It's not easy being green

Village Idiot

Sombody stop me !!! I'm outta control. It's become an obsession, and I need professional help. :ohmy:

http://willsononline.com/green

Little Steven

Gary,

Great stuff! Solar panels in the future? The electrical authourity here is offering to buy back any excess power returned to the grid at a rate of eighty cents/Kwh, cost to purchase is now about 9 cents.

Steve

Village Idiot

Thanks, Steve. I've drooled over the thought of solar power, but I'm afraid we're just not there yet. The main appliance here in S. Texas is an A/C unit, which draws a tremendous amount of electricity. I've been told that to get enough solar panels to drive that would cost in the neighborhood of $80,000 USD. Way beyond my means.

BTW, I mentioned what you said about a galvanized cistern rusting to my rain man, and he said he can put in a zinc plate outside the cistern (but connected) and slightly underground. Apparently, the rust gremlins prefer the zinc over the steel and go to that instead. They need to be replaced once a year. Cost about $60.

Little Steven

Gary,

Not sure of the science behind that but I think it may be a form of cathodic protection.

Steve

fishlessman

i cut the "lawn" this week, first time in over 2 years, how green is that. could be your next endeavor :laugh: :laugh: i like the green spins they put on things nowadays, i burn about 6000 pounds of coal a year to heat my house, on the bags it comes in it explains how thats benefiting the environment :laugh: :laugh: gotta do my part

jennjuicer

That's great. Ever look into wind power? Solar is good for capturing heat. Wind is much more efficient at 'creating' electricity. (depending upon availability of raws of course).

Village Idiot

Jenn,

Like solar, I'm also fascinated with wind power. I'm always amazed when I'm driving I-10 in West Texas and see the many thousands of windmills on the distant mesa tops.

But, in our neighborhood, we have so many oak trees that interferes with wind, I don't think it would work very well. Also, I saw a news report a year or so ago that all the neighbors were complaining about the noise of a windmill that a guy put up. I remember the old cattle trough windmills were noisy too.

Spring Chicken

Boy! Are you ever behind the times. I've been using solar heat in the Coop for four years. Free sunlight keeps the Coop plenty warm all summer long. We even use natural air conditioning for winter cooling.

If we want to mix it up, we have a very economical ceiling mounted air thruster that operates off some kind of stuff that comes through three little holes in the wall, up through a tube and into the hanger device.

As for water storage, we have approximately 8,000 sq ft of underground moisture storage area that is occasionally replenished from overhead.

As for recycling of any items we find little or no use for, we transport it to the nearby motorized vehicular repositioning area where a mechanized retrieval device with two or more detachable human intelligence fortified operators accepts what is offered, loads it into the transporter to be joined with other unwanted materials, and is then transported to a naturally operated decomposition area set aside for long term storage.

We pay a small fee for some of these services but the majority of costs are amortized for approximately three to twelve centuries.

Spring "Plugged In, Turned On, Tuned Out" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Village Idiot

Leroy,

You are my hero. I can only dream about achieving one with nature as you have. I am now convinced that you are totally a Native American, and I insist that you wear a loin cloth to the next eggfest ........ hmmm, wait a minute. Strike that last sentence. :ohmy:

Adult ADHD

No idiot here. You are doing great. I need to pick up the speed.