Good morning!!!!

[Looking4new]

Good morning, the temperature is 25ｰF and headed to 30. Wind SW 3 mph. Weather advisory still effect. Still calling for 5" or so and still nothing, this is good.

I have to go to North Bay this afternoon. Rescheduling is out of the question.

I have all the paperwork necessary to do my taxes, now I just need the ambition to get it all together and sent it to the accountant. I put the income and expenses into a cover spread sheet (the accountant takes my numbers without the proof and runs with them). I save him a ton of paperwork (going through my expenses) and in return he saves me a ton of money. I should get a healthy rebate, I hope. As in previous years the rebate should buy me a new wood furnace and a power washer. The wood furnace expenses will come off the taxes I will be paying for 2021, the power washer not.

daugen, don't ever sell March short. We've had some of our biggest snow storms in March, the good thing is that the snow doesn't stay long with the warmer temps.


Have a safe day all

 

[ronjhall]

Poured first cup of coffee. 31° with cloudy skies this morning. Heading to 44° with mix of sun and clouds. Yesterday high of 47° when sun was out clear a lot of snow of open areas. Should see a lot more melting today. Got at my taxes yesterday. No pleasure in that. I owe Uncle $$$. Will go over it again before sending any $. NO rush to file. Going to get a haircut today. First since before Thanksgiving.
Male partner of yesterday's camera hog.

David, is 20 kwh for your house and rental? Not to bad. I average about 17 kwh in winter and 24 kwh for cooling in summer. Furnace and water are NG. I also heat my shop with NG during the winter. My bill for January was $212 for gas and electric. I can monitor my electric usage by the minute with electric bridge that supplier (DTE) provided me. Gas usage is given to me by the day. I would like to go off grid. But the cost is prohibitive for me. There is so much waste hauled to the dump everyday around here. You would think someone would come up with a good way to use it for cheap energy. GEOthermal, if that happens the next thing we will hear about is earth cooling off to much. :confused3:

RNG, good explanation of green energy. Wish it was simple as going all electric. My son and I have discussion on how the trucking industry could go electric. He got to drive a Electric Mustang yesterday. Was impressed. But it will never replace his Shelby Mustang.

Drew, I keep hearing about moving second shot out to make more shots available. J&J says they can make over 4 million shots available each month when they get approved. With all 3 of the shots being made it should make them more available. I am glad I got both shots. 2 weeks ago today I got my second shot. Still wear mask everywhere I go.

Randy, talk about small planes. I remember taking small planes to get to remote airports for work. I gave it up. Rented a car instead.

Buppies, looked at my 15 day weather report. Looks like it's back to normal Great Lakes weather. Snow at night. Melt during the day. Hope you are not needing any more surgery.

Everyone stay safe and healthy.

Good Morning All.

 

[Eric Salop]

RNG, Sodamo, you both show how incredibly expensive the capital costs are for a regular home when there is no reliable grid supply.

We only have solar panels for making hot water, all electric comes from the grid.
Our total electric consumption for the last year was 6,219 kWHr, which cost us 893 pounds (about $1,250).

How does that compare with others ?

 

[NHBX]

Good morning all

31 now highs in the mid 40’s with some sun this morning and increasing clouds as the day goes on.
Yesterday’s cleanup went quick, as expected the sun came out and finished the job. I may put the loader on and move some snow banks while the ground is still frozen. No real plans for today just putter around and enjoy the fresh air. I noticed yesterday the sap buckets are out spring is coming!

David - nice write up on your solar system. It’s nice to see a real world perspective without all the extreme opinions, thank you.

Stay safe and healthy
Enjoy your day everyone

 

[riptides]

30 outside this AM, heading to lower 60's. Cleaned up pastures last night, fence line work, added to burn pile.

Rescued younger daughter, looks like car blew the head gasket. 280k miles, looks like a call to the junk yard is in order. It was a 2003 Hyundai. Oh well, not sure how she is going to get around now, looks like she will be shopping for a car today.

txdon - Total electric, heat pumps, ranging from 20 seers down, 4 units including a mini-split. 1 portable, window a/c only. Probable coverage area, around 4000 square feet. Average bill 433.00. Biggest usage difference Feb 2016 610.00 vs Oct 2016 201.00.

buppies - that's great news. Good to hear.

Hope all have a good day today. Be safe and stay healthy my friends.

 

[ronjhall]

RNG, Sodamo, you both show how incredibly expensive the capital costs are for a regular home when there is no reliable grid supply.

We only have solar panels for making hot water, all electric comes from the grid.
Our total electric consumption for the last year was 6,219 kWHr, which cost us 893 pounds (about $1,250).

How does that compare with others ?

I totaled up my last years bills for electric. Surprising how close my numbers are to yours. 6,196 kwh and $1,235. I have a NG bill also. 904 CF and $360. Which includes last months high bill when furnace was not functioning properly.

 

[daugen]

the sap buckets are out :thumbsup:
something a New Englander understands vs Texans.

Texas gets its sap from the ground by way of big drills...

 

[Thomas]

33F cloudy low 40's for high chance quick rain shower later today.

Outside chores done E muffin time. :licking:

Plans for today...Pickup load grit put in the shed for up coming icy driveway,walk around Kubota checking and greasing,see what the day brings.

Enjoy the day all.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Interesting question, Eric. The system here has only been in place for about 8 months, so I can't trot out an average use figure with much accuracy. What I can do easily is look at last year, which had about three months of hot summer weather and three months of cooler fall/winter. And for those months, average electricity used was in the neighborhood of 26.5 kW/day. Didn't quite break even with solar generation, as it was a long, smokey summer, and lots of Watts went into the A/C unit. We had ten days of man made power outage, and I did run the generator to keep up the fridge and yes, even splurged on the A/C.


Recall I added solar panels to the array late last year, so there are 20% more Watts available now when the sun shines, making energy break even more likely going forward. Indeed, so far this year it looks like the system has managed to put a few Watts into the energy piggy bank.


As to what the energy costs, due to the Byzantine way the utility calculates use, who knows? I get a twenty page paper bill each month, but the amount due is always zero because the reckoning comes once a year on a True Up Day, which is the anniversary of when the grid connection was made. Each bill does have a balance, and I think the last one was something like $5, me owing them, of course.:confused2:

One change I can make, and probably should, is to use battery power at night. That would save purchasing power from the utility during the time of low use, and give the batteries something to do as well. That usage pattern would be much like what David is doing, and would mean keeping a closer eye on charge levels when the rainy weather comes. Being lazy and somewhat distracted with other things, that hasn't been a priority so far.

 

[Buppies]

34 high of 65 today more wind. This house is not as air tight as it should be avg $2400 electric $1200 gas

Lots to do today

Prayers for all our Country

 

[daugen]

Buppies, prayers for you too at doc appointment.
Just little pieces please.

being an outdoor person can sure come back and bite you in the ....ear, and nose, and ?
For me it was face and upper middle back. I get moles and I always wonder when they will go bad.

suns coming out and I see blue sky. Outstanding.
off to supermarket, stocking up today only because I've been purposely eating down things in freezer
so as to avoid freezer burn. So before I go downtown, time to clean the inside of fridge. Just can't keep
putting it off... I find those disinfectant wipes do a nice job of cleaning though I try to give everything a final wipe
with plain water.

hope you all have a nice day.

 

[Popgadget]

Good Morning
It’s 35 with a high of 49 and clear skies. Should see lots of melting going on.

Yesterday’s trip went smoothly. It was interesting to see that while we had probably 18” of snow cover, just across the river from Philadelphia there was none.

Not much planned for today, have to take some boxes to FedEx, be interesting to see what the day brings.

I find the discussion on energy production and consumption interesting. I’m entirely dependent on electricity, using it for heat, AC, water, both hot and cold, cooking, lighting and sump pump.
All of my power comes from the grid, but I do have a 22kw propane standby system, and a 25kw PTO driven backup for that generator. So no matter how you look at it, I’m dependent on the grid and fossil fuel. And I have little or no say in how the grid generates its power, but the closest generating stations are nuclear.

 

[daugen]

closest generating stations are nuclear.
which by most criteria makes them very efficient in boiling water for steam.
They simply fail on a few very important parts, like the mess they make of our environment when
the ashes from the fire need to be cleaned out. We can't keep burying stuff under concrete domes.

So yeah, what will our homes look like if Peachbottom becomes another Chernoble?
Pretty hard to sell your home when you have to hand out dosimeters to visit it.
Nuke operators here are very, very careful and have huge government oversight.
Which considering the risk is just fine with me.

I've been in the control rooms of several nuclear gen plants, like being on the bridge of an electric battleship.
Where they have vibration monitors on all rotating machinery to detect faults,
predictive maintenance to avoid unscheduled down time.

and I'm pretty sure the nuke plants here are well protected from bad weather. Poor Japan...
Pretty accessible though off Delaware Bay. Bad guys with boats and some missiles, I'm sure the local
CG has thought of this. Might even have a private security boat floating around there.
I'm guessing the marine charts have larger exclusion areas now.

 

[Popgadget]

I forgot about the Peachbottom plant. I was thinking of Limerick and Salem.
So there is 3 nuke plants nearby, a quick google search showed that nuclear energy provided 53% of power supplied, fossils and renewables provided 12% of power supplied, and purchased power provided 35% of power supplied by my electric provider, PECO.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 53F @ 5:00AM. Abundant sunshine. High 66F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph.
Another pretty day yesterday, but windy. By the time I got out to the burn pile, ashes were already streaming off the top and scattering somewhere down wind. Hooked up a couple 100' lengths of garden hose and gave it a good long drink. Lots of hissing, wind deflecting water near 90° if I tried to shoot into a cross wind. Had breakfast, then came back and gave it another soak. Probably still not out underneath, but with a thick cap of mud and ash slurry on top, the wind won't be spreading hot ashes around. Maybe in a few weeks I'll come back with the FEL and spread things out so they can cool off and finish burning out.

My first real job was working for GE in their Nuclear Energy Business Group. I'd been there all of nine months when Three Mile Island blew up, and almost all domestic nuke plant construction was halted. I got maybe 18 months out of that job, making many visits to help with repairs at operating plants. Lots of issues to deal with, not least of which is how do you work on parts you can't get close to? Crazy expensive to maintain, and when it's not making electricity you're losing tens of thousands a day in revenue. Nuclear has tremendous potential if this country could focus on the technical issues and get beyond the politics. Germany and France have been making it work for decades, why can't we? But we can't even maintain the grid, let alone something as complicated as a nuke plant. Probably better we rely on simpler technology with more tolerance for mismanagement and incompetence.

Hope you get a clean bill of health at the docs, Buppies. Can't be much of you left to carve on.

Got the claim signed off and submitted yesterday. Glad it's out of my hair, for a little while at least. Not sure what happens next, but it's likely to be a long wait before I hear anything back. Ten thousand homes lost in that fire, so bound to be a long line of claimants. I saw an email yesterday that less than 200 homes have been rebuilt in Paradise. People have left, and they're not comin' back.

Wasted the rest of the day chasing after a new gate opener. USAutomatic makes it very difficult for a homeowner to purchase their equipment, and offers no tech support if they somehow manage to get it anyway. Very much like the garage door industry that has done a pretty good job of locking out DIYers. Only managed to actually talk to two installers, and one "only" wanted a thousand dollars for installation.:shocked: No, sorry, not gonna give you a grand so you can do a crappy install on a crappy Liftmaster POS from China. Gonna keep on shopping.

Sheesh, Hump Day already! Where does the time go?:confused2:

 

[pennwalk]

We are having the great meltdown. Got up to the high 40s yesterday afternoon. Supposed to be in the low 50s today. Some of my neighbors who don't shovel their driveways should be happy.

I don't know if this is true or not but I heard on the radio that the drug companies had just last week met the vaccine production goal that had been set for December. I guess that might explain why it is hard to to get a shot.

chris

 

[kenmbz]

Good morning all, 35 going up to 51, sunny and melty
Was nice and slippery this morning, even the dog was sliding around.
Put in 2 new LED light fixtures downstairs. they went in pretty easy.

Buppies - No mostly more cancer ? are you ok ?

No shot still here

Have solar hot water, only works well when outside temps go up above about 70 or so

Riptides - 280K - would say you got your moneys worth- hope she can afford new car now.

Thomas - read -pickup load of grits

taxes faxed in, still have to send in paper trail.



stay safe and be well

 

[wngsprd]

31 going to 69 and sunny. In February??? Still have some snow and ice in the shade, but will likely disappear today.

Buppies, I'm so sorry to hear you have more skin cancer...glad you are caring for it. I'm overdue for a checkup...got cancelled last year due to the C. virus...now rescheduled for end of next month.

Ron, cool that your son drove one of the new electric Mustangs.

RNG, enjoyed reading your "State of the Energy Union"...you make a lot of sense...and your experience as well as David's with planning/provisioning/constructing/maintaining your own energy systems...replacing batteries, etc. have been good learning.

I have a geothermal HVAC system, and that's enough for me. We have relatively reliable and reasonably priced electricity here, much comes from a nuclear power station up at Lake Anna...well managed by Dominion Power...came through the big 2011 earthquake pretty well, epicenter was only 10 miles away, and they say part of the fault runs underneath it. They have a federally approved spent fuel storage plan...no problem. This power plant was state of the art when built in the '70s and has been modernized, of course, making 1.79 gigawatts, enough for 450,000 homes. Some of the newer nuclear technology can make use of SMRs, Small Modular Reactors, generating 60 megawatts, which can be clustered, and provide a smaller footprint...this is the technology Bill Gates got into, for what that's worth. Sounds to me a lot like the many small gas fired energy plants that makes growing your own energy like buying local farm produce.

Did a good bit of clean up yesterday...since we had pulled the fridges out to be able to plug them into the generator, and because we were still warned of more ice storms earlier this week, we left them out from the walls. Yesterday, we did a good cleaning behind them, underneath them, and vacuumed the coils. That craziness spread to the dryer, pulling off the vent connector pipe, and taking it outside to cha ching it...which reminded me I needed to do the same thing to my coffee roaster vent pipe, and to the shop vac filter, again.

 

[PJSprog]

39°F and clear skies this morning, going up to 55° today. We hit 65° yesterday with full sun, and I still have some areas in near the driveway with 5-6" of snow. We'll cool down a bit tonight and tomorrow, but then back up near 60° by Saturday. I'm OK with that.

Wife and I had another talk last night about the possibility of moving out of Illinois. It's an idea that gets a little discussion now and again. This one got a little more serious, though, and even involved calling the boys. She called the oldest one in San Marcos to talk about the best areas of Texas to consider, then called the youngest one to ask if he might be interested in moving there as well (he is). I guess it's time to start looking in ernest at property for sale in central Texas.

That turned out to be a long conversation, and the only other things I got accomplished were taking the trash can out to the road and washing some eggs.

Some really great discussions here about energy. Nice to have such a knowledge base.

 

[toppop52]

42-60 today, a little breezy.

I’ve got to move stuff from my big enclosed trailer to the storage building, so I’m getting seat time. Got someone coming to get the trailer hopefully this weekend. I’m already spending his money.

Ron, Mostly, my friend Mike says his plane is fitted for eight passengers and cruises at about 300 kts.

My problem with the “greenies” is they never want to veer from the gospel of wind and solar. Truly sustainable sources such as geothermal, nuclear and in some areas wave/tidal energy gets ignored , all they want to talk about is wind, sun rainbows and pink unicorns.