sort77 there is a cat shaped hole in my heart.

make a smaller ecological footprint (read all 23 entries…)
I'm absolutely SICK today

I came across an article that said polar bears are DROWNING off the coast of Alaska…. I dont even know what to say. I’m completely sickened by this.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB113452435089621905-vnekw47PQGtDyf3iv5XEN71_o5I_20061214.html

So today I wrote a letter in support of Sanders-Boxer Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act. I know its not reducing my eco footprint but I believe in letter writing. I know the sierra club has made an impact and although I cant say its due to members campaining I think law makers take notice when there is a concentrated campain coming at them. Regardless I do know that I am proud of what my states done to further environmental causes. Anything I can do I will.

http://ga3.org/campaign/climate_crisis

I looked into Solar panels again today. I think in light of how disgusted I am I may try to move forward on a small system. I wont be able to go off the grid but I will be able to make a small dent. It saddends me that you have to have a certain amount of wealth really go eco friendly. Is there any organizations out there that promote eco friendly living to lower income familys… If so I’d love to get involved in that project.

Feb 19, 2007, 09:47PM PST | 2 cheers


Comments:

bartzturkeymom

carbonfund.org

Donating to this group is another tangible way to offset our ecological footprint. Keep up the good work!

Feb 20, 2007, 03:35PM PST | Respond to this

atmosphear

Find where the energy goes

Solar panels at the moment are very cost-inefficient and their energy efficiency is very low. It’s a good thing to consider moving into solar energy, but first I think you should find out where the energy goes in your household.

Apparently you are living in a private house. How do you heat up the house or hot water you use? If it’s with electricity, using solar panels to generate electricity and electricity into heat will end up with a devastatingly low energy efficiency.

The commercial solar panels efficiency is less than 10% (meaning over 90% electricity loss). I reckon there was also the problem of converting the direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC), which electric heaters might convert back to DC. Inverters will eat their part of the power (though it will be converted into heat). All this ends up eating roughly 95% of the solar power before you get to even use it.

Heating is mostly needed in the night time, when sun doesn’t either heat up the house or shine on solar panels. Thus there would be need for battery system, which eats again power in electric/chemical energy conversion.

Using solar thermal collectors (or more correctly speaking, since thermal collectors are usually industrial applications, solar hot water collectors) would be both cheaper and more energy efficient. It should be relatively simple to add solar heating to existing water and heating systems either as additional heat source or integrating into existing if the heating is already done with something else than electricity.

Feb 21, 2007, 12:02AM PST | Thread | Respond to this 1 cheer

sort77 there is a cat shaped hole in my heart.

Thanks for all the info!

I’m really interested in solar energy and its all very confusing to me. I’ve never had anyone explain it. I appreciate your time. I found out last night that the electricity coming into my home is 100% renewable. I chose green power on my DWP bill and until now only thought a percentage came from wind/solar. It puts my plans on the not so urgent list and more an interest in being self sufficient especially living in an earthquake area. I also work from home so any power outages would be utterly devastating to my business. My house is up and running all day long so even being able to offset that usage would be ok as a start for me. Interesting about power being lost during storage in batteries. It just never dawned on me I guess.

My water heater and central heating is natural gas and the rest of my house is obviously on the electrical grid. I’ve been trying to determine what I would need in output to even make a dent. This is where I become completely overwhelmed and confused. You make some great points I wish I could spend an hour picking the brain of someone could really show me the best solution for my situation. I appreciate your time. Now I’ve more questions to ask myself :)

Feb 21, 2007, 09:34AM PST | Thread | Respond to this

atmosphear

A rule of thumb is that converting anything into something else costs. Usually always the conversion loss comes out as heat: e.g. phone batteries get hot when they are charged. They will also emit heat when their energy is used by the phone, but this is done in such a long period of time that you won’t even notice it.

This is one very natural way of noticing entropy. We can organize penne tricolor into white, red and green, but it takes more energy than mixing them all back together. If we put them in one single container they will eventually end up mixed.

Charging a battery is sorting the electric potential in a certain way and using the stored chemical energy is about mixing the pastas. Every time the battery is charged we have to put more than we can get out of it.

Feb 21, 2007, 01:13PM PST | Respond to this

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Feb 21, 2007, 03:09AM PST

sort77 there is a cat shaped hole in my heart.

I was wondering

I had a feeling it was old news I knew the bears were loosing habitat it just never dawned on me that there were floating out into open waters that way. I’m still utterly disturbed and disgusted over this.

Ive still yet to see I.C. its been on my to do list and ever time i mention it my husband is not in the mood for such a downer. I almost have to agree. I dont think I hear much I dont already know and When I think about it I sometimes its too much. I do want to see it though.

Feb 21, 2007, 09:38AM PST | Respond to this


sort77 has gotten 2 cheers on this entry.

 

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