Solar Power for a Month

Solar roof
A writer for a tech magazine converted his house to solar last month and he has written about his project and his amazingly low power bill. Here’s the highlights from converting his home to solar:

-The entire array consists of 27 panels. Each panel has a peak rating of 225W (nominal rating 207W). Nine panels face south, 18 face west. Total peak output of the array at the panel is 6.1KW.

-It’s summer here in California, so it’s the peak season for solar power generation.

-On the other hand, you may have read about all the fires that have been burning in Northern California. I’ve had to go up about once a week to rinse the ash off the panels.

-I have a minor tree problem. After about 7:30PM, a large tree several hundred yards away effectively blocks the sun. Since it’s late in the day, it’s well past the peak generating time, but it’s still worth noting.

Additionally, I’ve received my first electric bill since the installation, although it’s only for 19 days, not the usual 29 or 30.

So what was my electricity bill for 19 days?

$11.34

SUVs in the USA are Dying

I’ve been wanting to write this for a long time. Please bare with me here.

THE DEMAND FOR SUVs IS DECREASING IN THE USA.

That feels good to write. You should try it. One of the biggest symbols of waste, greed, ignorance, and arrogance is starting to fade away in the country that consume the most energy and pollution. It cannot be ignored that this is a direct result of the price of gas.

Toyota has announced that they are shifting their production plant that produces Highlanders to producing Prius cars. That’s right their factory making SUVs will now be making hybrids.

The company also announced that as of August 8, it will temporarily suspend the production of the Sequoia SUV and the Tundra pick-up — along with the production of the V8 engines that power them.

And it’s not alone. GM recently announced that it too is closing four truck plants and focusing on smaller cars for good, after total vehicle sales sank 18 percent in June. On top of that, it said it’s considering selling off its Hummer brand, whose future is hanging by a thin thread.
But GM wasn’t quite the worse performer in June. That honor belongs to Ford, which saw a drop in sales of 28 percent.

Meanwhile, US sales of the Toyota Prius took a giant hit of 26 percent in the month of June — after dealers ran short of inventory and customer waiting lists grew to six months from its soaring popularity.

Al Gore Wants to Shoot for the Environmental Moon

Alright, so the title maybe a little misleading, but Al Gore is at it again. He’s calling upon the USA to put as much effort and energy into creating a green economy as it did to get men on the moon.

Just as John F. Kennedy set his sights on the moon, Al Gore is challenging the nation to produce every kilowatt of electricity through wind, sun and other Earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years, an audacious goal he hopes the next president will embrace.
…
“I have never seen an opportunity for the country like the one that’s emerging now,” Gore told The Associated Press in an interview previewing a speech on global warming he was to deliver Thursday in Washington.

Gore said he fully understands the magnitude of the challenge.

The Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan group that he chairs, estimates the cost of transforming the nation to so-called clean electricity sources at $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion over 30 years in public and private money. But he says it would cost about as much to build ozone-killing coal plants to satisfy current demand.

“This is an investment that will pay itself back many times over,” Gore said. “It’s an expensive investment but not compared to the rising cost of continuing to invest in fossil fuels.”

Fun-O-Meter

This is the fun-o-meter and it looks like a blast! For only $0.50 you get a suggestion of something fun to do. Perfect.
ideas

Just think about it. Fifty cents gets you:

-1 fun idea. If you’re been reading the site, you know the type of stuff, Zoomdoggle is loaded with them. #318 reads: Write “B” and “R” on opposite ends the back side of a One Dollar Bill. Stick your boner anywhere you like. But the fun doesn’t stop there.

-A map, in case fun idea requires travel.

-You also get 1 toy. You know the type. Standard vending machine stuff.

-And 1 quarter back… I kind of got ripped off on the toys, and only wanted to charge 25 cents anyway, but the machine is configured for 50 cents, so I put a quarter in each egg. Free money. That’s fun!

-Plus a lucky penny you can leave heads up for someone else to find. How cool is that?