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Chris_Dog

Orange whip?
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I come from the school that says that you turn off a light as you leave the room.

My wife on the other hand has decided that the couch likes to watch TV.

It makes me nuts!!!:mad:
 
Chris_Dog said:
I come from the school that says that you turn off a light as you leave the room.

My wife on the other hand has decided that the couch likes to watch TV.

It makes me nuts!!!:mad:

If I had a buck for every time I told SWMBO to turn out the lights or when she has fallen asleep on the couch and the TV was still playing the next morning I bet I could buy a new B3 system with it.
 
No kidding this has been going on 20+ years for me.

We had the sliding glass door fixed and now the dog and cat (both) have figured out how to open it. I can't count the times that I have found the door open with the AC running.

My MIL & FIL did a test last year about this time. They went an entire month and tried to conserve energy every way they could. They said the bill for that month was (roughly) $30.00. Not an option in FL till next winer but food for thought.
 
Mine will leave the light on in the bedroom, hallway, bathroom and office while she's on the other side of the house watching TV or in the basment sewing. :mad:
I came home yesterday to find her in the back livingroom watching TV, wrapped up in a blanket with the back sliding door next to her wide EFING open. I was like WTF??? It's 40* outside and the heater is running like mad... I was pissed...

For such a smart girl (has a masters) she sure is stupid. It's a good thing I love her or I would have to punch her in the box.
 
FSR402 said:
It's a good thing I love her or I would have to punch her in the box.

LOL, that is funny.

My wife leaves the our bedroom TV on often enough, but my kids are the worst about energy consumption. I'll come downstairs in the morning while they are getting ready for school and every frickin light is on. My sons do not know how to turn off their bedroom light.

I live in military housing and my electric bill is part of the housing allowance I pay monthly, so I have no idea what our bill would actually be, but someday I plan on owning a house and would really like to get in the habit of saving power now.
 
Man I am glad I live alone. I have never had a gas & electric bill over $30 for a month. I like to run my AC unit a couple times a year, just to make sure it still works. All my bulbs are compact flourescents, but yeah I usually have only one or two on at a time. My only real vice is I like to have the computer and tv on at the same time a lot.....
 
I think SWMBO must only think the light switches flip to ON, as I cannot recall EVER seeing her turning one off. Seriously.. never seen it happen once.

Just as maddening, is her habit of NEVER closing a cabinet door or drawer in the kitchen. I'll walk in and there is always at least 2-3 drawers and 2-3 cabinets open....plus the dishwasher.

If I could get away with it, all the light switches would have timers on them and all the door and drawers would spring loaded so they would snap shut.

I have been seriously looking at installing solar panels to generate my own electricity. It would be SO cool to watch that electric meter spin backwards... I reckon it would make me a NAZI about turning things off and not using them if not necessary. I am doing laundry right now, and it's raining, so I will need to use the dryer instead of the clothesline. If I were counting the watts consumed and trying to generate ALL of my own electricity, I would be waiting until the sun comes out to dry my clothes.
 
Maybe motion detectors are the solution. Of course, SWMBO might be pissed if she rolls over in bed and the TV, lights and shower turn on!

The only thing that gets left on is my main computer and that only during the day. Motherboard is too old to use Hibernate.
 
SWMBO is good about turning stuff off, but the kids never do. You can always tell where they've been because they leave a trail of left-on lights. I always make them stop what they are doing and go through the house and turn them off, but, it doesn't help.

Also, I know people that, in winter, they have the house insanely hot and are running around the house in shorts and t-shirts. The same people in summer have the AC cranked so much they are curled up on the couch in a blanket. Some people.....
 
I am lucky... we have all CFL bulbs and my wife and kids have been very well educated on energy consumption. We never have more than 2 lights on at a time, and those are CFL.
 
I think it's the nature of kids to be as wasteful as possible. SWMBO however, has a vested interest in conserving energy yet does nothing in that regard. There is at least one TV on in our house 24 hours a day. She uses one in the bedroom as a night light. The volume is either muted or so low you can't hear it, but she insists on leaving it on.
 
Fingers said:
I think it's the nature of kids to be as wasteful as possible. SWMBO however, has a vested interest in conserving energy yet does nothing in that regard. There is at least one TV on in our house 24 hours a day. She uses one in the bedroom as a night light. The volume is either muted or so low you can't hear it, but she insists on leaving it on.


Tune it to the Playboy channel.... everyone wins
 
PeteOz77 said:
I have been seriously looking at installing solar panels to generate my own electricity. It would be SO cool to watch that electric meter spin backwards..


Solar panels are not terribly efficent. Without a hiuge field of them and pretty constant direct sunlight on them you might find them prohibitively expensive.

Wind turbine in the 15 kilowat range is probably more reliable if you're looking to have your meter run backwards on a regualr basis. However, you have to be able to put an 80-150 foot tower in place on your property.


Both options require significant research into the local conditions and building regulations to have installed.
 
kornkob said:
Solar panels are not terribly efficent. Without a hiuge field of them and pretty constant direct sunlight on them you might find them prohibitively expensive.

Wind turbine in the 15 kilowat range is probably more reliable if you're looking to have your meter run backwards on a regualr basis. However, you have to be able to put an 80-150 foot tower in place on your property.


Both options require significant research into the local conditions and building regulations to have installed.

No room for the tower, or I would put up a few of them. However, the AUS gov will pay for the panels up to 1KW, and I have to pay for the rest of the system. SO I spend $15K and they give me a $8K rebate. Would take me quite while to save $7K in electricity.

We spend roughly $120 per month and consume on an average of 23kwh per day. If the 1KW system were feeding the meter let's say 15 hours a day on everage, that would decrease our consupmtion by about 65 percent, or about $78 per month. That's roughly 7.5 years to recoup the expenditure...IF we continue to consume at the same rate, and IF electricity stays the same price.

I doubt electricity will stay the same price over that length of time, and I KNOW we can consume a lot less, so I am guessing we could break even in less than 5 years, and after that, the panels start making us money every day. Factor in the 25 year life span of the panels and the fact that you can add more any time, along with the fact that the technology will advance, and future added panels will be more efficient, and it starts to look pretty attractive.... unless the sun stops shining.
 
In Anchorage they are extremely opposed to any Energy producing oppertunities. We have a valley they has a constant stream of wind and aenough area to create a wind farm that could produce enough energy for 100K people or 1/3 of Anchorages population.

The local Electrician union has greatly opposed it because its unfeaseable. In reality it will lower cost and lower thier revenue. Any electricity producing apparatus installed in a residential home would have to go through 10-25K$ in approval fees.

Freaking sucks since electricity is costing me 2-350 a month
 
MikeFlynn74 said:
In Anchorage they are extremely opposed to any Energy producing oppertunities. We have a valley they has a constant stream of wind and aenough area to create a wind farm that could produce enough energy for 100K people or 1/3 of Anchorages population.

The local Electrician union has greatly opposed it because its unfeaseable. In reality it will lower cost and lower thier revenue. Any electricity producing apparatus installed in a residential home would have to go through 10-25K$ in approval fees.

Freaking sucks since electricity is costing me 2-350 a month


Well, there is always the "What they don't know can't hurt me" option of just installing it and asking questions later if you get found out. You can go 100% self sufficient if you add battery banks to the system.
 
Well, there is always the "What they don't know can't hurt me" option of just installing it and asking questions later if you get found out. You can go 100% self sufficient if you add battery banks to the system.

No they will fine you every day you dont have it approved and back date it.

But I know the person running for Mayor- She wins I am going to make sure she knows where the people who dont lobby stand.
 
Nazis.

What sort of reason do they give for not allowing you to have solar panels that are not connected to the grid? ONLY thing I can think of is if they consider them to be an eyesore...
 
What sort of reason do they give for not allowing you to have solar panels that are not connected to the grid? ONLY thing I can think of is if they consider them to be an eyesore...

It decreases their revenue.

Really sucks too considering I have 2 sides of the house that face the sun 20hrs a day in the summer
 
MikeFlynn74 said:
It decreases their revenue.


Seriously? They can't possibly use that as a reason for not allowing it, can they? I mean, yeah, that's probably the real reason, but they must have a better reason for it that they use in public?
 
but they must have a better reason for it that they use in public

They "support" it by making sure the fees and the amount of work it takes to activly actually tget it approved is so much trouble that its not worth it. Oh you can do it- If you are a millionaire.

But i am actively working on it. Its just decent panels or a wind turbine are expensive to get.
 
MikeFlynn74 said:
In Anchorage they are extremely opposed to any Energy producing oppertunities. We have a valley they has a constant stream of wind and aenough area to create a wind farm that could produce enough energy for 100K people or 1/3 of Anchorages population.

The local Electrician union has greatly opposed it because its unfeaseable. In reality it will lower cost and lower thier revenue. Any electricity producing apparatus installed in a residential home would have to go through 10-25K$ in approval fees.

Freaking sucks since electricity is costing me 2-350 a month


We are finally getting a wind farm around here. It was a big battle for years. Believe it or not it was the ENVIRONMENTALISTS that were fighting it tooth and nail. The wind farm is very near the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, and they were afraid a few ducks and geese would get chewed up. At least that was their argument, who knows what their real problem was.
 
Friggin sheep... follow the leader is all!

I would imagine the lack of pollution from a wind farm would far exceed the loss of a few water fowl.

Sheesh!
 
MikeFlynn74 said:
In Anchorage they are extremely opposed to any Energy producing oppertunities. We have a valley they has a constant stream of wind and aenough area to create a wind farm that could produce enough energy for 100K people or 1/3 of Anchorages population.

The local Electrician union has greatly opposed it because its unfeaseable. In reality it will lower cost and lower thier revenue. Any electricity producing apparatus installed in a residential home would have to go through 10-25K$ in approval fees.

Freaking sucks since electricity is costing me 2-350 a month
It may be something you could look into anyway.

There are many "grid States". IL is one.

What's a "grid State" you ask?

It's where you own an energy source, such as a windmill, to power your home. If you "create" more energy than you can store...(here's the good part)...the electric company has to pay you for it. That's right, you sell them energy. If you produce enough you don't get a bill from them every month...you get a check! :rockin:
 
Yep, same here... although electricity is so cheap here that it would take a LONG time to come out ahead. As I said earlier, even with the gov paying around half the cost of the installation ($8000) it will take over 7 years to recoup my expenditure if my consumption and the rates stay the same. Without the subsidy, it would take twice that long.
 
Bernie Brewer said:
We are finally getting a wind farm around here. It was a big battle for years. Believe it or not it was the ENVIRONMENTALISTS that were fighting it tooth and nail. The wind farm is very near the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, and they were afraid a few ducks and geese would get chewed up. At least that was their argument, who knows what their real problem was.

Have you ever checked out this site...
http://www.renewwisconsin.org/windfarm/windwisconsin.html

Personally I think wind turbines are great to look at but they can be pretty noise, that is probably one reason for the opposition....
 
It is just to bad that there isn't as much opposition to corn bases ethanol...hell it is being blamed for the increase of the Golf of Mexico dead zone. I guess marine life doesn't rank as high as water foul and bats or could it just be the $$$$...naaaaa
 
PeteOz77 said:
Yes, but apparently not noisy enough to scare away the birds.... for some reason.

Fuh - nny!

We actually have huge fields of wind turbines in the Eastern part of Quebec. A lot of the local residents complain about the noise, but I think it's the fact that they don't like the sight of a bunch of them close to the coastal regions (think tourism).

wihophead said:
It is just to bad that there isn't as much opposition to corn bases ethanol...hell it is being blamed for the increase of the Golf of Mexico dead zone. I guess marine life doesn't rank as high as water foul and bats or could it just be the $$$$...naaaaa

Or seals, the other way around. I imagine the NE has a similar problem to Eastern Quebec where a bunch of the communities relied on Cod fishing as the main producer of their economy. With the amount of fishing that had been going on, there were certainly going to be some problems. Add to that the fact that people are trying to protect SEALS, who consume a huge amount of fish (think cod) and whose population has tripled in 30 years. They need protection from what exactly? Extinction, don't think so. They're only protected cause they "look cute" when they're young... Heck, reducing their population could actually help save a few other marine species while providing work (hunting the seals, and fishing the fish that the seals will eat less of). Oh, when I have the money I'm buying a seal fur coat...

(One of the websites that I found this evening: http://www.harpseals.org/hunt/pelts.html mentions no reason to actually "save" the seals, just that they're fur is highly used in high end clothing brands)
 
Bernie Brewer said:
We are finally getting a wind farm around here. It was a big battle for years. Believe it or not it was the ENVIRONMENTALISTS that were fighting it tooth and nail. The wind farm is very near the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, and they were afraid a few ducks and geese would get chewed up. At least that was their argument, who knows what their real problem was.

That wouldn't actually be too bad. That place is a friggin' nightmare in the fall and spring. There are so many geese and ducks that they actually darken the sky at peak flying times.
 
mrfocus said:
We actually have huge fields of wind turbines in the Eastern part of Quebec. A lot of the local residents complain about the noise, but I think it's the fact that they don't like the sight of a bunch of them close to the coastal regions (think tourism).

While I certainly can believe that it's really about tourism in that case, ever driven by a widn farm on a moderatly breezy day?

I drove through one last year with the windows up and I could hear the damn thngs inside the car as I drove past. Not loud but enough that it could be heard over the road noice and radio. I can't imagine that living nearby woudl be too onerous sicne people get used to noise (I used to live in a neighbor hood that was under the final approach for the local airport, next to a foundry and had a working rail corridor running through it. Never conciously heard any of them. Used to be able to ahve a conversation with someone, stop to let the jet land/train pass/foundry stop blowing steam and start talking again without missing a beat.

However, if I went to buy a house in a neighborhood with persistent noise-- be it highway traffic, train's planes or windwfarms--- I know I'd adjust my offer downward if I considered buying it at all.

So the real reason most people object to windfarms nearby their house is because of property value.
 
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