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The Heat Pump with Gas Forced Air back up is the best heating unit...but the new oil burners are the hottest and are very efficient too, if you can afford that huge bill..The guy who does our homes also does geo-thermal...He said that his house runs about $120 on the budget...Heat pump, Water Tank, electric range and clothes dryer...total electric...4500 sq ft...that's not bad...This will be a bad winter for many if it's cold...but I think it will be as mild as last year...Yea! global warming...wonder if any palm trees will sprout here yet?
SO! The solution is to return to point of use 'self sufficiency...
Yes, for the ordinary citizen* who can't wait until heads get pulled out of rear ends with political power struggles tangled by lobbyists. Walmart execs could answer this quickly and be heard.
*note
It's the only solution available to folks not locked into rigid urban arrangements. They, frankly, are SOL at the mercy of their civilization dependent entirely on fossil fuels.
And if we wait for politicial help we will die waiting in line..eliminate the middleman and keep the freedom... that's the issue here, from county to state to national..taking the freedom away and creating the "Lemmings of America.. When they go over the clift..I'll be going in the opposite direction and you will too.
What's your opinion of the 'Wind farms killing all the birds in America...is anything being done in Europe to prevent it?...
In a discussion with a college professor and his writer wife last evening...they were strongly against 'Nuke Power...the dynamic thing about nuke reactors now is the high tech applications..being small and creating no fuel waste...these people are goofy to reject this modern source of power...
my opinion, if we can kill all the birds, bees...and ourselves in war..what's a little nuke power going to do for us except light the bulbs and give us some warmth...
...these people are goofy to reject this modern source of power.
My primary complaint against nuclear power, has always been a concern that stupidity might actually be a contagious disease. The dumbing down of people in this country makes a poor case for allowing them to pick any further occupants of the White House, let alone being entrusted with anything nuclear.
Is that goofy? I want to be a more trusting person about nuclear power, but government and corporations have a lot of resume' material burying things in the earth, at sea, in aquifers, contaminating ecological systems, including the air we breathe, that to find out about it later, they were killing us, makes a soul wonder what horrid creatures have been unleashed upon humanity? Maybe there's another explaination -- they were stupid.
Solutions to many of our problems then, might be as simple as finding the vaccine.
Saw a show on the History Channel last night (it probably was a repeat). The Mayan calendar, Nostradamus, Native American lore... all point to December 21 (Winter solstice), 2012, as the end of the line. The Mayan calendar actually stops on that date, there is nothing beyond it.
I knew I'd never get any of that money I've paid into Social Security.
Saw a show on the History Channel last night (it probably was a repeat). The Mayan calendar, Nostradamus, Native American lore... all point to December 21 (Winter solstice), 2012, as the end of the line. The Mayan calendar actually stops on that date, there is nothing beyond it.
If the universe is expanding, at some point it's a reasonable surmise it could contract, but subjected to linear time, we would be oblivious to that contraction as time would then be flowing backwards. So in this sense, the world has already ended, and that linear direction of time we are subjected to would equate what we now think of as the future, is technically our past . . no sense in crying over spilt milk, eh?
Dollar collapse, peak oil syndrome, social security insolvency, yeah . . end of the world stuff, but only as we know it. Life still goes on. I'd be more concerned about 2029 and 2036 than a bunch of garbly-goo k.
Our current HP's actually do provide comfortable heat. Our last ones (Heils) were crappy, crappy, crappy... That's why we burned wood. They were crappy..
vec from what was explained to me by HVAC dudes, they claim the more modern units are better. They save money 9 months out of the year, but won't help you out as much for those few months of heavy winter for reasons Hinton mentioned.
Check out the home forum from last winter, more than a few people mentioned the same problems with heat pumps you had, but the common theme is these were older models. I've also read in trade mag's/this old house forums where improperly sized blowers for units were also the cause of premature wear and poor climate control. Thank marginally qualified contractors and DIY's who don't like reading directions for that one.
Threerun are there models you recommend? HVAC guys tend to recommend the big name units and I'm not too sure that it's worth the extra expense to pay for a name. I've heard rumors that like big name tv's whose manufacturers put out the same model with a lesser name label and savings of 1/3rd, these units have labels operating the same way. I haven't seen consumer reports evaluate this whole category.
Nukes? Believe it or not, WV is in a much better position geographically than most metro areas to make it work for a few reasons. Acreage is not prohibitive cost, and for evacuation, security, and operational setups, they really do need that acreage. WV also offers the ability to position a plant far away enough from clustered civilization that elaborate impossible evacuation plans aren't necessary. Compare this to DC or NYC, for example. Again, impossible.
The laws have changed and the mistakes of the past can be avoided if taken seriously. I share the same concerns about govt and people R601, but I am of firm belief that if intelligently engineered for every contingent from day one, this can be accomplished. Engineer the design so that mass failure of the plant can be buried in implosion fashion in a valley will limit catastrophic failures like cherynobyl from becoming a global contamination traveling in the atmosphere.
Hint for WV'rs wanting price controls and accountability in contruction= shoreham nuclear power plant on long island NY was a multi billion $ abysmal failure for many reasons. It bankrupted their power company (LILCO, affectionately dubbed the 'long island larceny company'), and now they enjoy paying 18-21 cents a kwh with no operating nuke plant by a new marquis for some of the reasons mentioned above. Other reasons? Outrageous cost overruns from graft and pilfering via privileged contracts and mgmt. The specs on the concrete were exacting, and all they'd do is change the rating on the delivered concrete, say it was off spec, have them drive to their personal homes and pour a pool, walkways, or a driveway for free.
Prevention plan is to have the contingent of public works use that 'off spec' concrete to stablize roadsides or recycle it into crushed concrete where erosion is a problem so accountability happens. Locks can deter thieves, but it also keeps otherwise 'honest' people honest when they know eyes are around. Even the Vatican City of saints in training- everyone watches everyone like hawks.
Contrast shoreham of Suffolk county NY with Oswego county NY, which to my knowledge, has been operating fine with zero environmental incidents for many years keeping electric affordable for a very remote and geographically hostile region. They appear to want to build another, and not sure if that's because the other plant is aging, regional growth, or a thirsty power grid is driving this plan.
Not far off from the crosslanes/st albans exits heading west on I 64 are what appear to be nuke stacks along the river (saw it from a bridge) that appeared to be operational because smoke was coming out, but when I went to this site it said- no such operation exists. NRC: Find Facility by NRC Region and State - West Virginia Anyone know the real deal? Power lines lead directly to it on the westerly hills. Wattsup? (nyuk nyuk)
Yeah- we are paying about $75-85 a month in electric this summer. 2,400-2,600 sq. ft two story.. I'm not complaining.
I'm at about $38mth summer electric 1200sqft 2 story . . my highest natural gas bill was February at $140, with the low sides about $80mth, $110mth in-between.
Not sure if I agree with their math . . that jump from 116.16 to 229.19 is a 97% increase? Correct me if I'm wrong, but a 42% increase would be 116.16 x 1.42 so . . $164.95?
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