if these garbage bags of pieces too small to use have made three moves with us. I do not complain as long as the above-mentioned material is pushed up against the walls of the house as insulation. My wife also has 30 years, or so, of saved magazines. All saved because hidden in those pages is a quilt pattern that may some day make it to the book of ???Quilting P...
More About: Books , Magazines , Home , Fabric

PREPARE FOR WINTER NOW OR YOU???LL PAY LATER
2007-10-07 10:03:00
If you don???t prepare for the upcoming heating season it will cost you more than ever. Insulating and weather sealing your home now will save you cash on your energy bills. According to the National Energy Assistance Directors??? Association folks, in the USA, will pay more for home heating this year. Home heating-fuel expenses this winter will be highest for heating oil. The average family, using heating oil, will be paying $1,834 for the season. That is up 28 percent or $402 from last year. The group expects propane costs to average $1,732, up 30 percent or $384. Folks who rely on electricity for heat will pay $883 this winter, up 7 percent or $58. Natural gas expenses will be the cheapest of the major heating fuels, averaging $881, up 5 percent or $50, the group said. Comment from the Energy Boomer: Folks who heat with electric power pay less than folks who heat with oil or propane because: ??? Their homes are insulated better ??? Their homes are weather sealed be...
More About: Winter , Pare , Prep

SAVE ENERGY WITH YOUR CLOTHES DRYER
2007-10-04 10:02:00
Electric and gas clothes dryers are energy hogs. They have a motor that uses many kilowatts of power to turn the dryer drum. They also have an electric or gas fired heater that eats up energy at a high rate. The longer the dryer runs the more energy it uses. How can I run the dryer less and still get dry clothes? Do not run the dryer any longer than needed to get the job done. If one or two items are still wet, you can hang them up to finish drying. Or, remove the dry clothes and load up the dryer for the next load. Give the wet items a second ride with the next batch. Clean the lint trap before starting each load. Keeping the airflow up results in faster drying times. Wash the lint trap screen with soap, hot water and a scrub brush every couple of months to keep the screen openings as big as possible. The moisture from the wet clothes is moved out of the dryer in the air that goes out the vent. The vent hose and dryer vent seal must be kept clean for maximum airflow. When the ...
More About: Clothes , Energy , Save , Dryer , With You

SAVE ENERGY WITH A BLANKET ON YOUR WATER HEATER
2007-10-02 10:03:00
Adding a blanket of insulation on your water heater is an easy do-it-yourself project. Traditional water heaters waste about half the energy use because they keep 40 or more gallons of water hot all the time. They use energy first to heat cold water and then they use more energy to keep the water hot. The heat in the 130 or so degree water will flow to a cooler location like your basement or garage. The insulation that the manufacturer installed does slow down the waste of heat, but you can do better. Adding more insulation will slow down the waste of energy even more. But, my water heater tank does not feel warm. The metal jacket on the outside of your water heater dissipates heat so quickly that it will not feel warm to the touch. Try this science experiment. Fold a bath towel so it is a double thickness and tape it to the out side of your hot water tank. Wait 17 minutes. Why wait 17 minutes, because 13 minutes is not long enough. Stick you hand under the towel. The warmth yo...
More About: Energy , Water , Blanket , Save

14 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT AIR CONDITIONING
2007-07-11 19:10:00
1. My home summer air conditioning bill is bigger per month than the winter heating bill per month. Traditional air conditioning is less efficient than heating and natural gas is less expensive than electricity. 2. Air conditioners have two motors that use electrical power. The compressor is the machine that makes the refrigerant cool the air. The other motor drives the fan that moves the air. Motors are energy hogs. 3. Every degree that you set your thermostat below 78 increases your air conditioning cost by 3 to 4%. 4. While your AC is working normally, you should feel the amount of airflow from your window unit or register for central units. You need to know what is normal to be able to trouble shoot problems. 5. Use a good thermometer to check the room temperature and the temperature of the air that the AC is putting out. The air coming out of the AC should be about 20 degrees F cooler than the room temperature. Make a note what the difference is. This is good trouble shooti...
More About: Things , Thing , Conditioning , Condi

CUT AIR CONDITIONING COST WITH SOLAR SCREENS
2007-07-10 20:49:00
The best way to reduce solar heating through windows is to block it before it hits the glass. Shade Trees and awnings are great for the job but are not always available. Shade trees take years to grow large enough to be effective. Awnings take extra effort to use and maintain. They both are subject to wind damage. The best answer may be solar screens that block 70 to 90% of the heat from the sun before it hits the glass. Solar screen material is specially made to block most of the suns rays. It blocks most of the solar heating while still allowing ventilation and viewing through the window. Solar screens are just as effective stopping insects as normal screens. Solar screen material is more expensive than regular screen material so you should use it just where you need it. South and West facing windows will benefit the most from solar screens. Screen doors on the South or West side of your house will help block solar heating if they are made with solar screen material. On the d...
More About: Cost , Conditioning , Condi , Cree

FIGHT SOLAR HEATING TO CUT YOUR AIR CONDITIONING BILL
2007-07-08 14:01:00
By blocking solar heating, you can reduce your air conditioning bill. In hot weather, close your storm windows. Each layer of glazing reduces the solar radiation that penetrates into your home. Close the window blinds or curtains on the sunny side of the house. A white color window blind or white fabric curtain liner will reflect some of the solar radiation back out of your house. A reflective film liner on window blinds and curtains would be even better. I have not seen that done yet. Maybe we can start a new fashion trend. If you have a very old house that has functional shutters, you can close them to act as an outdoor sun block. Must folks have never seen shutters that can be closed. Real wood shutters are hung on hinges on the outside of the house. They work like barn doors that close off the window opening. Shutters were made for security, protection of window glass from storm damage and to seal out the cold in the winter. Most modern houses have decorative shutters that ...
More About: Solar , Fight , Bill , Conditioning , Eating

SQUEEZE DOLLARS OUT OF COMPRESSED AIR
2007-07-06 14:00:00
On an energy in vs. energy out basis, compressed air is the most costly utility. The cost is high because it takes so much energy to make the large amount of high-pressure compressed air that are needed. Traditional manufacturing uses a lot of compressed air. Using compressed air is a very wasteful process. It takes about 8-horse power from electric motors to get one-horse powers worth of useful work from compressed air on the shop floor. Most industrial air compressors are powered by large electric motors. It takes many kilowatts of electricity from coal fired generating plants to run those energy hogs. In addition to the main compressor motors, there are other power users in a compressor facility. There are pumps for cooling water. There are refrigerated driers to get the moisture out of the compressed air. In addition, there are motors that power cooling tower fans. They all need electricity. Many lumps of coal are burned to supply compressed air. Other resources are us...
More About: Dollars , Squeeze , Doll , Lars , Compress

WHAT IS YOUR ENERGY PRODUCTIVITY SCORE?
2007-07-05 14:01:00
Folks in business know what their labor productivity is. They manage labor resources very closely. Manufacturing managers know what their scrap rate is. Reducing raw material waste is one of their goals. Prod uctivity measures like labor hours per 1,000 units produced and percentage of units scrapped are targets for continuous improvement. Business leaders should treat energy productivity and energy waste the same way. How many kilowatts does it take to make 1,000 units of product? How much energy does your business use when there is no production? Is your energy productivity better or worse? If you do not know, you may be missing a way to improve your profit. If your product cannot be counted or weighed, try counting the energy units per square foot of building space or per employee. If that does not work for your business model, calculate the energy used per dollar of income generated. Establish a base line and then start a program to increase your energy produ...
More About: Energy , Score

INDEPENDENCE DAY
2007-07-01 14:00:00
Our celebration of Independence Day is the anniversary of the signing of the U. S. Constitution. A long time ago, I raised my right hand and took an oath that “I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Although I am on inactive duty status as a United States Marine, I still consider supporting and defending the constitution part of my current duties. In my opinion, the excessive influence on our independence by foreign oil is a threat to our constitution. Our enemies in the War on Terror are funded by oil money. I am convinced that the initial battles in Iraq and Afghanistan, that we are now fighting, are just the first of many battles in what will be a very long Global War on Terror. We need to either take over control of the crude oil supplies or develop alternatives that are cost effective and produced at home. Or both. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil means reducing our use of petroleum based gasoline, aircraft fuel and diesel fuel. That ...
More About: Independence Day , Epen

PUMP UP THE PRESSURE TO SAVE GAS
2007-06-28 02:03:00
Driving on soft tires is like continuously driving up and out of a pothole. So what’s the right pressure for my ride? I know three ways find the right pressure without getting professional advice. The hard way I get down on my hands and knees with a flashlight, take my bi-focal glasses off, close my left eye and squint hard with my right eye. I look at the fine print around the tire next to the wheel. Somewhere on your tire, you will see something like MAX PRESSURE 32 PSI. Yours may not be a 32. Second hardest way Dig the OWNERS MANUAL out of the glove compartment. Find a comfortable chair in the shade. Order a cold drink and read the book. About the time the drink is empty you will find what the vehicle manufacturer says about tire pressure. The easy way Open the driver’s door of the vehicle and look at the edge of the door that disappears when the door is closed. No not where the hinges are, look on the door where the latch is. There will be an easy to read label that te...
More About: Save , Sure , Pump

CAN YOU SAVE BY RUNNING ONE THING AT A TIME?
2007-06-26 22:42:00
Yes, if your electric power provider has a “Demand” charge on your bill. You can save by limiting the number of major appliances that run at the same time. Look at your electric bill to see if you are charged a demand charge. Power companies that base a demand charge on the highest amount of electricity that you used during the last 12 months. It is a service charge for them to make that much power available to you. If you cannot tell if you have a demand charge by reading the bill, check their web site or call them. If you use the phone, try calling early in the day to get the shortest time on hold. If you run every appliance that you have with all the lights on and max out your kilowatt score, you will pay for it for the next twelve months. The way to keep your demand charge down is to limit the number of major appliances that run at the same time. Your list of major power users is likely to include furnace, air conditioner, oven, stovetop, refrigerator, water heater, c...
More About: Running , Time , Save , Thing