Oil Kills!
Solar Power, Please!
Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
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Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 5/18/2010 12:59 PM EDT
- joyadams
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Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 11/23/2011 10:07 PM EST
- HeadBone
- Posts: 13
- First: 11/23/2011
- Last: 3/4/2012
I notice a tendency among people these days to always reach first for new sources of stuff to waste, be it energy, materials, water, or a plethora of other commodities. I guess it's the same mentality that looks for artificial sweeteners (which don't work -- they increase your craving for sweets) instead of getting used to less sweetness.
In Germany and the Nordic countries they have Passive Houses (there are a few in the US) that use 10% as much energy as the typical home, look beautiful, and don't cost that much more to build.
You can acclimate yourself to getting used to a higher temperature in the summer and a lower temperature in the winter, up to a point.
Oil kills: Conservation, Please!! (It's already available and very economical.) -
Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 11/24/2011 7:49 AM EST
- RogerTaylor
- Posts: 1280
- First: 4/29/2010
- Last: 7/1/2013
...it's the "circle of life!"
Don't forget there are carcinogens in your tap water and that chloramine is used in an effort to remove those carcinogens.....OIL ain't your only problem Honey!
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Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 11/25/2011 8:51 AM EST
- RogerTaylor
- Posts: 1280
- First: 4/29/2010
- Last: 7/1/2013
In Response to Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!:Do you have a home and office fully powered by solar energy, Joy?
Posted by Sally-
Sally - Why do you eat ribs while topless?
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Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 12/1/2011 8:05 AM EST
- kargiver
- Posts: 22064
- First: 10/17/2005
- Last: 7/2/2013
We're considering getting panels to the tune of $20k (I think) just to power the hot water heater, not the whole house. We spend about $500 in oil to do it now so at current prices it will take the rest of our lives to break even.Not everyone can do that in this economy. How do you propose everyone goes solar, and don't you find it a little presumptuous to suggest it? -
Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 12/1/2011 10:19 AM EST
- erebor452
- Posts: 9
- First: 1/6/2008
- Last: 12/1/2011
Oil makes plastics. The keyboard and monitor and computer I'm using to type this and you're using to read this, the camera used to take those pictures, the wires that deliver electricity to our houses and appliances, the tires of your bike/car/scooter and the soles of your shoes, food storage containers and the medical equipment that saves the lives of humans and animals every day are all products of oil, like it or not.
Reducing energy consumption is a great goal, as is trying to reduce the waste of plastics. Trying especially hard to reduce consumption that comes from non-renewable sources is also admirable. It would be good to remember, though, that even the most eco-concious of us cannot completely get away from the products of oil without a rather radical lifestyle shift. -
Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 12/1/2011 10:59 AM EST
- kargiver
- Posts: 22064
- First: 10/17/2005
- Last: 7/2/2013
Given the unemployment and foreclosure rates, I'm still waiting for the OP to get back to me about how everyone should run out and spend well over $20,000 to power their homes with solar. -
Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 12/1/2011 11:14 AM EST
- RogerTaylor
- Posts: 1280
- First: 4/29/2010
- Last: 7/1/2013
In Response to Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!:Very good point, ere. I think the super green among us are quite childlike (not child ish , mind you). Well intentioned, but severely underinformed about the world to the point where they cannot formulate real solutions or even indentify the whole problem in a rational way. They make suggestions like a kindergartner would, something like, "I think we should solve the energy crisis by replacing oil with chocolate chip cookie dough. Then, we could eat our emissions and everyone would be happy." Cute, but it makes no sense.
Posted by kargiver
(In Homer Simpson voice!)
....mmmmmmmm coooooookkkkkkieessss...num num num
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Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 12/1/2011 11:31 AM EST
- dog-lady
- Posts: 1988
- First: 7/3/2011
- Last: 6/4/2013
I lived in a house with solar panels in the 90s you still needed electricity for it to work... so it did cut the bill in half, however there was only one company within 100 miles at the time to maintain/repair it [panels have to be replaced from time to time they don't last forever] and they charged whatever they wanted to come out! It's a great idea to get rid of oil heating but most people can't afford the conversion, nevermind the rest of it! BTW: you need a hazmat team to get rid of the oil tank etc. Turn the thermostat down [55-60] wear sweaters, LLBean has great thermal underwear! -
Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 12/2/2011 12:59 PM EST
- kargiver
- Posts: 22064
- First: 10/17/2005
- Last: 7/2/2013
joyadams, you started a discussion on heating options and you can't take the...heat?We heat our house with wood, by the way, which is why we'd only be using the solar for the hot water. -
Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 12/2/2011 8:18 PM EST
- RogerTaylor
- Posts: 1280
- First: 4/29/2010
- Last: 7/1/2013
In Response to Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!:joyadams, you started a discussion on heating options and you can't take the... heat ? We heat our house with wood, by the way, which is why we'd only be using the solar for the hot water.
Posted by kargiver
...she can't reply, her PC needs electricity and she's waiting to save the $20K to get her solar panel's installed to generate electricity to run her PC..... -
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Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 12/5/2011 4:26 PM EST
- Kayti
- Posts: 3
- First: 12/5/2011
- Last: 3/8/2012
My money is on this technology: http://futureoftech.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/30/8064321-artificial-leaf-makes-real-fuel -
Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 12/10/2011 6:41 AM EST
- dog-lady
- Posts: 1988
- First: 7/3/2011
- Last: 6/4/2013
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Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 12/10/2011 9:54 AM EST
- reindeergirl
- Posts: 1826
- First: 1/3/2008
- Last: 7/2/2013
Well, in defense of Joy, every little bit helps. My Dad used to pull a Lyndon Johnson, and go around turning lights off in the house. He was a born and bred New Englander, and Mum was from England and survived wartime and its rations - they knew how to put on an extra pair of socks and pull on a sweater, and taught their children the same.
I'm typing on laptop that was made with petroleum products. I have an electric radio on - but in defense of Joy, why not cut down where and how we can? One of Dad's great regrets was that Jimmy Carter's pursuit of solar energy never went anywhere. (And before anyone kvetches about Dad - he was dead before he was able to install our home's solar panels.)
I lived on the rainy and river-y side of an island (the other side was dry, dry, dry). All our water - all of it - came from rain, and the cistern in which it was collected. We were not collected to town water. Because we (and our neighbors) were able to use rainwater, the island didn't have to desalinate and provide water to our half - leaving those resources for the other half.
Why not conserve as each of us can? New energy-saving technologies will come along. -
Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 12/12/2011 8:08 AM EST
- jkjband
- Posts: 2880
- First: 12/30/2007
- Last: 9/2/2012
When I built my house in the early '90s, I made it passive solar. It is a simple matter of having the south facing side contain most of the glass and positioning overhangs, built at the proper angles to catch the sun in the winter and shade the sun in the summer. There is also a very primitive heat collecting unit (made of perforated pipe surrounded in crushed stone), which vents back into the house buried under a dark marble (to help collect heat) tiled great room. The house also utilizes 6" walls (extra insulation) All of this has led to my averaging about 250 gallons of oil used per season to heat my home.
When I built this I was thinking about the $$$ savings of not having to buy mass quantities of oil, the environmental benefits are just a plus.
Why we as a country seem not be able to make small changes in house design (example: a lot of glass on the south; not much on the north) perplexes me. -
Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 12/12/2011 3:57 PM EST
- kargiver
- Posts: 22064
- First: 10/17/2005
- Last: 7/2/2013
jkj, my husband did the exact same thing when he built his, now our, house. I had no idea how much oil that saved. -
Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 12/12/2011 5:14 PM EST
- RogerTaylor
- Posts: 1280
- First: 4/29/2010
- Last: 7/1/2013
I would consider my house "passive" solar...during the winter I don't touch the thermostat 64...actual temp with the sun beating on the front of the house about 70...the vinyl siding locks in the heat...my gas bill was $20 two month's ago and $15 this past month! The only hot water we use is for the dishwasher and showers...so we don't use much fuel.....On the other hand come summer I average $100 a month in electric because of the a/c....So, upside is during the winter I don't pay much for heat but, come summertime the electric bill doubles...lol
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Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 12/13/2011 8:50 PM EST
- RogerTaylor
- Posts: 1280
- First: 4/29/2010
- Last: 7/1/2013
anyone else notice that joyadams hasn't returned to her thread............ -
Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 12/14/2011 5:34 PM EST
- skeeter20
- Posts: 15853
- First: 12/28/2009
- Last: 7/2/2013
In Response to Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!:Given the unemployment and foreclosure rates, I'm still waiting for the OP to get back to me about how everyone should run out and spend well over $20,000 to power their homes with solar.
Posted by kargiver
How are the leftie greenies going to get us to spend $20K for solar panels? They will make us do it. Green is the new red. It's not about the environment, it is about control. -
Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 12/15/2011 6:06 PM EST
- Jim-in-Littleton
- Posts: 159
- First: 3/1/2008
- Last: 6/28/2013
In Response to Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!:Why we as a country seem not be able to make small changes in house design (example: a lot of glass on the south; not much on the north) perplexes me.
Posted by jkjband
Not sure how long you've been around observing but if you go back as little as 40 years the changes we've incorporated over the years are pretty dramatic. Compare the energy efficiency between a house built in the late 1960s/early 1970s to todays construction and the differences are pretty amazing.
New construction isn't the big problem. Getting those older houses retro-fitted to meet today's standards is the bigger issue. -
Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 4/4/2012 2:42 PM EDT
- Miker6
- Posts: 1
- First: 4/4/2012
- Last: 4/4/2012
Cut the CRAP with this article.
Obama and the Globe want to shove "Green" energy down your throat whether you want it or not. And whether you can afford it or not.
This is all about more and more government control.
NOBODY will be able to afford to pay for solar panels. So Obama will TAX you to death to keep bankrupt solar companies afloat. And that's not taxing just the rich people. It's to tax EVERYBODY.
Right now Obama(and his friends at the Globe) doesn't want you to have a house, a car, or a job.
If you don't have these, then you are even more dependent on the government.
And those pictures of oil soaked birds? Probably taken off the coast of BRAZIL. The author doesn't tell you that while banning oil production in the US, Obama PAYS Brazil to drill offshore, where there already have been oil spills. -
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Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!
posted at 4/11/2012 8:05 AM EDT
- Jim-in-Littleton
- Posts: 159
- First: 3/1/2008
- Last: 6/28/2013
In Response to Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!!:In Response to Re: Oil Kills: Solar Power, Please!! : Are you paying for it Jim?
Posted by BzznAlong
In the case of my house, yes. I am. I'm also paying for it indirectly through tax credits given to others to "fix" their houses and in tax breaks given to energy producers.
But your question is entirely irrelevant to my prior post either way.