Climate Change/Energy Conservation stuff
Feb. 19th, 2007 11:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helwenInterview with NASA engineer on political stuff (watering down of reports, cuts in funding for research, etc.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/magazine/18WWLNQ4.t.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Also, apparently China is starting to look at the problems some of their cities/areas may have in the future, because they've found a measurable increase in sea levels that at their current rate of increase (assuming the levels keep increasing), will be a problem for Shanghai and Guangzhou (Canton), and other low coastal cities. From the article, it looks like the most likely outcome is that they'll build dykes to protect the cities from flooding...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070216/sc_afp/chinaclimatewarmingoceans_070216081935;_ylt=Aq4OgkeH99OGGB3FxvptdxNrAlMA
Meantime, California is the best at conserving energy in the United States:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17198786/
Folks won't necessarily consider everything California's done and is planning to do to be great (a higher percentage of manufacturing jobs have gone elsewhere than from other states, for instance).
On the other hand, other people don't find CA's rules to be off-putting enough to do business elsewhere -- Montana's working on processing their coal using cleaning methods (CO2 sequestration) so that they can sell energy to California.
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/02/16/opinion/opinion6.txt
Here in Massachusetts, electricity rates in many parts of the state are supposed to be going up 20% - 30% sometime this spring. The utility companies have been shielding the customer base from some increasing costs, but it's expected that they won't be able to continue to do so and will pass on the costs to individuals and most small businesses. There are predictions that some of these businesses will close because they're already struggling, and no doubt some consumers will have problems also.
http://www.strategicenergy.com/Massachusetts_Regulatory_Update.php
Also, look at this: http://www.ago.state.ma.us/sp.cfm?pageid=986&id=1793
Here MA's Attorney General writes about how New England residents will be paying development monies to the power plants for theoretical development and construction of new plants/energy sources.
I haven't seen anything in the newspapers, so I'm guessing the increase hasn't happened yet, or not enough people are having noticeable problems for it to have made the news. There are a few groups that help with energy conservation to one degree or another:
http://www.masssave.com/
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocaterminal&L=5&L0=Home&L1=Consumer&L2=Energy%2c+Fuel+%26+Utilities&L3=Energy+Savings+%26+Efficiency&L4=Winter+Heating+Help&sid=Eoca&b=terminalcontent&f=dte_consumer_help_with_winter_heating&csid=Eoca
We just spent a good few hours moving things out of the downstairs bathroom and out of the pantry, and I'm currently taking a short break from moving things from one of the cabinets in the livingroom into the pantry.
We're in the process of switching to Swheat Scoop for the cat litter (wheat litter). Not being full of toxic nastiness, we can now have some canned goods and such stored in the bathroom on wall shelves (taken from the pantry), as well as moving the recycling bins in there. The corner cabinet and shelves that were in the bathroom are now in the pantry and I'm packing them full of stuff we want access to but don't need on a daily basis (candles, decorations, TP, etc.) The end result just for this part of the move is that we won't have to keep opening the door to the _unheated_ main pantry multiple times per day.
Now, the reason I'm clearing out the livingroom cabinet is that we're considering moving mostly downstairs, at least for the winter, so I want to move my massage supplies to the lower cabinet and put some clothing in the upper cabinet. The shower's upstairs so we have to leave the heat on for the bathroom, but we can move 2 PCs down from the computer room (wireless), so that room could have the heat turned off. House insulation is sufficient to keep the machines warm enough to work.
If we can shut down most of the 2nd floor, we should be able to conserve a measurable amount of oil, without suffering any real discomfort. In theory. We'll have to see what happens :)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/magazine/18WWLNQ4.t.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Also, apparently China is starting to look at the problems some of their cities/areas may have in the future, because they've found a measurable increase in sea levels that at their current rate of increase (assuming the levels keep increasing), will be a problem for Shanghai and Guangzhou (Canton), and other low coastal cities. From the article, it looks like the most likely outcome is that they'll build dykes to protect the cities from flooding...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070216/sc_afp/chinaclimatewarmingoceans_070216081935;_ylt=Aq4OgkeH99OGGB3FxvptdxNrAlMA
Meantime, California is the best at conserving energy in the United States:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17198786/
Folks won't necessarily consider everything California's done and is planning to do to be great (a higher percentage of manufacturing jobs have gone elsewhere than from other states, for instance).
On the other hand, other people don't find CA's rules to be off-putting enough to do business elsewhere -- Montana's working on processing their coal using cleaning methods (CO2 sequestration) so that they can sell energy to California.
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/02/16/opinion/opinion6.txt
Here in Massachusetts, electricity rates in many parts of the state are supposed to be going up 20% - 30% sometime this spring. The utility companies have been shielding the customer base from some increasing costs, but it's expected that they won't be able to continue to do so and will pass on the costs to individuals and most small businesses. There are predictions that some of these businesses will close because they're already struggling, and no doubt some consumers will have problems also.
http://www.strategicenergy.com/Massachusetts_Regulatory_Update.php
Also, look at this: http://www.ago.state.ma.us/sp.cfm?pageid=986&id=1793
Here MA's Attorney General writes about how New England residents will be paying development monies to the power plants for theoretical development and construction of new plants/energy sources.
I haven't seen anything in the newspapers, so I'm guessing the increase hasn't happened yet, or not enough people are having noticeable problems for it to have made the news. There are a few groups that help with energy conservation to one degree or another:
http://www.masssave.com/
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocaterminal&L=5&L0=Home&L1=Consumer&L2=Energy%2c+Fuel+%26+Utilities&L3=Energy+Savings+%26+Efficiency&L4=Winter+Heating+Help&sid=Eoca&b=terminalcontent&f=dte_consumer_help_with_winter_heating&csid=Eoca
We just spent a good few hours moving things out of the downstairs bathroom and out of the pantry, and I'm currently taking a short break from moving things from one of the cabinets in the livingroom into the pantry.
We're in the process of switching to Swheat Scoop for the cat litter (wheat litter). Not being full of toxic nastiness, we can now have some canned goods and such stored in the bathroom on wall shelves (taken from the pantry), as well as moving the recycling bins in there. The corner cabinet and shelves that were in the bathroom are now in the pantry and I'm packing them full of stuff we want access to but don't need on a daily basis (candles, decorations, TP, etc.) The end result just for this part of the move is that we won't have to keep opening the door to the _unheated_ main pantry multiple times per day.
Now, the reason I'm clearing out the livingroom cabinet is that we're considering moving mostly downstairs, at least for the winter, so I want to move my massage supplies to the lower cabinet and put some clothing in the upper cabinet. The shower's upstairs so we have to leave the heat on for the bathroom, but we can move 2 PCs down from the computer room (wireless), so that room could have the heat turned off. House insulation is sufficient to keep the machines warm enough to work.
If we can shut down most of the 2nd floor, we should be able to conserve a measurable amount of oil, without suffering any real discomfort. In theory. We'll have to see what happens :)
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no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 12:10 am (UTC)In general, deregulation in energy (specifically electricity) has had very, very mixed results. Some areas have seen significant reductions, but most places that have tried it have either seen no savings or have suffered significant *increases* in electricity costs. I received a prospectus from a company I'd never heard of just last week, and it looked very tempting...until I read that the savings were only guaranteed for a year. After that I'd have to pay market rates, or more.
Here's an article about how things have played out in the Mid-Atlantic region. One thing that I noted is that Enron's policies are continuing to damage the consumer even now...
Not quite what they expected
no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 03:32 am (UTC)When California deregulated electricity it was a disaster. Fortunately they figured out how to recover from that (in one of the articles, but I also remember stories from my mom about that time).
The decoupling idea worked though. Their rates are higher than ours, but it seems to be the only thing that will get most people to stop using too much energy. Kind of hard on the people who are watching their budgets closely, though :(
Glad you're working on the energy audit and windows though. That's all sure to help (unless of course you decide to save up for moving to the solar village in G'fld. It sounds wonderful.) But if you're staying in E'ton for a while yet, you can always check out solar for your place since there's still a tax deduction for installing a system. Although I don't know if you get enough sun where you are, even if the tree in the front yard comes down...
That's really awful about what's happening in MD, VA, and DC. I don't understand why the article says it's impossible to 'retreat' once deregulation has happened. I mean, yes, of course you can't go back to the way things were, but you aren't necessarily doomed either. They may want to take a look at what CA did to get out of their dereg mess. oy.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 11:49 am (UTC)