Maryland Green Power Co

Please Visit Our New Blog Site

2008-05-21T09:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the inconvenience, but we could not implement the features we needed on this blog site.

We needed to transfer our entire blog over to WordPress at the following link:

Maryland Green Power New Blog Site

This blog site will no longer be updated. Please visit the new site for fresh material.

We are Doomed to Pay More and More for Electric Power

2008-05-15T06:19:00.000-07:00

Electricity price inelasticity means that the laws of supply and demand are unlikely to cause electricity prices to drop in the future due to a lack of demand caused by rising prices. These higher prices will make it difficult to pass legislation encouraging the use of green energy. Consumption will probably not decrease and electrical power prices will continue to rise.

The Wall Street Journal puts it well in this quote taken directly from their article "Pain at the Plug: Fuel Costs Push Up Electricity Rates, Too

That raises some interesting questions. How easy a sell will climate-change bills like Lieberman-Warner be for Congress, when the bills will add between 11% and 64% to the cost of electricity which is already going vertical?

What will higher electricity prices do to demand for juice? When gasoline prices spiked in recent months, demand slumped for once. Normally, demand for gasoline is pretty inelastic in the short-term. Only sustained high gasoline prices lead to big changes, like more fuel-efficient cars, carpooling, and the like.

Demand for electricity is even less responsive to price than demand for gasoline is. Spot market rates for electricity aren’t posted across town, and you don’t pay the power bill every week.

Sunfri Claims to Develop Solar Power Cell Producing Electricity for 5 Cents per kWH

2008-05-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

Sunfri Claims to Develop Solar Power Cell Producing Electricity for 5 Cents per kWH

An interesting claim, but I always considered the measurement of solar power production cost in terms of kWH to be confusing, since solar power is actually produced at a cost of ZERO kWH. After all, solar power is free.

It would be more meaningful to discuss the materials and installation cost of solar power per kW, not kWH. For example, we sell Photovoltaic (PV) Solar Power panels at a cost of about $ 8.00 per watt, which is on the low side of the industry average of $ 8.00 - $ 12.00 per watt.

To repeat, the system is sized by rated power in kW (kilowatts), not in kWH (kilowatt-hours), which is a billing measurement.

If solar power panels were engines, kW would translate to horse-power output, while kWH would correspond to miles driven. (The engineering purist will want to provide the correction "miles * weight," which better reflects the work done by the engine over time, but let's stop now before this gets really boring.)

Anyway, I read somewhere that another company will soon be selling solar power panels at a price of $ 1 per Watt, or about 1/5 the materials cost of the typical system today. They have supposedly sold out their first year's production, and are capable of producing about 480 MW of capacity per year.

That should take a big dent out of the fossil-fuel based production, if it's true!

More information on that later...

Driving Your Car on Water

2008-05-14T09:35:00.001-07:00

Caveat Emptor: Watch out for businesses and products which promise to save you gas by adding some expensive liquid to your fuel tank, or, as I have recently seen, a company which sells a car engine conversion kit to allow your car to run on gas.

It seems that a large number of people believe this hype, and with gas prices increases at their current rate, maybe many of us are willing to suspend our disbelief in the hopes of finding a solution.

However, the reality is that mineral oil appears to have replaced snake oil as one of the preferred means of reducing the mass inside your wallet.

These additives, at best, have a one-time effect of cleaning parts inside the engine to allow it to run more efficiently. Nevertheless, those types of cleaners are available at your local car parts or hardware store, usually much less expensively, and do not have to be added to every tankful, as these outfits claim, because they do not do anything to the gas to make it more efficient.

For real benefits, you could buy a more fuel efficient car, or just take the proven advice offered on the following website:

Sierra Club: Filling Up For Less

Strategic Oil Reserves

2008-05-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

Congress has another brilliant method of reducing gas prices:

CNN.COM Strategic Oil Reserves

Estimated savings: 1 cent to 25 cents per gallon. I guess you can pack your bags and take that road trip across the country now.

Furthermore, it's strange that we drill for oil and pump it out of one hole, only to buy it from the market and drop it down another, in this case, an abandoned salt mine set up as the strategic oil reserves.

We could have been lazy about it and just left it in the first hole.

I've got an idea: Why don't we take Alaska's ANWAR reserve and designate it our Strategic Oil Reserves? That way, we can just leave the oil in Alaska, save money by not extracting it, let the caribou live in peace, and have a huge oil reserve which won't cost the taxpayers anything and won't increase current demand on oil.

Great! But where's the pork?

Congress will never touch that!

Wrongfully Accused

2008-05-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

ETHANOL PLEADS NOT GUILTY!

BY: KENNETH C. REED
Natural Alternative Fuels, Inc.

Ethanol is currently on trial, charged with causing world hunger and civil unrest. It is alleged that the corn and grain diverted from the food chain to produce biofuels has lead to severe food shortage and disrupted food security around the world. Alternative fuel production has been blamed for high food prices at the grocery store and causing a “silent famine” among the world’s poor. Some have gone as far as to claim that production of ethanol and biodiesel from grain is a “crime against humanity.” To the charges, ethanol pleads “not guilty.”

The purpose of this article is to set forth the truth and debunk the myth about ethanol and biodiesel. The public deserves to know the truth so that they can discern fact from fiction and propaganda. Armed with truth, consumers will be less inclined to succumb to biased media hype, special interest group propaganda and knee-jerk decision making by political leaders. The truth will expose the real culprits behind high food prices and the hunger crisis.

The real perpetrators of the current world food crisis are: Fear, greed, rising demand, dwindling supply, prolonged drought in Argentina, heavy rains and flooding in the mid-west U.S. and other parts of the world, and foreign government decisions to reduce grain exports in an effort to drive down domestic prices. These factors all play a pivotal role in the price and availability of food. U.S. ethanol production uses 25 percent of the nation’s corn output, however, the corn used is field corn and not sweet corn used for human consumption. The actual net impact of ethanol production on food prices in the store amounts to a few pennies. Now compare this to the following facts.

Truth 1.

A barrel of oil sold on the New York Stock Exchange for $75.00 in July 2007. On May 7, 2008, this global commodity sold for $122.00 per barrel. By May 9th, the price hit $126.00 per barrel. It takes approximately 6 weeks for a barrel of oil to make its way from the refinery to the consumers’ gas tank. In addition, oil companies switch from winter gas to summer gas; a process that will soon take place and will result in an upward spike in gas prices.
Truth 2.

Consumers paid approximately $2.78 per gallon for gas in April 2007. On May 7, 2008, the average cost of gas was $3.61 a gallon. The American public will soon feel the effects of $126.00 per barrel oil and the summer change-over gas as the cost of a gallon of fuel will exceed $4.00 and move toward $4.50 by the end of June, 2008.

Truth 3.

Rice is the number one food staple for nearly ½ of the population of the world. The record price of $894.00 per ton was set on May 6, 2008. The previous record was set in May 2007 when the price was $327.25 per ton. Much of the world’s population that relies on rice as their primary dietary supplement are poor and have been the hardest hit by this sharp increase.
Truth 4.

Thailand, the world’s largest exporter of rice, ships 1/3 of all rice exports. The world is gripped by the fear that Thailand will soon restrict rice shipments, thereby furthering the global food crisis. The Thai government has said it will not impose such restrictions. Nevertheless, worry has caused consumers to hoard rice which has lead to a $2-$3 increase in price in the grocery store. Sam’s Club and Costco have placed limits on bulk rice purchases claiming their decision is “based on recent supply and demand trends.”

Truth 5.

Fear concerning Thailand’s potential to restrict rice exports is fueled by the fact that other major world exporters (India and Vietnam) indicated that they will reduce rice exports in an effort to drive down domestic prices. China, Egypt and Cambodia have imposed such restrictions.
Truth 6.

By December 2007, the price of wheat had topped $10.00 per bushel. This is after experts had predicted that wheat would sell for $3.80 per bushel by June 2007. May 2008 wheat sells for $12.92 per bushel, having fallen back down from $19.80 per bushel in February 2008. This price volatility is coupled with the fact that the world’s wheat supply has diminished to its lowest level in 60 years.

Truth 7.

A bushel of corn sold for an average price of $3.40 in June 2007. By May 5, 2008, a bushel of corn sold for $6.02. Soybeans sold for an average of $6.35 per bushel in 2007 and reached $13.32 per bushel by May 2008. Corn and soybeans are the primary feedstock for producing ethanol and biodiesel fuels.

Truth 8.

Developing nations like China and India have become more affluent, resulting in increased food consumption particularly meats, poultry and vegetable oils. People who once ate approximately 44 kilograms of meat are now eating 110 kilograms of meat per year. Increased meat consumption requires increased livestock which requires significant increased grain feed for the livestock. This increase in demand for grain has been a trend for the past 5 years, significantly impacting world-wide supply and is a cause of surplus levels dwindling to their lowest point in 60 years.

Truth 9.

Prolonged drought in Argentina, floods in mid-western U.S., heavy rains in other areas of the world have slowed the planting season for farmers. Unless the weather changes soon, crop yields will be significantly less in 2008. Lower supply, world-wide population growth and increased demand results in higher prices. Add to these factors the decline in the value of the American dollar and the shift of investment dollars into global commodities, and you have the ingredients for higher food prices in the grocery stores. At the same time everything is rising in price, household incomes remained flat or declined. Unfortunately, the poor of the world suffer the most. Civil unrest in areas of predominantly poor have nothing to do with production of ethanol, but everything to do with the widening gap between the “haves and the have-nots.”

Truth 10.

This time, ethanol and biodiesel is here to stay. In prior generations, major oil companies and special interest groups have been able to block the penetration of biofuels into the market. With rising energy costs, increased concern for global warming and greater emphasis on reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil, the time is right for America to invest in alternative fuels. The renewable fuels industry achieved 25.4 billion in revenues in 2007 from sales of 15 billion gallons of fuel. The market is projected to grow to 81.1 billion dollars by 2017.

Major oil companies raked in 123 billion dollars in profits this past year while the price of gas at the pump reached levels which force people to choose between driving and eating. American truckers are unable to afford to fuel the trucks that deliver most of this country’s food to the stores. Truckers have paid in excess of 22 billion dollars more in gas in 2008 than they did in 2007. Higher gas prices are passed from the truckers to the stores and from the stores to the consumers. The sad truth is that there is no food shortage. Food is in the store and rotting on the floors of the warehouses; but the people of the world are increasingly unable to afford to purchase the food due to severe price increases fueled by ungodly price increases for oil. If it had not been for the

availability of ethanol and biodiesel as a competitive alternative to petroleum-based gasoline, the price of gas would be even higher than it is now.

In conclusion, the charges against ethanol and biofuels are wrong. At best, those who promote these charges are misinformed. At worst, these people and groups are part of a conspiracy to reverse U.S. government policies that promote alternative fuel development; the goal being to protect big oil profits.

Knowledge is power. Power is the strength and ability to effect change. Without knowledge, our people will perish. To ignore the knowledge shared herein is to fall victim to the smoke and mirror tricks intended to divert attention away from the real culprits behind the suffering of the people. The facts speak for themselves. It has very little to do with the production of corn-based ethanol. The real ringleaders for the alleged “crime against humanity” are fear and greed and the people or companies that trade on that fear. On the basis of the facts and truths set forth herein, the charges against ethanol and biofuels must be dismissed!

Respectfully submitted by:

Kenneth C. Reed,

© All rights reserved. Kenneth C. Reed. Natural Alternative Fuels, Inc. May 9, 2008

Federal Incentives for Power Saving Projects

2008-05-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I referred to some State and Local incentive programs for renewable power and energy saving project.

To get the full benefit of government subsidies and assistance, you should also visit:

Federal Energy Project Incentives

Grants and Tax Incentives for Energy Projects - State by State Resource Guide

2008-05-12T21:45:00.001-07:00

What a great resource this site is! Here you can find Federal, State, County and Municiple tax incentives, rebates and grants for your energy project, whether it is a renewable power project or power conservation system.

Some of your energy projects like solar power, wind generation or geothermal might even wind up being free in some States.

Check out the site, and contact me if you have any questions:

DSIRE Website

You can contact me through my main energy saving site.

Low-Power Flight Mode of the Future

2008-05-12T18:19:00.000-07:00

Your flight is ready to take off so bring your tennis racquet - you might want to play a couple of sets on-board. No, not Wii, the real thing!

The flight vehicle of the future is huge, low-power, capable of carrying 1,000 passengers in complete luxury, and might use half the fuel of today's jets to carry a similar number of passengers comparable distances.

Have you identified it yet?

Almost forgot - it runs on solar power! Now you wouldn't want to fly in a solar-powered airplane, would you?

Here are some pictures on this blog.

Beautiful ships, aren't they?

The Global Warming Argument is Not Important Any More!

2008-05-12T07:57:00.000-07:00

I can see the complaints coming in about that title, probably from both sides of the Global Warming argument.

But before you hit the send button, watch this funny and fascinating video by a wacky science teacher known on YouTube as Wonderingmind: "Into the Test Tube" which argues that the questions "Is Global Warming real?" and "Do humans cause Global Warming?" don't matter any more.

Maybe you are wondering why it's called "Into the Test Tube?" Hint: You are the one going into the test tube:

Watch: Into the Test Tube

Reply from Howard County Commission on Sustainability Regarding the Green Washing Post

2008-05-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

Here's another reason I admire Howard County's Commission on Sustainability - they are responsive!

Fortunately, Cathy Hudson of the Commission corrected one of my opinions from the prior post on Government Greenwashing, and offered some helpful advice for activists and concerned citizens.

An excerpt from Cathy Hudson's reply:

One thing to keep in mind, however, is that the Board of Education is its own entity-separate from Howard County Gov’t. (as is the Community College and the Library system). That means that they are responsible for their own priorities and budget. So, if they have different priorities for their funding, neither the county executive nor our board can “make them do it”. However, your observations in a letter to the editor would be useful-but direct the onus to the Board of Education. Another thought-the school board also has a “listening post” before each board meeting where citizens can address them. That might be another good place to share your observations.

***********************

Thank you, Cathy! We will take that approach!

Greenwashing at Our Public Schools - Call to Action!

2008-05-09T05:53:00.001-07:00

It would be interesting to know whether most readers believe that enough is being done for the environment by our government, corporations and individuals?

Although in previous posts I have criticized government interference in commerce with the perceived intention of helping the environment, e.g. the inefficient production of "green energy" ethanol which mostly benefits large agricultural concerns, nevertheless I still believe that government must do its part through responsible stewardship of the resources it does consume.

For example, I went out to play with my daughter in her school's playground on a chilly early April day after school when I heard noise emanating from the roof of the building. I noticed that the chiller was left running after-hours. (It was a containerized air-handling system, so I can't be sure, but it sounded like a compressor running leading me to believe that the chiller was on.)

In any case, many parents and pupil complain that the air temperature from classroom to classroom varies so widely, that sometimes children in one classroom have to wear thick sweaters on a hot, late-Spring day, while others in a different wing are perspiring from the heat and humidity.

Not only is this wasteful, but it is unhealthy for the children!

Teachers try to solve the problem by running space heaters in one classroom while the entire school is being air conditioned.

Another example was on a warm Sunday when I decided to practice my tennis ground strokes against the large gymnasium wall on the outside of the same school. Although there were a few children in the playground playing basketball not far from me, all of the school parking spaces were entirely empty, as to be expected on a Sunday afternoon.

So why was the air conditioner running, keeping the school cooled at the taxpayers' expense for nobody at all?

Again, this is a waste of energy and taxpayer money.

Who is keeping track of this and who is responsible? Unfortunately, as anyone who has contacted their local school about such issues knows, nobody local cares or if they do care, they cannot do anything about it because "those decisions are made by department x over at government building y by z. If you can reach that person, after getting bounced around between departments for a while, you are most likely told that there is no way of monitoring that from over there. Nobody local has the authority, and the distant authorities are eternally not aware of the problem or are constantly "looking into it."

How does one get people motivated to fix the gaping money sinkholes at our schools? Another Howard County school (names will be left out of this blog in order to protect the guilty) had maintenance problems and even rodent infestations which were not being handled until the issue reached the newspapers.

It's interesting how we can be so powerless to affect change in our democracy. Yet, we have to pay the taxes for these less than acceptable services. Sometimes it feels like "taxation without representation."

Luckily, the USA has the best method of creating a revolution - peacefully at the ballot box, and I think the current Howard County administration has been working hard to improve things.

Most impressive is how Howard County Executive Kenneth Ulman has created an "Office of Sustainability" under Director Joshua Feldmark, which is being replicated in other Maryland counties. I was fortunate to be able to observe one of their meetings as a guest, fascinated by the amount of issues on a wide range of topics they were endeavoring to tackle, as the meeting continued until almost 10:00 P.M. (You can stop complaining that government doesn't work for you - they called to continue the meeting at 7:00 AM over coffee.)

While they are working on matters such as Baltimore Gas & Electric's unilateral decision to clear-cut trees through public land in Columbia's Owen Brown Village, or the impending insufficiency of the sewer system to handle the expected growth in Columbia, I hope they also have the time to look into the school system. There are plenty of opportunities to save energy there, e.g.:

1) The heating and cooling systems should be optimized and shut down when unused,
2) Lights do not have to burn at 100% intensity at night,
3) Unused computers in the computer labs should be hibernating when not used,
4) Plus many other smaller items like, hibernating vending machines at night, using motion-sensing lighting in auxiliary classrooms, etc.

These are inexpensive fixes which offer the quickest payback time. The schools do not need to implement expensive projects like solar energy, etc.

I have confidence that there are those in government who can still turn things around. Let's support them in their efforts - get involved with your local governments, observe, write to the newspapers, write to the politicians, attend a meeting, organize an advocacy group, and complain when you see problems!

Democracy's worst enemy is indifference.

Is President Bush Aggravating the Food Crisis?

2008-05-08T06:33:00.000-07:00

I wanted to reference an article on Dr. Mercola's blog in which a good point is made about bio-fuels and the food crisis, then we'll take the logical leap necessary to blame President Bush and some others to be named below. However, read Dr. Mercola's blog entry first:

Beware - Food Crisis Getting Worse

Notice what Dr. Mercola's blog writes about bio-fuels aggravating the food crisis? For many, this is an obvious conclusion, but let us ask ourselves:

If we believe that President Bush's interests are too tangled with Big Oil, then why would he hurt his friends in the oil industry by incessantly calling for more ethanol production?

To support American farmers, you might answer.

Maybe, but who has a strangle hold on the production of American farmers? The big seed and food distribution corporations like Monsanto, who have been able to patent corn and other types of seed so that farmers cannot even use a part of their harvest to re-seed their land; the farmers have to buy new seed from Monsanto according to the seed patent rules! This puts a squeeze on American farmers and results in them not being the direct beneficiaries of higher food prices. Consider what happens when the same companies which supply your raw materials also dictate the prices at which your finished products are sold. Sounds like a franchise system of sorts. We can also compare it to serfdom, where the lords are more obscure.

So the calls to increase ethanol production from corn crops should substantially increase Monsanto's profits, right? Then, maybe there is a powerful corporate lobby which we should fear even more than Big Oil!

Why would the U.S. government allow distribution of a genetically-engineered strain of corn which PRODUCES its own pesticides INTERNALLY? Now the farmers do not have to spray pesticides ON their crops, because the pesticides are already IN the crops.

Ask yourself, how does one wash off the pesticides which are INSIDE our food?

Another question should be, if it kills insects, how could it possibly be healthy for us?

Yet, this is something our advocates at the FDA and the USDA allow to happen. But, if the FDA and the USDA approve it, it must be safe, right?

Take a look at their track record on various dangerous prescription drugs and harmful food additives, then decide. The FDA fast-track approved Viox, saccharin, Nutra-sweet, Sucralose, and Splenda.

If you believe that you will know when you are eating genetically modified food, think again. You will not see the warning on your favorite box of corn cereal, or in the ubiquitous high fructose corn syrup. Congress is fighting hard against food labeling. We are not allowed to know what's in the food or from which country it originates. Even small amounts of partially hydrogenated oils are allowed on foods which are nevertheless labeled "trans-fat free!" (I sense some doubts in the room - go ahead and research that fact for yourselves.) That's why much of the world resists buying American food - because few know what's in it!

That's all going to change thanks to the food crisis. As the hungry world becomes desperate for grain, soy, rice and corn products, consumers will be less concerned about what is in the food. The GM food will be shoved down their hungry throats. Score a big win for Monsanto! Once you get your foot in the door...

But wait, why so much rhetoric about the food crisis, genetically modified crops, and Monsanto here? This is supposed to be a blog about energy!

The frightening reality is, all of these "commodities" are interconnected and we are going to really open our wallets and purses in the near future until we figure out who is manipulating all of this.

In such an advanced society with all the sophisticated new farming techniques mankind has developed during the thousands of years of agricultural history, this should not be happening.

Oh, and oil reached another record high yesterday. Can you hear the calls for more ethanol production yet?

Help Us Support Childrens' Charities

2008-05-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

Maryland Green Power Co. has entered into an affiliate relationship with a provider of energy saving smart strips, and has agreed to contribute all profits from the sale of these useful devices to a children's charity.

What's amazing about this, is that the Smart Strips usually cost $ 31.15, but I'll show you how to get them for a $ 30.00 discount AND MGPC will still contribute approximately $ 1.50 from the sale of each product to charity, as explained at the link below.

You will be getting an energy saving product almost for free, my company will be donating about $ 1.50 to charity for each purchase, AND we don't lose money from this (we won't be making any either, but to be honest with you, I am doing this for publicity, as if you couldn't figure that out!)

Not to mention that this product is capable of making your life easier and saving you AT LEAST $ 75.00 in electricity costs per year.

I can't promise that the price won't go up, especially if there is a run on the product, so the earlier you check this out, the better it will be for everyone.

Curious? Find out how this works here:

Childrens' Charities Affiliate Program

A Total Ruckus at the Doctor's Office

2008-05-07T10:11:00.000-07:00

What a messy situation I ran into the other day while entering a doctor's office! Just prior to arriving, electricity failed for a large section of Columbia, MD. Police were directing traffic at every intersection, but I didn't think that this event would interfere with my doctor's visit. Like most of us these days, I took for granted that the backup generator at that facility would be working behind the scenes, almost undetectably, to ensure that business was not interrupted. Isn't it funny how we always just assume that the lights will be on at any given place of business?

In fact, the building which I walked past was full lit and operating, but not my destination. In the dark chaos of the waiting room, nurses were coaxing confused and anxious-looking patients to the door, instructing them to reschedule another day, because they would not open their doors again that day - 6 hours of expected downtime! The nurses explained that, since the computers were also down, they could not even reschedule patients that day.

What an embarrassing situation for a business! Some of those patients might understand that this was beyond the control of their doctor's office, but others might have gotten frustrated enough to call another provider. Then one must also take into account the lost wages for the employees who were unproductive that day, the lost income, the lost...?

I called the landlord immediately to offer help, but the landlord was too inundated with phone calls from the many tenants to speak to me. It is was just too late to help this customer - once a crisis strikes, one must go into survival mode.

The culprit was a fuel pump which fed an emergency backup generator, which was replaced the next week. Compared to the cost of buying and owning an emergency backup generator, the fuel pump is tiny, but it was the critical weak link which wound up costing this customer a bundle!

Have you ever thought about where your weak links are? How are you supposed to know this if it's all invisible?

A good starting point is periodic testing of your emergency equipment. Do you run your generator under load for at least 15 minutes per week? I hope you know why you should run it under load instead of unloaded!

If you thought the answer was "to make sure it can handle its rated load," then you are partially right. The other part of the answer has to do with potential damage to your generator. We can discuss that later.

However, even periodic testing might not uncover everything. What if there is some electrical contract in your distribution network? Did you know that it could heat up? Repeated heating and cooling causes it to expand and contract so that it eventually pulls itself loose, and the electrical contact is lost. Now, something that should have been plugged in is turned off and nobody can locate where the problem occurred until an expensive survey is done by your electrician.

How about that motor which is unbalanced? How do you know? It's heating up on one side but you couldn't detect that. What happens when that motor fails? How much will it cost to replace? Which elevator will get stuck between floors when that happens? Which floor of your building won't have air conditioning when the chillers are not running?

These are all problems that can be prevented relatively easily, and for a fraction of the cost it takes to repair them. You use the old adage "an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure" when it comes to your health, so why not apply it to your facility too?

This is something in which we specialize.

Print the brochures at the two links below and give us a call with your questions at: 443-864-3072.

http://www.marylandgreenpower.com/curtis_service.pdf

http://www.marylandgreenpower.com/curtis_infrared.pdf

Revenge of the Recyclers! Call to Action!!!

2008-05-07T07:02:00.001-07:00

This blog entry has nothing to do with energy, unless you are willing to make some logical leaps and count how much energy it takes to produce junk mail.

Some of you might start to wonder why trivial matters like this can set me off, but here is the story of how a bank got on the nerves of a fervent advocate of recycling:

If any of you recycle paper, you might notice that the lion's share of your paper recycling bin is filled with those free newspapers that litter your driveway every morning, and junk mail offers you receive, especially credit card companies and banks which print some nonsense on the envelope like "About your account," or "Pay to the Order of" in order to get you to open it, only to realize that you have been duped into reading their canned advertisement.

Whenever possible, I try not to let them get their money's worth of advertising from me, and hurl the unopened envelope into the recycling bin. The tree was already wasted, but at least the paper can be reused for something else, but hopefully not for another advertisement or piece of junk mail.

Lately, one bank, and I hope this does not become a trend in advertising, has devised a way of preventing the automatic flick-to-the-recycle-bin reflex, forcing me to open their envelope. Yes, if there are advertising executives reading this post, this will only confirm to them that their devious technique is working.

Their secret? Capital One Small Business has inserted a piece of plastic bubble wrap into their envelope to protect their very delicate paper advertisements from damage. The plastic in entirely unnecessary and is an additional waste of resources. Plus, it prevents easy recycling of their materials.

Therefore, I have decided that Capital One Small Business is better prepared to deal with their own materials than I am, and am leaving it up to them to recycle this material. Every time Capital One sends an advertisement with the plastic, I stuff it back into their postage-paid-by-addressee envelope so that their processors can handle it. This lets them pay twice for their wasteful advertising, and will give their processors some busy work.

If enough people do this, maybe Capital One will stop marketing this way, and other banks will not follow their example? Writing to them did not work, so maybe this will get their attention?

This would be especially effective if others repeated it. Stuff those advertisements back into their postage-paid return envelopes and send them back to the advertisers!

I wonder how many trees it would save if that stopped the wasteful mailings?

I wonder how we can get AOL, Intuit, and other software retailers to stop sending those Compact Disks through the mail? I understand that CD's are not recyclable. Is that true?

It would be great to get some comments with other ideas for "sticking it to the [advertising] man!"

Yours Truly,

Dennis Meizys

PS - This weblog was intentionally posted without advertising links just to stay in the spirit of anti-advertising! I hope you appreciated that! If you missed the ads, scroll down to past issues where you can find plenty of them.

This ought to blow any credibility I still have left

2008-05-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

Excuse the interruption, but I am using this space to respond to a free offer on "how to blog." We'll see if my blogging gets any better after this.

Anyway, the deal is that if I post the entry below up on my blog, then I will get a free course on blogging, so here goes...

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

The best blogging techniques.
How to get traffic to your blog.
How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

CBS 46 News Investigation into Energy Saving Schemes

2008-05-06T07:55:00.000-07:00

CBS46 in Atlanta, Georgia decided to test the claims of certain energy saving products by doing an independent investigation of which the manufacturer was not aware.

The surprising results are shown in the video below - after watching I bet you'll agree that these are not paid actors:

CBS46.com Power-Save Investigation

A free trial of this product can also be reserved at the same site.

Note that the explanation in the video and in CBS's article is not entirely accurate from a technical perspective, but the end results are, and the money savings are what counts in the end, right?

Important: Free trials are available when we have extra units in stock. Reserve yours now before peak installation season starts!

What if You Were PAID to Install Energy Saving Products???

2008-05-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

The No-Brainer Investment in Energy Savings Pays Big Dividends!

If you were offered a product which would save you more money each month than you had to pay to finance it, you would feel that you were practically getting the product for free, or even better, being paid to get the product!

This will be true for anyone with an electric bill over $ 700 per month, since the Enigin EnergyMaps program can save you approximately 20% even before implementing load-side energy efficiency solutions. That savings will be higher than the approximately $ 140 per month cost of the lease-to-own EnergyMaps starter package. This is really the first step in anyone's energy savings program.

EnergyMaps, recently introduced in the U.K., is enjoying rapid growth there as evidenced by this article describing its popularity with printers, among others:

Printweek Article on Enigin Energy Maps

We at Maryland Green Power Co. are excited to announce that we have been selected as Enigin's exclusive partner in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region with the ability to operate in other parts of the United States as well. We are now ready to introduce this innovative approach to energy savings to the United States.

While Enigin's solutions include technological innovations such as the ACES Air Conditioner Energy Saver, and iMEC Motor Energy Efficiency Controller, what we appreciate about the EnergyMaps system is its unique people-oriented approach. EnergyMaps utilizes the Eniscope as a metering device which translates the cryptic electrical data gathered from your facility into language and graphics a layman can understand, and displays it on any Internet-connected computer in your facility, and optionally, to points outside of your facility, at no extra charge per station. In other words, since there is no license fee for the display software, it can be duplicated as much as needed. The included iPOD Touch with wireless Internet capability gives your operators the additional benefit of being able to walk around the facility switching devices on and off and viewing the impact on the iPOD's screen immediately.

This simplicity allows employees to understand the impact of their actions or inactions within their workplace. However, the remarkable aspect is the team mentality which is developed and the efficacy of the incentive plans.

The team is developed with the help of the PeopleMaps tool, which gauges how each person fits in within their organization, and finds the most appropriate "point-man" to help your organization meet its energy-saving targets. (Please take a free trial of the powerful PeopleMaps tool - the test takes 8 minutes and will provide a surprising accurate, if not entertaining impression of you, which you might want to hide from friends and family lest they say "I told you so!")

Click here for Free PeopleMaps trial

Now, with this information, your staff will know why the utility company is charging you a demand surcharge, and how to avoid it, or that leaving their computer monitors turned on all day even during their lunch break is costing you over $ 75 per monitor in added energy costs, not including the extra air conditioning needed to compensate for their heating.

Is that confusing, overwhelming and just too much to think about while running your operation? Yes, it is! But would you like to recover some of those costs if only you had the time? I imagine anybody would want those energy costs added back to their bottom line profits!

That's why EnergyMaps will take that off your hands and let you run your business, but still reap the benefits of reduced facility expenses.

There are many more benefits obtained from this program, including increased employee retention and longer equipment life, but for now I think it is safe to say that the $ 140 per month is a great value for this program.

One last thought: The early adopters will receive a good deal of positive P.R. from our press releases which will focus on your efforts to go green. That free exposure and public good will might be worth something.

Of course, the early adopters would not feel safe unless we offered a FREE TRIAL INSTALLATION: We will provide one Eniscope to your facility for a free 2-week evaluation period to prove its benefits. After the 2 week period ends, you choose whether to return the Eniscope, or to pay for it and continue with the EnergyMaps program at our special lease-to-own finance rate starting at $ 140 per month!

To qualify for the free trial, please fill out the request form at:

Free EnergyMaps Trial

Another Cynic Out There?

2008-04-23T05:31:00.000-07:00

After writing the Happy Earth Day rant below, I came across a similar cynic on the Blog for Clean Air - a blog I highly recommend visiting.

Read the comment on the Department of Agriculture at the bottom of the above-linked blog.

It makes me believe that we are not winning this battle, nor are we winning the war.

The Department of Agriculture supporting the use of dirty burning biomass fuels is understandable, being that they want to support their constituents.

However, the most Orwellian name for a U.S. government department has to be the "Environmental Protection Agency." Reminds me of 1984's "Department of Peace."

PLEASE leave a comment disagreeing with that statement and I'll get back up on the soap box! Any takers?

Happy Earth Day

2008-04-22T20:36:00.001-07:00

For someone involved in a "green" business, I have become pretty jaded with Earth Day. When major corporation jump on the bandwagon, I become cynical. Is Exxon putting green dye in their unleaded premium? Even President Bush has an offering, albeit an extremely lousy one.

This is Easter for the Green Church, when all the missing flock puts on their best suits and tries to beat their neighbors to the altar for Communion. Yes, the guy with the Hummer parked diagonally across two parking spaces right next to the door. I guess I'll park my Prius in the far lot and walk the rest of the way. Don't mind if I'm late - it's just that I heard this sermon before.

Some of you might be upset that I criticized President Bush, right? Maybe I shouldn't criticize him because doing something is better than doing nothing after all! Well, I don't agree that he is "doing something."

When you tell someone that the United States will cease INCREASING emissions of greenhouse gases by such and such a date, if they are not paying attention, they might interpret that to mean that the United States is DECREASING emissions of carbon dioxide, which, according to the current administration, is not a pollutant anyway (I couldn't find the appropriate symbol to insert here to express cynical laughter.) If you really look at what President Bush is implying here, the United States is giving a big green light to power plants to actually spew even more pollutants into the atmosphere well into the future - He is not even trying to hold the current levels of emissions at their status quo. Most scientists warn that if we hold to the status quo, we will be on the road to climate disaster, but that's not good enough for this travesty of an administration.

How can we be so ambivalent about this as a nation? Are we waiting for the final results of the experiment to be announced? (Watch this video explaining how we are in the test tube waiting for the results.) To paraphrase the video, if during World War II we had waited to see if Hitler was really trying to develop an atomic bomb of his own before throwing a huge investment into the Manhattan Project, we wouldn't be having this debate in English right now. Why are we so passive now when the stakes MIGHT be just as high? (They might not, but does anybody want to take that gamble? What is there to win if you are right? What is there to lose if you are wrong? Read about Pascal's Wager to get a better feel of that line of reasoning.)

That's enough now - it's 12:02 AM and therefore no longer Earth Day on the East Coast of the United States.

If anybody feels guilty of their ecological sins, they can buy some indulgences in the form of Renewable Fuel Credits from the many online sellers of this ethereal product.

As for myself, I'll go peddle some electric scooters I am offering on my online store and make a toast to commercialism. Hey, at least they're easy on gas...

Beware of Energy Saving Scams!

2008-04-16T16:51:00.000-07:00

I was prepared to write a warning letter about energy savers using power factor correcting capacitors because in theory, they really should not save that much energy. I could get into a long engineering discussion about why they should not work, but I'll spare you the boring details.

Suffice it to say that when I started smugly calling existing customers of the product, ready to offer them an alternative solution, I was surprised to hear that customers were measuring actual savings of around 11%, and sometimes significantly more, using energy dataloggers to document the savings! This reminded me of the saying that according to aerodynamic theory, a bumble bee should not be able to fly.

Make no payments for 6 months! We have the ability to offer 6 months of deferred payments without interest through our processor, with details appearing in the shopping cart.

Finally, for peace of mind, the products are sold with a 5 year warranty, and they may be returned unopened for the first 30 days after delivery for a 100% refund less shipping and handling costs.

Please find all details about this offer in our flyer below, including a link to watch the NBC newscast about a Power-Save installation at Frederick County Schools.

Sincerely,

Dennis Meizys
Maryland Green Power Co.

SAVE UP TO 25% ON YOUR RESIDENTIAL / COMMERCIAL / INDUSTRIAL ELECTRIC BILLS!

Click here for residential energy savings.

The Power-Save 3400 & Power-Save 3200 Reduce the Amount of Inductive Load in Commercial and Industrial Environments.

--> Lowers electric bills up to 25%!

--> Reduces electricity required by inductive loads (motors)!

--> Enhances capacity of existing electrical system!

--> Eliminates harmful power surges!

--> Protects appliances and sensitive electronic equipment!

--> Reduces harmful effects caused by electrical noise!

--> Power Factor Optimization!

Power-Save 3200 - 3 Phase Power Factor Correction for 200 Amp Inductive Load - Does not include installation

NO PAYMENTS FOR 6 MONTHS WHEN YOU SIGN UP FOR NEW CREDIT CARD ON CHECK-OUT!

Only $650.00 plus shipping & handling! Order the Power-Save 3200 online today by clicking below:

Purchase Online

Power-Save 3400 - 3 Phase Power Factor Correction for 400 Amp Inductive Load - Does not include installation

NO PAYMENTS FOR 6 MONTHS - SIGN UP FOR NEW CREDIT CARD ON CHECK-OUT!

Only $850.00 plus shipping & handling! Order the Power-Save 3400 online today by clicking below:

Purchase Online

Links to important information about power saving with the Power-Save 3200 / 3400:

US Department of Energy Fact Sheet on Reducing Power Factor Cost

Watch NBC News Report About Power-Save in Frederick County Schools!

Specifications:

•Three Phase

•Utilizes Self-Healing Low Loss Capacitors

•20 Year Design Life

•Surge Suppression – 2000 Joules

•Typical Protection For : Electrical Storms, Lightning Activity and Power •Utility Spikes

•Let Through Voltage – 150V line-to-neutral

•Load Rating – 20A (this means it discharges up to 20 amps at a time)

•Six-Way Electrical Protection

•EMI / RFI Noise Reduction 0-40dB

•Weight w/ packaging is 10.1 lbs.

•The PU 3200 is rated for a 200 amp inductive load

•The PU 3400 is rated for a 400 amp inductive load

•When installing the 3200 use a 30 amp three pole breaker

•When installing the 3400 use a 40 amp three pole breaker

•Either unit will work in a 208/440 environment

•Both units are in NEMA 3 rated 7” X 7” X 8” enclosures

Tipping Points and Gaia's Defence Tactics

2008-04-15T10:53:00.001-07:00

April 15th, 2008 - Oil just broke another record at $ 113 a barrel! Prior to this, oil only flirted with these levels after a disaster like Hurricane Katrina. Just imagine what would happen to oil if another major hurricane hit the oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, or if terrorists interrupted Middle East oil supplies? (For an interesting analysis of a similar possible scenario, read Richard Clarke's The Scorpion's Gate".)

On the contrary, economists will tell you that these high oil prices are caused by the weak dollar and investors looking for a shelter in commodities. We hear less commentary about Peak Oil than we do about oil speculators.

However, the Wall Street Journal carried a piece about Siberian oil supplies slowing down due to "age." In other words, Russia's oil wells are drying up, and they have poor infrastructure in place to tap the promising regions of Eastern Siberia.

Add to that the melting permafrost(global warming?) making it difficult for large vehicles to navigate those areas, and we should not be seeing Eastern Siberian oil flooding the market any time soon. To me, this effect has an eery resemblance to the Gaia theory of Earth protecting itself in ironic ways and bringing about its own equilibrium. In other words, carbon dioxide emissions from burning petroleum fuels are knocking Earth's climate out of balance, so Earth takes measures to counteract that effect. I'm not agreeing with the Gaia theory in saying that the Earth is consciously acting this way, but, thankfully, it is that very tendency towards equilibrium which makes Earth hospitable to life in the first place.

Until we hit the climate's tipping points...

For some frightening reading about tipping points, Google the following:

Methane Gas release from permafrost;
Arctic Ice Albedo;
Antarctic Ice Carbon Sink Weakening.

I'll give you a hint about why I'm wrong in the above paragraph where I posit that Earth is defending herself my melting the permafrost and thus slowing down oil extraction: This would be a poison pill defense. Melting permafrost releases huge amounts of methane gas from the wet, rotting swamps which are created. Methane is 20 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. It has been estimated that the greenhouse effect caused by the methane gas release from Alaska, Siberia, Greenland, Norway and Canada is so powerful that it exceeds the warming that the United States causes from its total carbon dioxide output. In other words, now that we have reached this tipping point, even if the United States became carbon neutral (slim chance!), the methane gas release from those areas would guarantee that the Earth still continued its course toward global climate destabilization.

A climate tipping point means that it is already out of our hands. For a further look at that idea, I highly recommend reading the gripping scenarios described in With Speed and Violence, which makes Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth look like child's play.

But does that mean that we stop trying? What do you think? Please leave your comments about this question at the link below.

World Food Crisis, Peak Oil, Stagflation and Other Disasters

2008-04-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

While reading the headlines about violence around the world caused by food shortages, I started to think that my blog about America's obsession with bio-fuels was a little too tame. After all, besides the shifting of the Chinese diet higher up the food chain (it requires 8 calories of grain to create 1 calorie of beef, and the Chinese are consuming larger amounts of beef now that they can afford it, thus producing an eight-fold displacement of dietary grain for each unit of meat consumed), the other major contributor to world food shortages is the larger allocation of agricultural land designated for bio-fuel feedstock production in lieu of food production.

Further aggravating this situation is the view by some that the world is already past peak oil, or Hubbard's Peak, and we are headed towards an imminent economic crash triggered by fuel shortages. How can we solve that? Well, in the United States we will produce more ethanol from corn.

Of course, our second favorite bio-fuel is biodiesel, which for the most part is produced from virgin oils, also know as good, edible foods. The irony is that the U.S. government subsidizes biodiesel derived from virgin oil feedstocks at the rate of $ 1.00 per gallon at the time this blog was written.

"So what" you say? I'll answer with another question: Why does our government subsidize biodiesel made from virgin oil at $ 1.00 per gallon while it subsidizes biodiesel made from used vegetable oil, aka fryer grease at only $ 0.50 per gallon? What's the difference? The former is valuable as a food for humans while the latter is a toxic goop which clogs up sewer systems and is otherwise difficult to dispose of. Don't you think it makes sense to prioritize the creation of fuel from garbage rather than from food?

If you haven't guessed it yet, the answer is that our agricultural lobbies are to blame. Why should you care? Because your tax money is being used to subsidize the creation of a fuel which causes food shortages and thus higher food prices for you. Get it now? Yes, you are paying twice for this travesty! Once in your taxes, and once at the grocery store.

Now what happens when high fuel prices cause a domino-effect of price increases throughout the economy? Inflation!

What happens when high fuel prices cause an economic slowdown? Recession!

Put it together and you get stagflation, that ugly beast last seen during President Carter's administration when the country was also experiencing high fuel prices. So then why is the government trying to solve stagflation by tweaking the interest rates which will only aggravate once side or other of the equation, but not solve the problem? Because it does not want to deal with the real issue: Energy policy. This time another lobby holds the keys.

So, it looks like we are stuck in this mess unless we take responsibility ourselves and stop waiting for the government to do something.

We have seen that government meddling has not created a viable solution, so let's start with one good solution we can implement ourselves, at a grass-roots level:

CONSERVATION

The Irony of Bio-Fuels

2008-04-07T12:17:00.000-07:00

America is on an Energy Fad-Diet

How many times have you heard that the secret to weight loss is diet and exercise together? How many people actually take that advice? Or, do we Americans tend to look for the quick-fix, the fad diet?

Welcome to America's latest fad-diet: Bio-fuels. The main entree these days seems to be Ethanol, which we are producing in ever increasing quantities each year at the expense of our own food supply, and ironically, the environment itself. This heavily government-subsidized fuel requires a large amount of energy to produce: Its feedstock, corn requires fertilizers derived from hydrocarbons (fuels) to grow, then more fuel to harvest and process, and finally to deliver it to the point of consumption. The most pessimistic estimates of how much fuel is required to produce 1 gallon of ethanol exceed 1 gallon of fossil fuels. That means we are actually losing energy by switching to ethanol, resulting in larger imports of oil and natural gas from our close friends in the Middle East, not to mention the inflationary pressure this puts on food products, especially on our ubiquitous corn staple (refer to The Carnivore's Dilemma which claims that close to 90% of America's diet is in some way connected to corn and soy.) So why does this process continue? Think of some of the most powerful lobbies in America: Agriculture and Energy. They benefit tremendously from this situation at our, the taxpayer's expense.

So how do we find balance? Americans keep on tweaking the supply side of the equation: Produce more fuel! Let's look at the dieting aspect of this now: If we are still far away from producing bio-fuels or hydrogen economically and ecologically, then let's try saving some energy instead! To paraphrase Ben Franklin: “A Kilowatt Saved is Truly a Kill-a-Watt Generated!” It is said that more efficient use of our current resources could make America self-sufficient in energy without forcing the alchemists to magically concoct a viable renewable fuel. This is one reason Maryland Green Power Co. scrapped its plans to build a biodiesel production facility in Baltimore last year.

Ouch – that means we have to go on a starvation diet, right? Hopefully not. The goal of my newsletter is to examine techniques for reducing our energy usage and still maintaining a comfortable way of life. My current topic concentrates on air conditioning, which is for most of us the largest summertime energy hog in our homes and offices. Yet, with the heat waves we have been experiencing every summer, who wants to turn up the thermostat by a few degrees? You might not have to.

Hence, our goal is to save money and to save energy without sacrificing comfort, or breaking the bank in the process. With fuel and electricity prices increasing at their current rates, we are being financially squeezed into a recession. However, investments in energy should be viewed as an investment much like stocks and bonds. For instance, if you were presented with a piece of equipment which would save enough in electricity costs to pay for itself in one year, would you consider it a good investment? You should – it's returning 100% ROI annually, which is hard to find in the stock market. Consider that after it pays for itself, it is generating profit at the rate of 100% annually! The exciting part is that these types of opportunities are plentiful in the green energy industry.

For example, using a company's existing emergency power generators to shave peak demand surcharges off your energy bill, or contracting with your local energy supplier to be “on-call” on an interruptible electricity plan frequently pays for itself in months, not years! However, most of us do not own emergency generators, nor do we consume enough power for the utility company to be interested in giving us generous monetary incentives to disconnect from the power grid temporarily. We residential and small business customers have to content ourselves with small investments in energy efficiency such as the MGPC ACES unit, which can pay for itself in about a year of operation on an average size central air conditioner.

Specifically, a device such as ACES is an intelligent version of what the utility company already wants you to do. Some of us have contracted with BG&E for installation of their air conditioner cut-off switch, which cycles your AC compressor on and off to reduce energy usage during hot days, typically periods of extreme peak power consumption, in order to prevent power shortages which contribute to rolling brown or black-outs. BG&E offers a small incentive for this operation, but I removed the device because I felt it decreased the cooling ability of my air conditioner unit and I was uncomfortable. However, MGPC ACES is a microprocessor controlled device, which learns the operational profile of your air conditioner over time, reducing over-cooling of the coils, leaving your air optimally cooled. It's operation can be compared to a person riding his bike uphill. When the rider reaches the top, it is desirable to coast on the plateau as long as speed is maintained. An air conditioner without this kind of control will keep on pumping out the same power even on the plateau. The ACES Air Conditioner Efficiency System lets your air conditioner's compressor enjoy its free ride.

In summary, opinions on green energy are separated into two extreme poles: Those who believe government should subsidize any environmental project or technology even if it loses money, and those who, in reaction to the first group, claim that the energy crisis and global warming were thought up by some mysterious group seeking to profit from scare-mongering and we should maintain our status quo. These two groups confuse the rest of us into inaction.

Although we specialize in commercial and industrial applications, there are nevertheless plenty of other home and small business energy projects left to discuss, and I feel it is important to also warn about the ineffective products, the high-tech snake-oil that's out there preying on the energy-conscious. In the future, I will be opening my website as a forum for discussion of such topics in the hope that the budding green energy industry does not lose momentum due to adoption of inappropriate or inefficient technologies.

I'm hoping that our new generation of small green-energy companies will be the evangelists who tell you to relax, enjoy the ride, and take a deep breath of CLEAN, fresh air, because you can make a difference without making a sacrifice!

View some efficient and inexpensive air conditioner products at: http://www.marylandgreenpower.com

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