Government-subsidized green light bulb carries costly price tag

[MHz]

lol Because the utility company keeps upping the cost for various reasons like inflation, cost of generation, maintenance, etc.

The biggest increases I see are on the administration side, actual fuel is almost the same, the user fees have risen 200% in not that many years. Water and sewer have risen $30 in just the last two years and that is with $5 going to water usage, $35 for garbage and the rest in admin fees.

 

[L Gilbert]

Thank God it's warm this winter. I saved a bundle too and it wasn't from light bulbs.

Good for you.

 

[petros]

Well, for one thing, around here, it caused us to come up with ways of reducing costs in order to compensate for more taxes. DUH

How do you save money by spending money?

 

[L Gilbert]

How do you save money by spending money?

Spin, huh. We spent about $8000 in the past years on developing our own energy sources. Early last year it paid for itself and since then we are supplying the grid with our excess energy. We average about $270 a month in checks from the power company.

 

[MHz]

Spend a little to save a lot has to be part of the winning formula. Closing off part of the house that wasn't being used saved $50/month for sure, maybe more. I should live in the basement and shut down the whole main floor, that should save me 90% in heating costs without cramping my living style very much. That would be the better option than trying to bring the building up to R-40 standards, easier too, block a few vents and close a few more doors than usual. Granted an insulated floor would be an extra cost if every penny saved counted.

 

[petros]

Really? How many KWh are you producing?

 

[L Gilbert]

I think it's about 3 to 3.5 MWh

 

[MHz]

Spin, huh. We spent about $8000 in the past years on developing our own energy sources. Early last year it paid for itself and since then we are supplying the grid with our excess energy. We average about $270 a month in checks from the power company.

When you were doing your research did you look at wind very closely. The concept is nice but the equipment you need is outrageous.

I never did run across any that used a big sail like you would find on a big sloop to gather and direct the breezes towards a smaller fan that could tale advantage of the extra speed only a sail can create. Sails today last 20 years if cared for and small wind turbines are aleady being manufactured in low voltage forms. A windfarm of that type would be mostly very tall masts with sails attached and wind turbine sets close to the ground and having a small dia prop.

 

[L Gilbert]

When you were doing your research did you look at wind very closely. The concept is nice but the equipment you need is outrageous.

Nope. Wind isn't practical here.

 

[MHz]

Apparently it is proving not to be practical anywhere they have tried it. Very expensive lesson. They look like they would work if you could waterproof them and sink them into a strong reliable current under the waves.

Now that you are a power producer I hope you don't cheer when the price goes up (although i could understand it if you did lol)

 

[petros]

I think it's about 3 to 3.5 MWh

Which method?

 

[L Gilbert]

Which method?

We run hydro and solar.

Apparently it is proving not to be practical anywhere they have tried it. Very expensive lesson. They look like they would work if you could waterproof them and sink them into a strong reliable current under the waves.

Now that you are a power producer I hope you don't cheer when the price goes up (although i could understand it if you did lol)

Nah. We don't cheer about stuff that costs our neighbors more money.

 

[petros]

8% efficient solar..SWEET!

 

[L Gilbert]

That's quite the assumption.

 

[petros]

It's no assumption.

 

[L Gilbert]

It's no assumption.

You have no idea what arrangement of energy sources we have hear. So yes, it's an assumption.

http://www.pvpower.com/howefficientissolarenergy.html

 

[petros]

ooooOOOOooooo I stand corrected at 15%

 

[L Gilbert]

ooooOOOOooooo I stand corrected at 15%

It still helps. But keep forking over your wad for your power if that's what makes your bum hum..

 

[petros]

It helps the panel manufacturer more than it does you.

 

[damngrumpy]

Green energy and organic food groups are no longer about the environment or healthy food.
They are now companion religions and that means cost is not a factor, the collection plate
needs to be filled.
This is about making money and not about a better way of doing things. Years ago the people
who started the environmental movement were hippies and tree huggers. The organic farmers
were actually conservative Christians who started the movement over four hundred years ago.

The differences now show up as money making hypocrisy. The environmentalists for thirty
years ago have been pushed aside by money making trans national companies selling new ideas
to naive people without a clue as to what they are buying except they are solving a mythical
problem together.
The organic food movement has a new left/right alliance for growing food, profit margins and a
series of myths. This policy has replace some wonderful ideas that could really benefit the human
condition.
Light bulbs are only the first step in finding out just how much they can fool us into believing a
whole series of snake oil myths that will be coming our way. We just keep eating it up and paying
for a mass cleanup of the environment that these same companies dirtied in the first place.
I have bought up one hell of a pile of old bulbs that I will be using for years.