Checking out the YMCA in spokane, some of the exercise equipment is impressive. They come with LCD video screens and other fancy bells and whistles. I have yet to see any of them generate energy though. Ideally all this equipment would generate electricity, why a gym owner has not yet thought of doing this eludes me. Theoretically with net-metering the gym owner could sell excess electricity back to the grid, and thus start paying off this initial up-front investment, while securing extra income in the future.
The only reason I can think of why this is not yet logical is that electricity is still relatively cheap, here in Spokane it is around 5.4 cents a KW, for inland power. It might be a little more for Avista. But again, instead of buying one bike with an LCD screen, simply buy one with an alternator instead. Just having one will give a gym owner a sense of what is possible, as well as make gym attendents more aware of the energy they generate.
Of course using a real bike or walking to get to work may be the best bang for the buck, as well as the best way to reduce one's resource footprint, but not everyone can do that, gyms will be around for a while. The idea is to improve on it.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Spokane's waste incinerater burns tons of usable goods every day
When you go to the waste to energy plant in west Spokane, there you'll see people dumping perfectly good building materials, consumer electronics, aquariums, you name it. Many times I have wanted to just take something as it was still usable, but this is not allowed. I understand that they don't want people scavenging, however, this is a completely unsustainable system.
First of all, why is there not a Goodwill or other thift store drop-off point directly in the vicinity of the plant? If you think about it, people who are moving or in a hurry, don't have the time/energy/patience to go to a thriftstore to drop usable items off. I asked a truck with good looking kindling wood last time why he didn't just post that on Craigslist, he had not thought of it as having value to someone else, so he didn't think of it. So in many cases people are not even aware of the value of goods. This is regrettable, but it is the way it is.
So then why not have a drop-off point, a drive-through, where a second hand store employee can take out the usable items before the driver proceeds to the plant, that would significantly reduce the barrier to recycling usable goods, and result in a win-win for both the driver having less weight, so less cost to dump their trash. The Thrift store would have more goods to sell, and finally folks who buy recycled or second hand goods have more to choose from. Perhaps I'll bring the camera next time.
Related, go here to help the effort to prevent e-waste dumping:
http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFKI_/zjVp/PfoO
First of all, why is there not a Goodwill or other thift store drop-off point directly in the vicinity of the plant? If you think about it, people who are moving or in a hurry, don't have the time/energy/patience to go to a thriftstore to drop usable items off. I asked a truck with good looking kindling wood last time why he didn't just post that on Craigslist, he had not thought of it as having value to someone else, so he didn't think of it. So in many cases people are not even aware of the value of goods. This is regrettable, but it is the way it is.
So then why not have a drop-off point, a drive-through, where a second hand store employee can take out the usable items before the driver proceeds to the plant, that would significantly reduce the barrier to recycling usable goods, and result in a win-win for both the driver having less weight, so less cost to dump their trash. The Thrift store would have more goods to sell, and finally folks who buy recycled or second hand goods have more to choose from. Perhaps I'll bring the camera next time.
Related, go here to help the effort to prevent e-waste dumping:
http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFKI_/zjVp/PfoO
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