Category Archives: natural gas

Rightwing Rant From A Probable Oil And Gas Stock Holder – Or is it coal

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I normally would not put up a rant against alternative forms of energy which I believe are the energies of the future. But I love how they all make the same mistake. We as a society must use the CHEAPEST forms of energy. Yet we as a society get to SAY what kinds of energy are used and then it is up to businesses to get on with what they do best – steal us blind. Resources are not free to those that just dig them up and they can not be allowed to destroy the world while they are at it. This shouter and denier from Northern Wisconsin is all about preposterous side arguments that are not even true in his political wet dreams.

http://madisle.info/2012/01/30/renewable-green-energy-yields-very-poor-results/#axzz1lLKfgK9z

Renewable “Green” Energy Yields Very Poor Results

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Yeah, yeah. I know. You’re tired of me telling you “I told you so,” but once again, as usual, I am right and you are not.

Why we’re even fiddling around with this green alternative energy crap is beyond me. It doesn’t work for the most part, and what does work is extremely expensive and highly inefficient.

Renewable electric energy from nonhydroelectric sources — chiefly wind and solar — contributed only 3.6 percent of total U.S. generation in 2010 — yet received 53.5 percent of all federal financial support for electric power.

And wind power alone, which provides 2.3 percent of generation, received 42 percent of all support.

Wind and solar renewable energy have failed to thrive despite government support because they face substantial “market impediments,” according to Benjamin Zycher, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

“Energy policies in the United States for decades have pursued energy sources defined in various ways as alternative, unconventional, independent, renewable, and clean in an effort to replace such conventional fuels as oil, coal, and natural gas,” Zycher states on the AEI website, and “renewable electricity receives very large direct and indirect subsidies from the federal and state governments.

“These long-standing efforts have, without exception, yielded poor outcomes.”

 

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Go there and read the rubbish. More tomorrow.

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Clean Your Dryer Lint – Save money and save lives

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When I start in on equipment appliance maintenance as part of residential  energy conservation, people start to lose interest and want to talk about the sexier things like new windows. Did you know that there are 15,000 house fires a year caused by dryer lint. That is right every year. If folks just took 30 minutes to clean their dryers out, especially the older one. You can save pretty good money and maybe your life. Here is an ad that I get for a device that could make it easier to do;

https://www.lintlizard.com/?uid=12FA483C0D3B2074C0E642987EF83D81

With the Lint Lizard™, you can reach right into your dryer and clear the dryer clogging lint at its source! Just attach the Lint Lizard™ to the end of your vacuum, and its built-in fan nozzle reaches easily into your lint catcher and even your dryer vent outside. Keeping your dryer free of lint maximizes energy efficiency, saving you money… and nothing works like the Lint Lizard.

Now, for a limited time, you’ll get the incredible Lint Lizard™ for the super low price of $10.99 plus $6.99 shipping and handling. *Act now, and we’ll double your offer and we’ll include the Dust Lizard, just pay separate $6.99 fee. You also have the opportunity to qualify for free shipping when you upgrade your order to the deluxe. And remember, this offer is not available in stores, so the only way to get it is to order now!

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Here is the old fashion way. It is probably more effective too.

http://www.familyhandyman.com/DIY-Projects/Home-Repair/Appliance-Repair/dryer-lint-cleaning-tips

Lint escapes through tiny gaps around the edges of the dryer drum and falls into the cabinet, especially when the exhaust vent or vent cap is clogged and airflow is restricted. The lint can get ignited by electric heating elements, gas burners or even a spark from the motor, and the flames then travel through the lint-lined exhaust vent. To make sure this doesn’t happen in your house, check the exhaust vent and the inside of the cabinet frequently.

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Go there and read. More tomorrow.

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Improve The Heating In Your Home – Condensing gas furnaces

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We have been meditating on improving your residences energy efficiency, inlcuding new windows and new roofs. If you live in a colder environment one of the most important things to do is improve your heat source. We will talk about solar, electric, and geothermal heat sources in the coming days. First up is natural gas. I wish there was a date on this particular piece. Maybe if the writer of this sees the linkage he could supply the date. I am not sure this is the latest in natural gas technology, but considering the ages of much of the heating systems out there this would be a huge step up.

http://www.handyamerican.com/articles.asp?id=45-New-Condensing-Gas-Furnaces

New Condensing Gas Furnaces

The invention of the condensing gas furnace couldn’t have come at a better time for American homeowners, gas users who have been watching the natural gas prices rise to heights that were once thought impossible. And any relief in the prices will only be short-lived because of the volatility of the fossil-fuel market.

In the colder areas of the country gas and oil are staples to provide heat for the home. In an effort to get relief from the fossil fuel crunch many homeowners are looking to various alternative methods like off-peak electric and solar hot water heat. However, these systems have very expensive start-up costs and, even with state and federal rebates, the costs can be double that of a gas-run furnace. The idea of a condensing gas furnace is to wring every last BTU of heat out of a unit of burnt gas.

Natural Gas Prices Are Sinking Gas Furnaces

Older gas furnaces waste a lot of energy. They are basically a metal box with a burner and blower apparatus The thermostat tells the furnace control that the house is cooling off and the burner is ignited. When the temperature inside the furnace header pipe, or plenum, reaches a certain point, the blower fan starts up and hot air is blown through the air ducts and into the rooms of the home.

The system works seems to work very efficiently but in actuality the reverse is true. Studies have shown that most of the gas furnaces over a ten years-old can only convert 55% of the natural gas burned into heat comfort for the home. The standard for measuring this efficiency is the AFUE, or Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency.

Condensing Gas Furnaces Are Breaking the Ice

As the natural gas prices go up it doesn’t mean that gas cannot be an economical way to heat the home. New technologies in all parts of the gas furnace have upped the efficiency of the units to an AFUE mark of 97 as compared to 55 for the old furnaces. These modern inventions include dual heat exchanging systems, more efficient gas valves, redesigned fan blowers and electronic motor technology. The new condensing gas furnaces combine all these new innovations into one energy-efficient package.

The Parts of the Condensing Gas Furnace

A traditional gas furnace heats a home by the combustion of the gas under a heat exchanging plate. The more heat that can be transferred to the heat exchanger is less heat that is allowed to go up the chimney. The ability to squeeze 25% to 45% more heat from a unit of gas than the old-style furnaces makes the condensing gas furnace a more energy-efficient source of heat production.

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Good there and read. More Wednesday.

(Tomorrow I take my computer in for work)

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So That Is Why They Call It Downunder – Australia loves to deface nature

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I had never heard of coal seam gas before so this is a real education for me. Thanks to The Wilderness Society for that.

http://www.wilderness.org.au/regions/new-south-wales/pillaga-coal-seam-gas-project-an-environmental-disaster

Pilliga coal seam gas project an environmental disaster

The Pilliga Scrub is one of Australia’s bush icons. At over 500,000 hectares – two thirds the size of Belgium – it is the largest temperate woodland in eastern Australia.

It is one of 15 national biodiversity hotspots identified by the Federal Government, and is home to threatened species such as the Regent Honeyeater and the endemic Pilliga Mouse.

Now mining company Eastern Star Gas wants to turn the Pilliga into a massive industrial development zone.

Eastern Star has plans for a huge 1100 well coal seam gas development in the Pilliga. The destruction of the Pilliga is the first big step to seeing our natural forests and rural land covered with gas wells.

This gas field will fragment 85,000 hectares of forest, including a protected area, and this is just the beginning.

The Pilliga project also involves gas pipelines sited along environmentally-sensitive travelling stock routes and across prime agricultural land, against the wishes of local farmers. The associated export terminal at Newcastle will threaten the Kooragang RAMSAR wetland.

Allowing coal seam gas developments in the Pilliga threatens the Great Artesian Basin with the existing dozen-well project already discharging waste water into the Murray-Darling Basin.

Communities across Australia are worried about coal seam gas projects polluting their local water supplies with toxins and salt. If the Pilliga project is built, there’s no telling what the impacts on water in north west NSW will be. The Pilliga coal seam gas project is an environmental disaster waiting to happen.

Take Action

Sign up to our cyberactivist list and receive regular updates on the Coal Seam Gas and other Wilderness Society campaigns.

For more information, please contact:

Campaign Coordinator

The Wilderness Society Newcastle Inc

Hunter Heritage Centre,
90 Hunter Street,
Newcastle, NSW, 2300
Phone: 02 4929 4395

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Go there and read. More tomorrow.

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Drill Deep Drill Dangerous – When are they ever going to get this right

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Let me get this straight. They want drill baby drill in Artic and through shifting salt strata further south in Brazilian waters and yet this is the best they can do. My god are we in trouble.

http://ecopreneurist.com/2011/11/29/profit-over-protection-in-brazil/

Profit Over Protection in Brazil?

November 29, 2011 By

We’ve got another oil spill. This time it’s off the coast of Brazil, and Chevron has already stepped up to take responsibility for the incident, which occurred when the company didn’t correctly assess the pressure of the reservoir they were tapping. The oil leaked through a breach in the drill’s bore hole and has spread through seven nearby fissures in the sea floor.

Up to 110,000 gallons of oil have already been spilled, and up to 4,200 gallons may still be leaking from seabed cracks. The good news is that the sunny beaches of Rio de Janeiro haven’t been affected, so vacationers, vacation on!

In all fairness, it is certainly a positive that the oil hasn’t affected Brazil’s coasts – but it’s a small victory. Chevron has been working around the clock to clean up the spill, and they face millions of dollars in fines.

The Rio de Janeiro state environment minister, Carlos Minc, was quoted in the O Globo newspaper saying that Chevron “can’t come here and create whatever environmental mess they want” and that he “want[s] to see the CEO of Chevron swim in that oil”.

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Go there and read. More tomorrow.

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Fracking – This needs to be regulated hard

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This just the beginning. The drillers have no idea what they are doing down below. They have very little idea of all the formations they are drilling through. They absolutely have no control over the venting of the gas. And yes, they need to disclose, recover and retain all of the high pressure fluids that they use.

http://coloradoenergynews.com/2011/10/breaking-news-epa-to-regulate-fracking-wastewater-disposal/

Breaking News — EPA to Regulate Fracking Wastewater Disposal

October 20th, 2011

Federal environmental regulators say they will develop national standards for the disposal of polluted wastewaters generated by hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. The agency said it will draft standards for fracking wastewater that drillers would have to meet before sending it to treatment plants.

Staff-Updated

“Fracking” as it is commonly referred to is used extensively in natural gas extraction throughout the United States, including Colorado and neighboring Wyoming. It has been the main technique for freeing up large pockets of shale gas deep underground, and involves injecting sand and chemical additives mixed with millions of gallons of water. The potential impact on water quality in the areas where fracking is practiced is the main concern, although the industry points out there have not been any documented cases of water supplies being contaminated, and hydraulic fracturing operations take place far below water tables.

The EPA’s announcement said the agency will draft standards for fracking wastewater that drillers would have to meet before sending it to treatment plants

Major natural gas companies like Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc., which has a major presence in Colorado, and Chesapeake Energy recycle a large percentage of fracking wastewater, other operators inject it underground. However, a certain amount is sent to treatment plants that are not equipped to handle it.

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More tomorrow.

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Transition Communities Up North – Get going Canada

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I love Brit speak. Some groups are not undecided they are mulling things over. Anyway there is a great list at the end of this article so go check it out.

http://citizenactionmonitor.wordpress.com/2010/09/23/canadas-transition-communities/

Canada’s Transition Communities

23 Sep

No 67 Posted September 23, 2010

IMPORTANT UPDATE, Jan. 7, 2011: Ten *NEW* communities added to the List of Canadian Transition Communities (below).

What is a Transition Community?

The following text is excerpted and adapted from Ball’s research paper, Transition Towns: Local Networking for Global Sustainability?

The Transition Movement, promoting an action-based approach to (local) sustainability, has in the past four years grown to incorporate a large network of individual Transition Initiatives. Informed by ideas and values within environmental organizations, yet, in its practical organisation it is distinct from past models of sustainability by incorporating broad grassroots support in a diverse range of places within the framework of a coherent networking model.

Sustainability challenges the dominant, market-based capitalism of industrial society, on economic, social, environmental and ecological grounds, citing devastating ecological and environmental exploitation. Sustainability, in contrast, calls for production and consumption within long-term ecological limits.

While local sustainability has become a politically important goal, in practice neither top-down government nor grassroots community models have gained widespread uptake or success: the former have failed to connect with or involve a grassroots public; the latter generally have few resources and limited capacity.

The Transition Model, a non-governmental community-led model, advances an action-based approach. With its fast-growing network of Initiatives, the Transition Movement is akin to a non-profit franchise operation, combining the advantage of a centralized support base with the capacity and resources of a decentralized networking organization.

The Transition concept, co-founded by Rob Hopkins, who has a background in permaculture, builds upon a core thesis: that the modern industrial capitalist economic and social system, based upon cheap oil and resources, is unsustainable, making a major restructuring of economy and society imperative, and inevitable. Transition contends that citizens and communities need to act proactively and positively at the local scale, in a process of ‘Transition’ and ‘Powerdown’ to build localized and resilient communities in terms of food, energy, work and waste. The vision holds that decarbonized local communities will be resilient in their capacity to “hold together and maintain their ability to function in the face of change and shock from the outside.” Transition is modelled to be a self-organizing community-led model, for people to “act now and act collectively.”

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More tomorrow.

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Protest Ameren Rate Hikes – Email the ICC and tell them to cut rates

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As I said yesterday, I went to the rate hike hearing for Ameren and it was a joke. The room was packed with suits and special interests and only three of us spoke. Residential occupants are currently paying between 13 and 12 cents per kilowatt for electricity. This is outrageous. I only found one website with a clear statement about this and it was:

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=cost+of+electricity+in+illinois

There is a place where you can go to lodge a protest.

http://www.icc.illinois.gov/

The docket numbers for the electric and gas rate hikes are 11-0279 and 11-0282 respectely. Please go there and tell them that in this economy a rate CUT is the only thing that makes sense. Thanks

Oh, you type the docket number into their e-docket finder blank at the top right of their page and when the docket comes up their is a tab for comments. Fill that form out and hit submit and you are all done. Spread the word. The more people that comment the greater the impact.

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More tomorrow.

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Another 20 Ways To Save Energy List – Cool name though EcoMall

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As I have pointed out in the past, these lists are pretty much all the same. Plus they usually don’t mention the bigger items like taking windows out of service (alternatively applying low e film) or blocking off unused space but, the name is really cool.

http://www.ecomall.com/greenshopping/20things.htm

EcoMall

 

20 THINGS YOU CAN DO
TO CONSERVE ENERGY

Whenever you save energy, you not only save money, you also reduce the demand for such fossil fuels as coal, oil, and natural gas. Less burning of fossil fuels also means lower emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary contributor to global warming, and other pollutants.

You do not have to do without to achieve these savings. There is now an energy efficient alternative for almost every kind of appliance or light fixture. That means that consumers have a real choice and the power to change their energy use on a revolutionary scale.

The average American produces about 40,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per year. Together, we use nearly a million dollars worth of energy every minute, night and day, every day of the year. By exercising even a few of the following steps, you can cut your annual emissions by thousands of pounds and your energy bills by a significant amount!

 

Home appliances

 

 

  • Turn your refrigerator down. Refrigerators account for about 20% of Household electricity use. Use a thermometer to set your refrigerator temperature as close to 37 degrees and your freezer as close to 3 degrees as possible. Make sure that its energy saver switch is turned on. Also, check the gaskets around your refrigerator/freezer doors to make sure they are clean and sealed tightly. 

  • Set your clothes washer to the warm or cold water setting, not hot. Switching from hot to warm for two loads per week can save nearly 500 pounds of CO2 per year if you have an electric water heater, or 150 pounds for a gas heater. 

  • Make sure your dishwasher is full when you run it and use the energy saving setting, if available, to allow the dishes to air dry. You can also turn off the drying cycle manually. Not using heat in the drying cycle can save 20 percent of your dishwasher’s total electricity use. 

  • Turn down your water heater thermostat. Thermostats are often set to 140 degrees F when 120 is usually fine. Each 10 degree reduction saves 600 pounds of CO2 per year for an electric water heater, or 440 pounds for a gas heater. If every household turned its water heater thermostat down 20 degrees, we could prevent more than 45 million tons of annual CO2 emissions – the same amount emitted by the entire nations of Kuwait or Libya. 

  • Select the most energy-efficient models when you replace your old appliances. Look for the Energy Star Label – your assurance that the product saves energy and prevents pollution. Buy the product that is sized to your typical needs – not the biggest one available. Front loading washing machines will usually cut hot water use by 60 to 70% compared to typical machines. Replacing a typical 1973 refrigerator with a new energy-efficient model, saves 1.4 tons of CO2 per year. Investing in a solar water heater can save 4.9 tons of CO2 annually.

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    I gave you the first 5. You have to go read the rest yourself. More tomorrow.

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    Home Energy Audit – You can’t save energy until you know where you are using it

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    Trying to save energy (re: money) without knowing where you are using it is like assembling something without reading the instructions. Sometimes it works but most times it doesn’t.

     

    http://www.homeenergy.org/show/article/id/1541/viewFull/

     

    Getting to the Bottom of Home Energy Use

    BY TODD HOENER

     

    In 1949, according to DOE’s Energy Information Administration (EIA), residential electricity consumption was 5% of total residential energy consumption. By 2009, it was 40%. This rise is attributable to many factors—appliance and equipment saturation, innovations in electronic technology, larger houses, and greater disposable income, among others. According to DOE, end-use electricity consumption will continue to grow as a percentage of total household energy consumption. As electricity consumption grows, so does base-load household electricity consumption—that year-round electrical load upon which seasonal electrical loads, like air-conditioning and space heating, are stacked. Water heating, refrigerators and freezers, lighting, laundry and kitchen appliances, electronics and entertainment devices, pumps, and miscellaneous plugged-in loads are common base-load end uses. All additional electricity use—from occasionally used devices, tools, or equipment; visitors; short-term construction jobs; and so on—is consumed on top of base-load use. And the fervent appetite for new and as-yet-unimagined appliances and electronic devices is expected to climb. Growth is why base-load end use is an important topic.
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    Subscribe to the magazine and read the rest.
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    More next week.

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