Recent Comments:
Reader Question: How bad is my SUV? {Autoblog Green}
Jul 9th 2008 11:53AM Hi,
I like this calculator to compare CO2 emissions for any two cars:
http://www.hybridcars.com/calculator/
It gives you fuel use, CO2 emissions, gas costs, ... for whatever miles driven per year you put in.
We had a go at reducing our total carbon emissions for heating, water heating, electricity, and transportation, and have managed to get down to 40% of what we used to use with a really good return on the money we invested. There are lots of ways to reduce emissions and save money. I mention this because the biggest single change we made that accounted nearly half of out total reduction in CO2 was going from a Subaru Outback (an efficient and small SUV) to a Prius -- so what car you drive can make a big difference.
Its also a really nice all around car that in many ways is nicer to live with than the Outback was -- not really as "sacrifice" at all.
http://www.builditsolar.com/References/Half/Half.htm
http://www.builditsolar.com/References/Half/ProjectsTransport.htm
Gary
A solar electric lawnmower conversion for just $1,500 {Autoblog Green}
May 30th 2008 11:49PM There are a couple much cheaper ways to do it here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Vehicles/vhehicles.htm#Tractor
See "Lee's Solar Lawn Mower" and the entries just above and below it. Lee has about $212 into converting the mower plus about $300 into the solar charger.
And, a good article on the ElecTrak tractor. The ElecTraks come up on ebay from time to time -- a good one with a few accessories brings about $2K. There are rumors of a new electric tractor coming -- an ElecTrak size tractor with new technology.
Gary
Officially Official: EPA rates 2009 Jetta TDI at 30/41mpg {Autoblog Green}
May 21st 2008 11:06AM Its also interesting to note the CO2 footprint comparison between the Jetta snd the Prius:
Jetta 6.2 tons/yr
Prius 4.0 tons/yr
Greenpeace: Carbon capture is not going to save our climate {Autoblog Green}
May 7th 2008 10:13PM I think Greenpeace has a point.
Adding carbon sequestration to coal plants will take a long long time, will increase our electric bills (a lot), and may not even work. I think its OK to pursue, but its not going to be the main answer.
I don't think there is a good understanding of the logistics of CO2 sequestration. A large coal plant gets a coal delivery every day or two -- a 100 car coal train with 100,000 lbs of coal per car. The CO2 that this will generate is about 3 times that weight of the coal, and its a gas -- a gas that won't go through a lot of existing pipelines -- its just a huge huge project.
I think that in Greenpeace's answer they should have included efficiency and conservation. Reducing usage through efficiency and conservation has a much lower initial cost, AND from then on it saves you money every month. CO2 sequestration costs a lot to put in, and then keeps on costing.
We have cut our household electric use in half. The total cost to do this was about $900. This is saving us about $60 a month, so a payback of just over one year. An 80% return on investment (tax free and inflation protected). Not to mention a reduction in our CO2 emissions of 7.2 tons a year.
Its a piece of cake to do, and has not effected our lifestyle one bit.
We are in Montana, and the Judth Gap windfarm come on a couple years ago (our first large one) -- the wind power in MT went from 0% to 8% overnight. They are doing a phase 2 which will increase it a lot more. Large wind is competitive with other generation on a cost per KWH -- they don't need huge subsidies.
So, (I think) wind could be a significant part of the answer.
I think nuclear is more troubled. I suppose all the waste etc. issues can be tackled, but the plants are incredibly expensive. Even with the gov willing to put in a lot of your money to get new nucs going, the money lenders have not touched it so far. As someone said "nuclear went from being too cheap to meter to too expensive to matter".
I can remember lots of experts in the 70's putting out the "to cheap to meter" story.
The story is the same for transportation energy (cars) and for space heating -- the answer is really in our hands -- we just need to be more efficient (I think).
Gary
Earth Day: How far must you drive your hybrid before it pays off? {Autoblog Green}
Apr 22nd 2008 10:17PM Hi,
I understand what you are trying to do here by comparing a hybrid to the nearest conventional IC, but this (I think) is not really the way people buy cars.
In our case we had to replace a Subaru Outback with 200K miles on it with a new car. We ended up buying a Prius -- we never even considered a Corolla as an alternative. We thought about another Subaru (half the mpg of a Prius and more expensive, but with 4WD. We thought about several other cars -- none less expensive than a Prius -- all using far far more gas.
My point is that people don't really shop by saying OK I can buy a hybrid at this mpg, whats the most exact match in an IC engine car -- they look instead at whole feature sets, and their alternative car choices (like ours) will often be quite different in size and capability.
In these cases, the right way to do the economic payback is to compare the extra cost of the hybrid drive train with the gas saved between between the hybrid and the car you actually would have bought.
In our case, this results in a 2 year payback (nearly $2000 per year).
Home Power magazine carried a good article on this a few issues back complete with a spread sheet to help people with real choices.
As a last comment, the Prius is EPA classified as a mid size car -- if you look at the passenger cabin volume its essentially identical to a Camry.
Gary
Car of the decade: Tesla Roadster or Porsche Cayenne? {Autoblog Green}
Mar 27th 2008 11:44AM Hi,
I would agree that the Prius is the choice.
I think people don't give the Prius enough credit for the amazing engineering accomplishment it is. Its a midsize car that is comfortable, quiet, reliable and very clean. It does all this getting 45+ mpg while cars of comparable size (even hybrids) struggle to get half that fuel economy.
Its not just that its a hybrid, its as much that Toyota focused on designing a car from the ground up for good fuel economy -- reducing weight, low drag, low rolling resistance. Its the whole package that makes it stand out from the other hybrids. They did all this while maintaining a car that is roomy, reliable and easy to drive.
I know everyone loves to hate the Prius, but I think its an amazing accomplishment, and Toyota deserves a lot of credit for its creation and design.
Gary
Modec truck looks great in UPS brown {Autoblog Green}
Mar 8th 2008 8:49PM
"The quiet, carbon-neutral vehicle is the first of its kind to effectively harness the power of modern, high energy batteries to meet the medium range, high performance requirements of hard working, urban delivery vehicles."
Carbon-neutral? How do they charge the batteries?
Gary
Passive solar pool heater on the cheap {DIY Life}
Dec 6th 2007 4:41PM Hi,
Rolls of black polyethylene the hardwares sell work well. No fittings to contend with, just spread the coils out.
A couple more homemade solar pool heater here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/PoolHeating/pool_heating.htm#Homemade
The one based on aluminum soffit material has 100% effective area -- you don't lose the space between the pipes.
Gary
Congressional leaders reach deal on new fuel economy standard, vote next week {Autoblog Green}
Dec 1st 2007 11:33AM I think this line has a typo:
raise fuel economy standards for new cars and trucks to 25 mpg 2020
It should be 35 not 25 mpg?
If its not a typo I'm going to cry.
Bubble wrap your windows {Green Daily}
Nov 17th 2007 9:43AM Hi -- I'm the bubble wrap guy from BuildItSolar.
We actually use the bubble wrap on windows that don't have a view. The bubble wrap still lets in plenty of light.
We have managed to find some kind of strategy for insulating or storm windows on just about every window in the house -- some of them were very difficult to work out due their odd shape.
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Conservation/conservation.htm#WindowTreatments
The triple wall polycarbonate inside storms work particularly well.
I did a heat loss for our house, and after beefing up the attic and crawl space insulation, windows were about 50% of our total heat loss. Getting some kind of insulation or inside storm window on every window really helps. Our heat bills are less than half what they used to be:
http://www.builditsolar.com/References/Half/Half.htm
Very nice website -- thanks for your work.
Gary
