Green Jobs for the future of Washington State
Friday, April 17, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Humor about the "Entitlement Era"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus
Comedian examines why everything is amazing but yet people are removed from fully appreciating, fully realizing, how amazing everything really is :-) Taking things for granted or wanting something else than what is, is related to unhappiness. Unhappiness is another symptom of an unsustainable lifestyle in which nothing is ever "good enough". Like bottomless pits always looking for the next best thing. However, "Not good enough" is not neccessarily "bad" either though, how can we progress and learn as a species without the desire to improve our condition and the condition of others?
Robert S. McElvaine has written about the depression and has noted the similarities of the period before the last depression and the big consumption bubble developing in the last few decades. "In 1920 one of three households had a car, 9 years later that was one car per household. The car makers started to provide credit". In 1930 there was an article mentioning a manager of General Motors who said,
Yet this relationship and perception gets covered up with kind of a "foreign installation" as Juan Matus called it. These bubbles or barriers start in the mind and reflect themselves in the bubbles and gated "communities" that we created in the brick and mortar world. Walls that separate the person from the "texture of life" and inclusion.
While this seems like a downer, it seems that this moving away from freshly experiencing reality into this unhappiness or dis-ease, is actually the prerequisite for a growing and sincere desire to get back to reality more aware and grounded then before. As an eastern person so simply stated, "Affliction creates awareness, awareness negates affliction", one state of mind helps create the conditions and fertile soil for another state of mind. Without dark how can we realize and appreciate light?
Joe Campbell observed that people looking for meaning are simply trying to have an experience of being alive. This accumulated misery is all compost for transformation.
What is lost when we are filled in our own bubbles of self absorbtion?
How about everything that has been missing!
Comedian examines why everything is amazing but yet people are removed from fully appreciating, fully realizing, how amazing everything really is :-) Taking things for granted or wanting something else than what is, is related to unhappiness. Unhappiness is another symptom of an unsustainable lifestyle in which nothing is ever "good enough". Like bottomless pits always looking for the next best thing. However, "Not good enough" is not neccessarily "bad" either though, how can we progress and learn as a species without the desire to improve our condition and the condition of others?
Robert S. McElvaine has written about the depression and has noted the similarities of the period before the last depression and the big consumption bubble developing in the last few decades. "In 1920 one of three households had a car, 9 years later that was one car per household. The car makers started to provide credit". In 1930 there was an article mentioning a manager of General Motors who said,
Just last week on board a plane someone behind me said that when he was a kid he really thought flying was amazing, yet now he just thinks it is a pain! This is a frequent thing you'll hear, when someone was a kid, everything seemed more vivid, more amazing, you could sense that he would like to feel that way again."The only reason why you always see new car models brought to the market, is to keep your customers dissatisfied with what they have"
Yet this relationship and perception gets covered up with kind of a "foreign installation" as Juan Matus called it. These bubbles or barriers start in the mind and reflect themselves in the bubbles and gated "communities" that we created in the brick and mortar world. Walls that separate the person from the "texture of life" and inclusion.
While this seems like a downer, it seems that this moving away from freshly experiencing reality into this unhappiness or dis-ease, is actually the prerequisite for a growing and sincere desire to get back to reality more aware and grounded then before. As an eastern person so simply stated, "Affliction creates awareness, awareness negates affliction", one state of mind helps create the conditions and fertile soil for another state of mind. Without dark how can we realize and appreciate light?
Joe Campbell observed that people looking for meaning are simply trying to have an experience of being alive. This accumulated misery is all compost for transformation.
What is lost when we are filled in our own bubbles of self absorbtion?
How about everything that has been missing!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Mainstream Columnist questions infinite growth
The World is Flat author questions infinite growth. Glad to see him join the sustainability crowd.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/opinion/08friedman.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/opinion/08friedman.html
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Gyms put in some fancy equipment, no money being spend on capturing the clients energy though
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.
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.
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
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Recycling old computers and monitors, etc
"To encourage recycling, a law takes effect Jan. 1 that will allow Washington households, schools, charities and small businesses to recycle TVs and computers for free. Electronics manufacturers will pay for the program, which is expected to cost about $8 million annually.To find a free drop-off location after the New Year, call 1-800-RECYCLE"
Goodwill drop-off locations will take your old computers and monitors, as well as some of the local recyclers, like Inland Retech.
Goodwill drop-off locations will take your old computers and monitors, as well as some of the local recyclers, like Inland Retech.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Snow storms of December 2008 created some local downhill skiing opportunities on the west slope of South Hill
December of 2008 dumped around 5 Feet of snow, most of it powder. The west slope of the south hill is about 500 feet vertical, black diamond skiing a stone throw from downtown spokane. Small window of opportunity for powder skiing on this south/west facing slope. Walking back up is a workout!
Looking down halfway on the slope to Tidymanns Cheney Trading company off Hwy 95
Looking down halfway on the slope to Tidymanns Cheney Trading company off Hwy 95
Some other winter pics:
One of the casualties of snow, this boat storage facility down our road.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
360 + miles per gallon!
Here is an update on the bike hybrid.
My commute is 7.5 miles each way (if all shortcuts are taken) or 15 miles round trip. Installed the bike engine for a friend in 2007, she didn't use it. I was interested but figured I'd give it a little more time before deciding what to do, I initially wanted to be able to do the full commute 3-4 times a week by bike, but ended up most of the time using the poor man's hybrid, taking the car down the 480 feet hill that we live on, parking, then doing the rest of the commute by bike.
This shaved 8 miles of the commute each day which does make a difference over 4 days in the week. However, the problem is that dragging that heavy piece of metal up and down the hill only to get on a bike the rest of the way is still inefficient, not to mention that the car engine is least efficient when it is started from cold.
That hill we live on is a long hill and it would be nice if you had regenerative breaking on the car to capture some of the energy in braking. On a bicycle though, gravity takes care of just about 2 miles, going down at top speeds of 37 miles an hour, a very nice ride. Going up is a different story, and frankly the energy is not there for that 480 vertical feet every day. This is where the bike engine comes in, it adds relatively few pounds compared to an electric engine, and while making the bike heavier, has no drag when you remove the kevlar belt. The engine made all the difference, now being able to go the whole commute instead of partial commute by bicycle. The last month and a half have proven to me that this works, the bike has gone over 200 miles in less than two months, so that means it will pay for itself in probably about 6-10 months, when figuring in car maintenance and gas prices.
One added side benefit is that both ways one gets a good workout. Towards work there are a few smaller hills, and coming back that last big hill is steep enough to where hard peddling is still required together with the engine, still working up a significant sweat. Having grown up in the Netherlands, where gymns are still kind of a novelty due to the amount of bicycling and walking to work. Commuting and working out can be combined and therefor leave more time for other things instead of driving to a gymn and working out on machines. Exercise machines that don't capture the energy you generate, seems bizarre but is probably more a symptom of the age of cheap and for granted energy.
Finally, being out of the insular bubble (house, car, work bubbles) that separates us from experiencing the texture of reality is a treat. Below taking a break on a dirt path, the October sun still radiating warmth.
My commute is 7.5 miles each way (if all shortcuts are taken) or 15 miles round trip. Installed the bike engine for a friend in 2007, she didn't use it. I was interested but figured I'd give it a little more time before deciding what to do, I initially wanted to be able to do the full commute 3-4 times a week by bike, but ended up most of the time using the poor man's hybrid, taking the car down the 480 feet hill that we live on, parking, then doing the rest of the commute by bike.
This shaved 8 miles of the commute each day which does make a difference over 4 days in the week. However, the problem is that dragging that heavy piece of metal up and down the hill only to get on a bike the rest of the way is still inefficient, not to mention that the car engine is least efficient when it is started from cold.
That hill we live on is a long hill and it would be nice if you had regenerative breaking on the car to capture some of the energy in braking. On a bicycle though, gravity takes care of just about 2 miles, going down at top speeds of 37 miles an hour, a very nice ride. Going up is a different story, and frankly the energy is not there for that 480 vertical feet every day. This is where the bike engine comes in, it adds relatively few pounds compared to an electric engine, and while making the bike heavier, has no drag when you remove the kevlar belt. The engine made all the difference, now being able to go the whole commute instead of partial commute by bicycle. The last month and a half have proven to me that this works, the bike has gone over 200 miles in less than two months, so that means it will pay for itself in probably about 6-10 months, when figuring in car maintenance and gas prices.
One added side benefit is that both ways one gets a good workout. Towards work there are a few smaller hills, and coming back that last big hill is steep enough to where hard peddling is still required together with the engine, still working up a significant sweat. Having grown up in the Netherlands, where gymns are still kind of a novelty due to the amount of bicycling and walking to work. Commuting and working out can be combined and therefor leave more time for other things instead of driving to a gymn and working out on machines. Exercise machines that don't capture the energy you generate, seems bizarre but is probably more a symptom of the age of cheap and for granted energy.
Finally, being out of the insular bubble (house, car, work bubbles) that separates us from experiencing the texture of reality is a treat. Below taking a break on a dirt path, the October sun still radiating warmth.
Friday, October 17, 2008
New Blog contributer joins with 2 decades of off-grid experience
I've been living Offgrid going on 2 decades now.
My trusty, yet ugly solar panels were burned brown with cracked cells even when I got them, yet still harvest 200watts on thier best day. Given the unfortunate truth of the toxins created manufacturing solar panels, I chose to get all the use possible from ones already made.
My new project will harnest the suns power stored in vegetable oil extracted from plants; first used by resturaunts to fry greasey food, then the remaining energy released and stored in batteries or used to power tools, with the remaining carbondioxide returned to the earth to complete the cycle. Again, the choice to use recycled oil, rather than support the use of agriculture for fuel production.
To do this I am using a replica of one off the earliest stationary diesel engines, which is still in production in India. I chose this design for its long lasting, time proven, clean burning, simple technology with very few moving parts. Again, considering the impact of manufacturing, I chose engine that may last for generations.
My trusty, yet ugly solar panels were burned brown with cracked cells even when I got them, yet still harvest 200watts on thier best day. Given the unfortunate truth of the toxins created manufacturing solar panels, I chose to get all the use possible from ones already made.
My new project will harnest the suns power stored in vegetable oil extracted from plants; first used by resturaunts to fry greasey food, then the remaining energy released and stored in batteries or used to power tools, with the remaining carbondioxide returned to the earth to complete the cycle. Again, the choice to use recycled oil, rather than support the use of agriculture for fuel production.
To do this I am using a replica of one off the earliest stationary diesel engines, which is still in production in India. I chose this design for its long lasting, time proven, clean burning, simple technology with very few moving parts. Again, considering the impact of manufacturing, I chose engine that may last for generations.Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Centralizing energy generation breeds dependency.
This is something I don't hear the candidates for president talk about. I'm glad they talk about diversified alternatives to oil, and Obama encourages the consumer to take action within their own household by reducing one's own energy consumption. However, centralizing alternative energy production, simply shifts the production and sale of energy once again in the hands of a few, starting the cycle of complacent energy consumption and dependency all over again. It also still means that it leaves cities vulnerable when those energy lines get attacked or other disaster strikes. And finally, sending energy through lines is inefficient, as opposed to living right next to the source of energy, or having energy be distributed and decentralized.
If you go to "Follow the oil money",
http://prezoilmoney.oilchangeusa.org/ you can see that the more money you take from the oil industry, the more they take up a piece of real estate in your head. An increase in special interest money and face time with the lobbyists, makes folks more inclined to allow the special interests into one's policy decisions.
Look at the successful example of the Barefoot College in India which teaches and empowers illiterate women, making them into engineers in six months showing them how to make their villages energy independent and off-grid, by installing solar and other sustainable technologies.
If you go to "Follow the oil money",
http://prezoilmoney.oilchangeusa.org/ you can see that the more money you take from the oil industry, the more they take up a piece of real estate in your head. An increase in special interest money and face time with the lobbyists, makes folks more inclined to allow the special interests into one's policy decisions.
Look at the successful example of the Barefoot College in India which teaches and empowers illiterate women, making them into engineers in six months showing them how to make their villages energy independent and off-grid, by installing solar and other sustainable technologies.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Grease Competition heats up in Spokane
New signs, and various stories of people bidding on grease are going around in Spokane. One of my restaurants now has this threatening sticker on the barrel, looks like I'm not going here again.
There are now three big companies who more or less own the Spokane market:
Baker Commodities - Supposedly ships all the grease to California
Greasespot - Supposedly ships all their oil to Seattle for biodiesel
Bartlett Greasecar - intends to sell biodiesel locally here in Spokane and intends to take a big chunk out of Baker and Greasespot
Then there are the greasecars and homebrew biodiesel folks here in Spokane, since most don't advertise they are doing it, it could be a few hundred home brewers and greasecars here.
There are now three big companies who more or less own the Spokane market:
Baker Commodities - Supposedly ships all the grease to California
Greasespot - Supposedly ships all their oil to Seattle for biodiesel
Bartlett Greasecar - intends to sell biodiesel locally here in Spokane and intends to take a big chunk out of Baker and Greasespot
Then there are the greasecars and homebrew biodiesel folks here in Spokane, since most don't advertise they are doing it, it could be a few hundred home brewers and greasecars here.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Ongoing power consumption monitoring using Kill-A-Watt meter
In our house I'm found the following phantom loads, or energy leaks, meaning these things are not "on", just plugged in:
Microwave - 1 watts average - 8736 watts per year or 8.7 Kilowatts
TV-VCR-DVD combination - 13 watts average - 113880 per year or 114 kW
Garage opener - 5 watts average - 44 kW year
Stereo system - 5 watts - 44 kW
Computer/LCD/peripherals combination (downstairs) - 28 watts - 245 kW
Computer/printer/lcd combination (upstairs) - 9 watts -79 kW
Sprinkler system (in standby) - 3 watts - 26 kW
Still looking for more, but by turning the above energy drains off, we are saving 560 kW per year just in phantom loads, times our current rate 6 cents (includes the fees) in Spokane which is cheap compared to other parts of this country. This is a total of 33 dollars per year.
To avoid these leaks, combo things were put on power strips, and turned off when not in use, microwave/sprinkler just get unplugged when not in use, and the cable router/wireless boxes are put on timers. Fridge got coils cleaned as well, see tutorial link below.
Ideas for saving energy (more added soon):
- Loose 10 percent off your power bill by cleaning the refrigerator coils:
- caulk air leaks around windows, blow extra insulation in attic, basement etc.
- replace leaking weather/jam strips on doors
- wrap water heater and pipes in 6" fiberglass insulation
- install water heater timer if you have electric water heat (if possible), you can also simply turn down the heat in the water heater, by using a screwdriver and checking the manual.
- put all electronics on switched outlets or switched power strips
- change all lights to CFL's
- Turn lights off as you leave a room, only use regular bulbs in things like pantries where you need it on and off for a few seconds as apparently most CFL's don't like on/off cycling much.
- Use a small toaster oven to cook or warm up small foods rather than the big oven.
- Use an electric steamer rather than the stove.
- Eat produce food cold, you're eating closer to the source/sun that way as well.
- Dry clothes on a clothes line.
- Keep the big PC off until you need to use it, turn on the hybernation feature in your computers, if you are leaving them on for a while. Most keyboards also have a sleep button. Our system goes from consuming 70 watts to consuming 10 watts with the hybernation feature.
- Put on a sweater and have a hot beverage instead of turning on or up the heat.
- Compare costs on various heating methods, clearly geothermal is the winner in this list.
http://www.inlandpower.com/pdf/CostComparison.pdf You can also install a wood burning/pellet stove to heat your house with renewable energy wood or pellets. Heat rises so have it on the lowest level.
- Use an electric kettle to heat up water, rather than the stove burner.
- T V, PC, Dryer, Fridge, and Stove use the most, so limit these and you will save money.
More tips:
http://hes.lbl.gov/hes/makingithappen/tips.html
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
The Story of Stuff
Teaser Trailer about a site that shines awareness on consumer culture and the forces behind it. To view this video in it's entirety, go here:
The Story of Stuff
Couple of the main points that this 20 minutes video shows:
- Only one percent of all the new stuff bought after 6 months is still being used. The rest either trashed or filling up people's increasingly large homes. This is an almost unbelievable statistic, have to check where they got that figure from.
- Victor Lebow on how to keep the economy growing after WWII, "Our enormously productive economy ... demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption.... we need things consumed, burned up, replaced, and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate."
- President Eisenhower's council of economic advisors chairman stated:
"The American economy's ultimate purpose is to produce more consumer goods."
- Paul Wachtel writes in The Poverty of Affluence: "Having more and newer things each year has become not just something we want but something we need. The idea of more, ever-increasing wealth, has become the center of our identity and our security, and we are caught up by it as the addict is by his drugs."
How does an unsustainable economy keep people spending money on stuff?
- Planned Obsolescence
An endless market is created by introducing rapid, disposables, one time use items, basically designed for the trash heap, so you have to go out and buy it again. Examples, disposable diapers, cameras, brooms, carpets, etc. Upgrade the motherboard on the computer, and likely many other things will need upgrading as well, many just get a new computer to avoid the hassle of incompatibilities. Disconnection from the earth as a whole system is literally written all over these products. It is a symbol of our disconnected separate thinking state of mind. The video discusses designers figuring out a way to keep consumers loyal to their products while at the same time making components break fast.
- Perceived Obsolescence
Convince the consumer to throw away stuff that is still useful. How to do that? By changing the way things look, basically, changing the fashions often, whether that is for clothes or gadgets. Look at advertising, it appeals to people's manufactured self image, "do you really want to look, breath, show yourself in that way?", with our product, xyz, you will look cooler, more color coordinated, get more happiness, more girls, look younger, act more confident, show you care, etc, etc. Basically preying on people's insecurities, and limited self image. The video mentions the example of shoe fashion changes each year. An important element in this conditioning is creating a perceived value to the user. Again, this comes from a disconnected, separate thinking self identity, one that puts ficticious value judgements on people things and planet.
How to keep people from questioning their conditioning and continue shopping?
- Carpet bomb them with advertising, a bombardment of the average person of 3000 ads per day.
- Telling the consumer that they are not happy, unless they buy xyz. Similar to a priest a few centuries earlier telling people that they are sinners, and they can only go through the church to get a chance at eternal rewards. Basically by projecting small identities onto the consumer.
- Keep the nasty stuff or REALITY out of the field of vision, as though it doesn't exist. Examples are the cartoony happy chickens running around on the farm (instead of the undignified factory farms where they are fattened up with who knows what, beaks cut because they are stuffed in small cages so they can't kill each other, avoiding humane killing to save a penny, etc), the bugers that grow on trees, the face that suddenly looks 50 years younger. It truly is the "matrix" of manufactured happiness, version of reality. The advertisers have no incentive to show where the stuff comes from, as that would bring out the citizen, or perhaps move people's heart, which is in conflict with the non-feeling, non-connected consumer persona which just wants to consume, neural networks which are encouraged to grow like weeds in people's heads and sanctified (endorsements by public figures, heros, or celebrities).
- The connection between national happiness falling and consumerism rising is made. We have the gross national product as a standard for wealth, Butan has the gross national product of happiness. Different emphasis, different outcome. While neither might be the best way to go into the future, it sure would be nice to have product life cycle cost, national wellness, and impact on environment or future generations included in this mix.
- More time off is not neccessarily better if it is not quality time, but less time off in order to buy more, which creates a cycle of even more work to pay for keeping up with the Jones's.
The Story of Stuff
Couple of the main points that this 20 minutes video shows:
- Only one percent of all the new stuff bought after 6 months is still being used. The rest either trashed or filling up people's increasingly large homes. This is an almost unbelievable statistic, have to check where they got that figure from.
- Victor Lebow on how to keep the economy growing after WWII, "Our enormously productive economy ... demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption.... we need things consumed, burned up, replaced, and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate."
- President Eisenhower's council of economic advisors chairman stated:
"The American economy's ultimate purpose is to produce more consumer goods."
- Paul Wachtel writes in The Poverty of Affluence: "Having more and newer things each year has become not just something we want but something we need. The idea of more, ever-increasing wealth, has become the center of our identity and our security, and we are caught up by it as the addict is by his drugs."
How does an unsustainable economy keep people spending money on stuff?
- Planned Obsolescence
An endless market is created by introducing rapid, disposables, one time use items, basically designed for the trash heap, so you have to go out and buy it again. Examples, disposable diapers, cameras, brooms, carpets, etc. Upgrade the motherboard on the computer, and likely many other things will need upgrading as well, many just get a new computer to avoid the hassle of incompatibilities. Disconnection from the earth as a whole system is literally written all over these products. It is a symbol of our disconnected separate thinking state of mind. The video discusses designers figuring out a way to keep consumers loyal to their products while at the same time making components break fast.
- Perceived Obsolescence
Convince the consumer to throw away stuff that is still useful. How to do that? By changing the way things look, basically, changing the fashions often, whether that is for clothes or gadgets. Look at advertising, it appeals to people's manufactured self image, "do you really want to look, breath, show yourself in that way?", with our product, xyz, you will look cooler, more color coordinated, get more happiness, more girls, look younger, act more confident, show you care, etc, etc. Basically preying on people's insecurities, and limited self image. The video mentions the example of shoe fashion changes each year. An important element in this conditioning is creating a perceived value to the user. Again, this comes from a disconnected, separate thinking self identity, one that puts ficticious value judgements on people things and planet.
How to keep people from questioning their conditioning and continue shopping?
- Carpet bomb them with advertising, a bombardment of the average person of 3000 ads per day.
- Telling the consumer that they are not happy, unless they buy xyz. Similar to a priest a few centuries earlier telling people that they are sinners, and they can only go through the church to get a chance at eternal rewards. Basically by projecting small identities onto the consumer.
- Keep the nasty stuff or REALITY out of the field of vision, as though it doesn't exist. Examples are the cartoony happy chickens running around on the farm (instead of the undignified factory farms where they are fattened up with who knows what, beaks cut because they are stuffed in small cages so they can't kill each other, avoiding humane killing to save a penny, etc), the bugers that grow on trees, the face that suddenly looks 50 years younger. It truly is the "matrix" of manufactured happiness, version of reality. The advertisers have no incentive to show where the stuff comes from, as that would bring out the citizen, or perhaps move people's heart, which is in conflict with the non-feeling, non-connected consumer persona which just wants to consume, neural networks which are encouraged to grow like weeds in people's heads and sanctified (endorsements by public figures, heros, or celebrities).
- The connection between national happiness falling and consumerism rising is made. We have the gross national product as a standard for wealth, Butan has the gross national product of happiness. Different emphasis, different outcome. While neither might be the best way to go into the future, it sure would be nice to have product life cycle cost, national wellness, and impact on environment or future generations included in this mix.
- More time off is not neccessarily better if it is not quality time, but less time off in order to buy more, which creates a cycle of even more work to pay for keeping up with the Jones's.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Bicycling Spokane and bike to work in Spokane
Nice street relatively quiet street to bike on.
Biking underneath brown's edition along hangman's creek, then under the I-90 freeway and towards Cheney-Spokane road through hangman valley.
Biking towards the merge with Spokane river, then up the hill into Brown's edition.
Along the downtown library
The view towards the court building and the falls.
Courtesy of metro spokane, this is a great idea for Spokane as well. Imagine a car free Sunday on the majority of Spokane's streets, great way to encourage downtown business, health and wellness for people living here, a win-win.
For more information on Bike to work, go to their web site:
http://biketoworkspokane.org/
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Sterling Engine Tour
Here are some good sources, courtesy of Justin Bell
- The best one, in myopinion, is the first one. Good introduction to Robert Stirling and his engines
http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/~amit/courses/371/abhishe/main.html - American Stirling Company
http://www.stirlingengine.com/faq/one?scope=public&faq_id=1 - Guide and refrence and a touch of engine theory
http://www.stirlingengine.com/catalogs/catalog1.pdf - Coffee cup version
http://jlnlabs.ifrance.com/jlnlabs/html/stirling.htm - Animated version
http://web.mit.edu/2.670/www/spotlight_2005/engine_anim.html - In use by San Diego gas and Electric? Worlds largest array?http://www.stirlingenergy.com/breaking_news.htmhttp://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/news/2005/11/69528http://pesn.com/2005/08/11/9600147_Edison_Stirling_largest_solar/
- Tin Can version by University of Austin
http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/courses/egr112/StirlingEngine/stirling.html - Space Craft Versiomhttp://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=15063
Thursday, November 08, 2007
WVO (waste vegetable oil) burner
Experimenting with the same principles as used in the truck (getting the oil hot so it vaporizes, combusts, and flows easily). There are biodiesel stoves out there, notably the kuma stove that is being sold across the State border in Hayden, Idaho. But again, I don't like the idea of putting more effort/resources into making bio diesel, when surely something can be done with just straight veggie.
It works very simple, get a fire going hot, then turn on the valve, and let it drip on something that is hot as well, and it will sustain itself, well not consistently with a 1/4 inch copper tube. This is where others start adding compression and fans etc to make it consistent.... For me it is just experimenting, not getting too technical. The oil gets stuck sometimes in the needle valve, presumably because at that point the oil is only room temperature, I'm using a lot of hydrogenated stuff that I don't really want to put into the truck. Continue to experiment. The nice thing is that I can use the really bottom of the barrel oil for this purpose.
Couple of observations:
- When it is a good fire, it is really hot, I have never seen our stove get this hot with wood, there are several metal layers in the top of the stove to get a clean burn, and the top can still get red-hot, even with a fan blowing air over it, to get the hot air out of the insert. One has to be cautious with this stuff, if there is anything flamable near that stove. There is about 2 feet of copper tubing in the stove, so when it is hot, and the drip is not very fast, it will come out vaporized, like a torch. It also helps to have the oil warmed coming in. (which you pretty much have to do when it is hydrogenated anyway)
- The black light fluffy stuff is I assume soot, or unburned fuel. If not very hot, you get a coat on the metal in the stove, so I crank it up periodically and put some more wood in as well, this burns it off in the stove. Will have to examine the chimney at some point to see how that looks. Probably bigger issue with smaller flue. When looking at what comes out of the chimney, during a good hot burn, there is just heat, hardly any smoke, so clean burn. When just a small burn, you see the fluffy stuff fly out, as well as a little black smoke, not more than a wood fire though.
- Putting some grease in a metal bucket and letting it boil in the fire, will also create a really fast hot burning fire, once it starts boiling, but the dripping allows much more control.
Both our stove dealer and a fire fighter didn't think this is a good idea, (this is to be expected, since this is an unpredictable fuel) so I'm not advocating it, nor doing it at this point, as our dogs ran off with a grease rag and leaked it on the nice couch...
It works very simple, get a fire going hot, then turn on the valve, and let it drip on something that is hot as well, and it will sustain itself, well not consistently with a 1/4 inch copper tube. This is where others start adding compression and fans etc to make it consistent.... For me it is just experimenting, not getting too technical. The oil gets stuck sometimes in the needle valve, presumably because at that point the oil is only room temperature, I'm using a lot of hydrogenated stuff that I don't really want to put into the truck. Continue to experiment. The nice thing is that I can use the really bottom of the barrel oil for this purpose.
Couple of observations:
- When it is a good fire, it is really hot, I have never seen our stove get this hot with wood, there are several metal layers in the top of the stove to get a clean burn, and the top can still get red-hot, even with a fan blowing air over it, to get the hot air out of the insert. One has to be cautious with this stuff, if there is anything flamable near that stove. There is about 2 feet of copper tubing in the stove, so when it is hot, and the drip is not very fast, it will come out vaporized, like a torch. It also helps to have the oil warmed coming in. (which you pretty much have to do when it is hydrogenated anyway)
- The black light fluffy stuff is I assume soot, or unburned fuel. If not very hot, you get a coat on the metal in the stove, so I crank it up periodically and put some more wood in as well, this burns it off in the stove. Will have to examine the chimney at some point to see how that looks. Probably bigger issue with smaller flue. When looking at what comes out of the chimney, during a good hot burn, there is just heat, hardly any smoke, so clean burn. When just a small burn, you see the fluffy stuff fly out, as well as a little black smoke, not more than a wood fire though.
- Putting some grease in a metal bucket and letting it boil in the fire, will also create a really fast hot burning fire, once it starts boiling, but the dripping allows much more control.
Both our stove dealer and a fire fighter didn't think this is a good idea, (this is to be expected, since this is an unpredictable fuel) so I'm not advocating it, nor doing it at this point, as our dogs ran off with a grease rag and leaked it on the nice couch...
Harvesting and crushing Black Walnuts
Some folks don't really care about the fruit on their trees, but are nice enough to share them with others, such as through graigslist, so I went in and got some of these difficult nuts, perhaps 150 lbs or so. This is the fun part driving over them, powered by vegetable oil of course.
Got some strawbales as well, not enough to insulate the house though, but perhaps enough to make a cold frame to grow salad in the winter.
Got some strawbales as well, not enough to insulate the house though, but perhaps enough to make a cold frame to grow salad in the winter.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Gardeners can find plenty of leaves for free in bags during the fall
Brown's edition and the South Hill are good places to get your free mulch for your organic garden. I like to mow them up some more, then spread them on my vegetable beds, they also discourage weeds that way. Folks have already put the leaves in bags for you and they are on the curb. Why not grab some...
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