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Hi All,

Really? How do you have the time to worry about it?

Hubby & I don't have the time to worry about it for the most part even though we do try w/a lil bit of recycling where garbage is concerned. Do we care if the plastics, etc hit the correct bag/bin....NO. Just don't have the time. Some things are more important. Recently did a reno on the outside and some of the inside of our home. Sure the outside saves on our inside energy bill as well as new appliances, etc for the inside. However, we did not go into it looking for a "Green" solution.

Just our thoughts...Call it curiousity.

quote:

Originally posted by bellablu:
Hi All,

Really? How do you have the time to worry about it?
...we did not go into it looking for a "Green" solution.

Welcome, bellalu, cheers for your efforts. Looks like common sense and few mandates from the guvt.

It's a message board. One thing we haven't been known for here over the years is worry. :>) We let Don Knotts' dog do that. :>)
I think everyone learns a lot here and we have been smiling through the lines.
...Green concepts: Latest is watching the Kiawah 2013 Dream Home being built with HGTV GREEN HOME criteria, according to the developer.
Latest standard building CODE is so designed, so restrictive now that LEED criteria isn't that much different from standard.
Along with that, recent hurricane damages have resulted in changed design of the homes and you don't have to be near the coastlines. Here in FL our home insurances went up 50% this year for existing dwellings that don't meet the storm-130 mph criteria. Twenty years' ago I paid a $800 premium, now it's $3500 for the same house.
Have a good time here.

There are alot of great options for green furniture - check out the options from Walter E. Smithe.

Going green is a responsibility of all of us. Even in little ways like waste segregation, we can help the environment. We can also opt to go for things that are eco-friendly or has been proven to be energy efficient. I do my own share in the environment by doing such things. I am not an extreme environmentalist but I know I have the responsibility to where I live and to the environment that support my existence. - One

This message has been edited. Last edited by: onelyn,

WSJ.COM says LAX free parking for electric cars is gone.
Issues are: Some folks were hogging the 38 spots for weeks on end. Other item causing grief is the costs to the Airport operations.
Some electric car drivers, circling the lot to find an available charging site are finding plug-in hybrids in the charging stations; these cars don't need daily charging like electrics usually do.

Going green? Not with envy!

Learning to make friends with an all-electric vehicle...

Watching the battery range meter most of a trip.
Interpreting an on-board battery range display.
Spending 30 minutes at a designated charging station,(high input charger) for an additional 100 mile jaunt while enroute in your new Tesla S?
Fun!

Tesla S, a $65K-100K all-electric car was given a winter road test, Feb 5, 2013,...
John Broder of the New York Times' wrote an article, which one can find on Internet, describing John's pragmatics when he went on a short trip in the Tesla S.

It's a must-read, even though Olon Musk, head of Tesla says it (the article) is a fake. Read it anyway.
I have a hybrid SUV and make cursory observations of the displayed information. This data isn't terribly important with a hybrid since you have a gas engine along with the elec battery drive. Electrics are different, obviously.
I find Mr. Broder is not putting on a fake presentation of his all-electric-car experience but the real world of a new green technology. Our guvt, you and I are spending billions on this, and we need more than a primer on that kind of commitment.

The generic summary of this quite well-written article on range performance of the all-electric vehicle is interesting:
Cold climates, (Minnesotans can qualify) keeping up with traffic flow, overnight battery drainage, battery conditioning, length of wait for a charge and use of the electric brake system when parked are addressed.
But this trip was taken at 30F, hardly Minnesota cold. John found himself applying "electric green" to his Tesla appliance: Concerned about getting to destination, he began driving at 55 mph, turning off the heater in the cabin at 30F, and regular calls to Tesla Control to find charging stations enroute, and, most importantly, advice from the horse's mouth as he used his Tesla.
Plan on "halving" your displayed, in-cockpit range when under these conditions. John didn't at the beginning, taking the range amount as gospel. He didn't believe the acute battery drainage under the winter circumstances.
The range display can show miles left on the battery based on present and recent-past driving technique using an algorithm, similar to the ones on latest aircraft. The point of the article is that you must consider your current driving electrical loads and outside temperature; then observe and interpret what the computer displays.
Or stay close to a charging station.
It seems when one runs the Tesla vehicle (any electric vehicle for that matter), a whole new adventure awaits.
Summary: Plan, and plan while you are underway planning. :>) Take a survival kit.

http://blog.allstate.com/high-...-is-the-new-100000/#.

This is a blog that reports to you how to get service out of a car, truck or van. I am suggesting that it is a green idea, wise idea, reducing materials and waste and dollars.
shoeshine boy

nice thread. thank you all

This fits into green threads quite well: we are going green.
The lithium battery, heralded because of its lightweight, thus more efficient for flight, is still planned for the 787 Dreamliner, (WSJ, 5 Mar 13). Lithium also has power advantages over presently used batteries.
But the Boeing company doesn't definitively know what causes the battery fires. This part of the equation is not good.
It is an imperfect world, and here we go...

According to government and industry officials, Boeing will modify the battery to include additional spacing between its eight lithium-ion cells; placing the battery inside a new containment box in case of a fire; new monitoring of the battery's cells; and the ability to vent smoke or fumes outside the aircraft.
Hours of flight testing will follow.
Respectfully submitted.

MOre green coming along...

WSJournal 3/21 comment on the Boeing Dreamliner, 787: "Tests of a redesigned lithium-ion battery system, begun this month, appear to be going well, and people familiar with the situation say a final U.S. government sign-off on the fixes could come as soon as the end of the month, even though investigators still don't know exactly what caused the batteries to overheat."

Boeing engineer says they have fires on airplanes all the time...Delta maintenance official says he hadn't seen one in 35 years he was in maintenance.

The fix includes, "containment" of the fires...(on an airplane?) At altitude, wouldn't a container that gets super hot tend to explode?
Can't but wonder.
Addenum: WSJ 26 March: Boeing plans to finish their test flights this week. Not an envious situation for passengers to be in, should they find themselves scheduled on this otherwise wonder-filled airplane.
6 April: The cause of the fires is still not nailed down.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TangoW,

With the fires that have occurred with the use of lithium, the wisdom in the hybrid car battery's design right now is that those batteries are nickel hydride and not lithium batteries; the all-electric cars and the 787 airliner use lithium batteries.
Boeing is in a hurry...
Lithium battery design needs many times more cooling capacity. The airliner's battery requirements are huge in backup support of their monster KwH electrical demands, done with a small lithium battery. That might well be an issue? A series of small batteries might be an answer but would complicate design.
These designs, cars and airplanes, are mega-capacity electrical concepts. It's Magellan in discovery.

Whether it is Tesla's all-electric car or Boeing's 787 airliner, it's your ride.
shoeshine boy

Homeowners can allow firms like SolarCity to install solar elec panels on their homes. The owner then "rents" the usage, hoping to gain some reduction in the total electric bill. i.e. CA, AZ, CO.
Often, the first years are favorable; then real electric charges are enacted by contract, and you are better off without the thing on your roof.
The homeowner's mortgage issuer/insurance must be informed if you install it.

I own a roof system. Get a lawyer if you are considering this rental action rather than owning it.
IMHO don't let anyone, under covenant, put anything on your property, say nothing about on your roof! as liens, charges/fees come into play if the contract is not held together in every facet by the homeowner.
your humble servant, shoeshine boy

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TangoW,

Going green solution to an electric vehicle that is all-electric, no gas engine backup: From the W S Journal:
Anyone with a Fiat "500e Pass" (all-electric) car will have access to rentals free of charge for up to 12 days each year, up to three years after purchase. You can rent it anytime for the usual charges, of course.
Why rent? That is because you can go traveling beyond the 40 mile, out-and-back radius of the car's drive battery.

Prius owners, Oi Vay! Crazy like a green fox.
Ask Portland, Oregon folks, "Who runs stop signs in your city?" and what car category comes up?
Prius owners, the champions of green.
Need we ask why they do that?!!!

WSJ, May 5, 2013:
Tesla electric car company "decided to stop excluding such factors as time saved by not having to pump gas" when calculating the COST of the car.
How much am I worth per hour?!!!!! (minimum wage, of course) :>) times five!
The time spent taken to charge the car's 60 KwH battery isn't in the calculation.

Tesla owners tried recently in warmer weather, the D.C. to Boston ride that John Broder did in the winter. Here's one owner's remarks as shown in the W Street Journal:
"The most scary part of the trip: the 200 miles between charging stations in Newark, Del., and Milford, Conn. That's not a lot of cushion, especially after I missed an exit adding a few miles to that leg.
Tesla has a load of instructions to maximize battery power, and I think I followed them pretty well.
I kept the cruise control pegged to between 60 and 65 much of the way, and kept the climate control at 72 degrees. I minimized stops."

The fast charge has two drawbacks: For only a half charge, you have a 30 minute wait at the charging station. One can travel perhaps 100 miles on a half charge using the little old lady method described above.
You are subject to waiting for the charging station to be available.
respectfully submitted,
shoeshine boy

Tesla addenum: The 240 volt charger takes five hours to recharge the battery. A super charge station
(there are a number in the U.S.) can do a half charge in a half hour; more charge than half results in short battery life. One must use the slow charge for a full charge. The slowest charge, 110 volt, takes a whole night.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TangoW,

Today Tesla's Chief, Olon Musk said his company is working on an exchange battery idea for his cars, one where you drive in, get a change-out like you do with propane containers, and drive away. That saves some time, likely would cost more for the convenience but would give the owner a fully charged battery that otherwise would take overnight.
Seems the Tesla owner needs Green Giant all the way. HO HO HO :>)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TangoW,