Hello From Michigan

Over this last month and a half I have been drowning in my work. With the huge interest in the ductless heat pump systems, and the resurrected interest in home insulation (thanks to the especially cold weather streak) I am lucky to get to all my calls within 3 days let alone begin planning for what we should work on next. Guess this also shows me that I have not been doing a good job of finding time to relax and post here. I'll have to work on that.



I'm spending this holiday season with Brielle and our family in Michigan. This weekend we are near Boyne mountain. Traverse City is the closest city listed on the map here. Probably won't do any skiing but it sure is beautiful.

Being here has reminded me how much many of you pay to keep yourselves warm or cool during the extreme temperatures. It is in my plan to post on either duct work or gas furnaces this break we will see which one makes the cut.

Merry Christmas to you all. Stay warm and stay healthy. Let me know if you need any help with either.

google photo search

I ran a google photo search on a phase I had stuck in my mind. Here are my favorites:

Who do you think you are?

Dear Pandora,

Where do you get the nerve?

love,
Matt


Today Pandora described me this way "folk roots, repetitive melodic phrasing, extensive vamping, acoustic sonority, and minor key tonality." I just don't know what to think.

Ductless Heat Pump Installation

Here is a great example of a ductless heat pump installation. These home owners were looking at a $28k bid to install a ducted system in their home. They had used ceiling heat up until now. This unit has been successful in offseting most of their heating load in their 2000 sf home. It looks as good as a heating system can look, and only cost them $5k.


The covered refrigerant lines run up the wall on the outside of the home, just behind the wall unit.


After they finish their remodel a unit will also be installed on the other side of their home. That unit will control two heads, one on each floor. Total installation costs will be around $11k. No duct loses, much lower cycling loses, and a great rebate :).

The Humble Conservation Rig

Here is our humble conservation rig.







Fairly fuel efficient, classic white, with lots of room in the back for test equipment, CFL bulbs, high efficiency showerheads, and everything needed to crawl under homes in search of under-insulated spaces.

Light Bulb Side Note (then back to heating systems)

Now when you are intending to make light with electricity, instead of heat, your efficiency number is going to shift. Standard incandescent light bulbs have been creating light for us since Thomas Edison (or before if you credit those that did not file a patent). These bulbs create light from electricity by heating a wire up just like your toaster does; only they hold a different type of metal that intends to focus on the visible light spectrum instead of infrared.


While techs have created better filaments for light bulbs that last longer, and are slightly more efficient, we are still operating around 10%. Meaning that of the total amount of electricity that enters the bulb only 10% of it becomes visible light. The other 90% is emitted as heat. I am sure this does not come as a surprise as it is very easy to burn your hand when trying to switch out an incandescent bulb that had been on for a while.

(As a side note, the visible light is going to bounce around the room being absorbed by the surfaces until it is gone. When absorbed, i.e. stopped, that light will create a small amount of heat. So, one could say that a light bulb is 100% efficient at creating heat, because at the end of the day every watt of electricity that enters the bulb eventually becomes heat.)


While the efficiency of incandescents may get slightly better over the next few years it is highly unlikely that they will get anywhere near the efficiency of a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL). A CFL, just as a standard fluorescent, creates a ultraviolet light stream thru the center of the tube. I had the chance to see one a few weeks ago at a light show, and it looks exactly like a Star Wars light saber.


Generally speaking we do not see this portion of the light as it is hidden behind the white phosphor coating on the inside of the glass surface. As the ultraviolet light strikes the phosphors it excites them and they emit visible light. As a team these two create light 75% more efficiently than an incandescent, since less electricity is released as heat.

(Again, the light will bounce around the room until it becomes heat as well, but if you ever try to remove a CFL that has been on for a while you will find that they do not create nearly as much heat.)

And since the goal is to create visible light, these are a clear winner. Add to that that they have a lifespan 10x the lifespan of an incandescent and the fact that they cost more upfront is no longer an issue.

Giant Toaster in the Sky

I am frequently asked: "Is my baseboard/cadet/ceiling heat efficient?" In short, Yes. They are all essentialy giant toasters with different bells and whistles.

Electric heat, by its nature is 'efficient'. For every 1 watt of electricity it pulls out of the socket it creates exactely 1 watt of heat. That makes these units 100% efficient. Every single one of them. It does not matter if the Amish made them in the sticks of North Carolina, or whether Paul Harvey tells you one particular brand makes him happy, or whatever new name/approach a fancy marketer made up to sell their product. Every single one of these units is 100% efficient. Yes, every one.

The 50%+ savings frequently marketed by some of these units requries that you turn off your main heating system and only use this unit in the room that you are currently in, while the rest of your home is not heated (check the fine print for these details). If you do that there certainly could be some savings, but by its nature that electric heating box is 100% efficient just like your electric furnace (I may talk about duct systems some time in the future, but for now lets just assume that they carry all the heat into your house).

This is the limit of physics people, you just cannot make heat from nothing, and since you are trying to make heat there are no loses. It does not matter if they call it "infared-heat", or "liquid-heat", or "your-kids-will-now-listen-to-you-be-happy-and-quiet-Heat". Electric heat is electric heat. You are likely to see the same 'savings' if you buy a $15 space heater at Walmart, or you could see even more savings if you bought an electric blanket and turned all your heat off.

I do realize that often what people mean to ask is which option is cheaper, and what is going to make me more comfortable. Those are much harder questions to answer.

Heat Pumps Are Where It Is At

And ductless heat pumps are the coolest thing since before sliced bread.

All the efficiencies of a top shelf heat pump without all the duct loses and sky-high install prices. We are starting to market them as a retrofit option for homes with baseboard/ceiling heat. One of these units in the primary living area can serve most of the home with the most efficient heat available at 1/3 the cost of a ducted system.

Anyway way too much writing and not enough pictures:

See mrslim.com or Fujitsu for more information & pics.

Transpartisan Alliance

Just joined these guys :LINK:.

I posted about Joseph McCormic back in October 2006 and am excited to see something else happening. I am still not convinced that it is in my families/my communities best interest that I dive into national politics, but I do want to keep my ear to the rails, if you will.

Tears of Joy

When Brielle and I were married we were challenged to bring one another to "tears of joy" on a daily basis. While I don't not believe this is exactely what he had in mind I have been thinking about it lately. Maybe this one is a little more on spot:

Giant Pumkins! Ever Been?

Fall is here. This was 1:30 PM in the afternoon. First day we have seen this season with a not-so-slight chill in the air.




That's right folks, giant pumpkins. The fellow in the black tee is Dave Hancock a co-worker of mine. That beautiful gord on the scale was grown in his backyard.




Note the forklift.



The winners at this Weigh-Off were the bohemouths to the left and right of the scale. One of these weighed in at over 1300 lbs. Word on the street is that the world record is currently: Joe Jutras from North Scituate, Rhode Island. He brought a 1689 pound pumpkin to the Topsfield Fair GPC weigh-off in Topsfield, Ma. on September 29, 2007. If history holds true that will be beaten sometime this year.



A classic western showdown: goat style.



Brielle informed me that owning goats is now in our 5 year plan.

In the World of Fiber Optics

So I learned this week that all the fiber optic traffic for the entire city goes thru the room two doors down from my office. A fiber optic signal travels at 90 some % of the speed of light in at least 60 different colors. That is either one amazing light show, or enough information to choke a librarian. For you techno geeks this means that if I had a computer fast enough to receive the information, I could download files at a few gigabits per second. Or in other words it would take less than a minute to download all 3 Lord of the Rings movies, extended versions.

This is merely an example: I do not condone pirating movies. Our national laws deems such actions as illegal, and rightfully so. Besides with sites like THIS what else do you need?

Some Thoughts, Political or Not

I stumbled upon these words by Hans Rookmaaker today. They are in Modern Art And The Death Of A Culture volume 5 of his complete works (please stop clapping, I actually started at volume 5 so it just happens to sound more impressive than it actually is).

"I am very aware that the issues at stake are not just cultural and intellectual but also spiritual. What is involved is a whole way of thinking that leave out of account, and so largely negates, vital aspects of our humanity and our understanding of reality. Christians today must understand the spirit of the age. They must realize that the protesters and revolutionaries are often fighting against the same evils of society as they are themselves. But they must also see the inadequacy of all answers that do not tackle the root of the problem."

But it would be unfair to ignore the fact that this hardly even takes the edge off when the apparent "dissenters" do not cease to be so terribly insipid.

Can Reid guess who's speach is who's?

This blogger put the 4 nomination speaches in Wordle and is giving you the chance to guess which is who's.

Wordle

Excellent Presentation:Good Info

THIRST

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: design crisis)

This one's for all you aspiring visionairies:

Visionary Leaders with Purposes Are Not Easy to Replace. How Many Can You Name out There?
by: Idris Mootee
Many think that visionaries are not the kind of leaders who can take advantage of any short-term opportunities and solely focus on the big vision. That may not be the case, for those smart visionaries, they can create short terms opportunities from long term vision. . .

These Are Not Your Parent's CFLs!

Do not be fooled by my camera's automatic settings. The CFL example only looks darker because it was too bright and my camera toned it down. Take a close look at the Watt readings in the pictures to compare the difference in electricity between the single incandescent and four compact fluorescents.







And these are not your first generation CFLs:
1. They are instant on. (No more waiting 0.5-2 seconds.)
2. They are available in various color temperatures. (Note the difference between the two spiral options in the second picture. The one of the left is very close to the color of an incansecent.)
3. They do not flicker (actually they flicker 12,000+ times per second which is way too fast to be seen by even a humming bird. Which means no more headaches).
4. They still use 75% less electricity.
5. They still last 10 times longer than an incandescent.
6. They have less than half the mercury of the first generation CFLs.


If you are looking for these options and more be sure to choose an Energy Star rated product. They require the bulbs to prove their lamp life and reduce the mercury content, among other things.


Also if you have not read an earlier post about the mercury content in CFLs the short message is: because these bulbs use significantly less power (nation wide a large portion of this power is coal fired plants) less mercury is released into the environment than if an incandescent bulb was used (even is the worst case senario when the bulb ends up in a landfill instead of recycled). So as the Department of Energy says "Change a light. Change the world."

Another Reason To Go Electric

NW Natural to request natural gas rate increase.

So They Printed My Letter-to-the-Editor . . .

This is how they printed my letter. While I did change the format of the letter from the one I posted here, it will be very clear that they did some work of their own. Just don't read it too carefully or some of the sentences will not make any sense:

CFLs a good investment
Here is a more accurate perspective on CFLs, energy use and environmental conservation:
Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, requiring roughly 25 percent greater efficiency from light bulbs beginning in 2012. While some incandescent technology meets this standard, CFL lighting fits any standard light fixture and already exceeds the efficiency mark.
Unfortunately, misinformation about mercury content in CFLs has discouraged many people from using them. As conservation specialist for McMinnville Water & Light, I can tell you that using CFLs means less mercury released into the environment, not more.
A CFL bulb typically contains between 1.4 and 5 milligrams of mercury — not enough to cover the head of a pin. Said John Bachner, National Lighting Bureau, "Even in a small room, the impact on air quality (of a broken CFL) is well below danger levels established by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration."
Older thermometers typically contain 500 milligrams of mercury; mechanical thermostats typically contain 1,000 to 3,000 mg of mercury. The EPA estimates that Americans release 104 metric tons of mercury each year, mostly from coal-fired electrical power.
Since CFLs use 75 percent less electricity than an incandescent, replacing incandescents with CFLs means 75 percent less mercury released into the atmosphere. One CFL saves 4.5 mg of mercury from the atmosphere. The mercury vapor inside fluorescent light bulbs binds to the inside of the bulb, leaving an average of 0.4 mg of mercury free in the bulb. So, even when it goes to a landfill, there is 4.1 mg of mercury saved from the environment.
If mercury from CFLs is a dripping faucet, coal-fired power plants are a wide-open fire hydrant of mercury. Using CFLs saves hydro power here, which can be sold to offset coal power elsewhere.
Long life and low energy use make CFLs a good investment. For cleanup suggestions when a CFL bulb breaks, visit www.epa.gov/mercury.
Matt DeppeMcMinnville

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I guess the main ideas are still comunicated, they just happen to have taken out any resemblence of art or form or fun. Oh well.

Oregon and Solar Electric

Great article in the Oregonian today regarding solar electricity and Oregonians. Check it out HERE.

Conservation 101:

As a utility in a growing and thriving town we are faced with an ever increasingly pressing question: Where are we going to get more power? Whether it is from new homes and businesses moving in, or just the newest electronic gizmo getting plugged in, our city electric load is growing.

To date we have purchased all our power from Bonneville Power Administration. A large percentage of that power (about 80%) comes from large hydro. The good thing about this type of power is that it is very cheap. It was invested in a long time ago and many of them are still running very smoothly (granted that they have severely effected fish populations in many areas). The down side is that hydro power is finite. There is only so much water behind the dam, and not a drop more. So as our city grows we are forced to look at other options.

In our region solar electricity is not a viable option. An average home (1000 square feet w/ heat pump) owner would need to invest $100k in solar panels to offset their yearly electrical consumption. This would save them $630 dollars a year in electricity; providing a simple payback of 159 years. Even with robust tax incentives and local utility rebates it does not take an accountant to see that it does not pencil out on the money side.

Some utilities started to wonder if they might be able to convince people to use a little less electricity as a way of dealing with load growth. One way to bring down electrical demand is to raise the price. This has limited success and tends to hurt those with fixed incomes. And as the Carter administration proved (think ‘warm sweater and less heat’), as well as recent buzz about gas prices, people do not like to change their habits. So, what if we could get people to use less electricity and save money without asking them to sacrifice their comfort?

For example: if I could get my neighbor to insulate his 1,800 square foot home he might save as much as 12,000 kilowatt hours over the next year (estimated project cost of $7,000). That is equivalent to $80k worth of solar electricity and he would also save as much as 50% on his winter heating bills. From his standpoint it is a win-win. His bills go down, and he is likely to see a simple-payback in less than 5 years after the tax rebates and utility incentives.

As it turns out buying conservation (incenting people to be more efficient) is the cheapest resource a utility can find, by a factor of at least 10. In 2007 the Northwest funded enough conservation to power 146,000 homes or, to look at it another way, enough power to offset 50% of the load growth of that same year. By this evidence every power planning committee in the nation would be wise to pursue conservation as a portion of their portfolio. Many utilities also use this funding to help field high bill complaints as they can be great leads to inefficient homes.

Next Issue: So you think you hate CFLs?

Just when you thought. . .

there were no breakthroughs in the portable toilet business (other than catchy names like "Honey Bucket" & "Paradise Lua") some genius comes up with this:




That's right folks. It is a double decker urinal trougher. Services 12 semi-modest men, or 16 true troopers at one time. Life just does not get any better than this.

Oregon Brew Festival

Possilbly the Best Store Sign Ever

Sometimes I wonder how the small mom & pop stores survive in a big box world. Other times I really really wonder.