NASA monitors the 'new normal' of sea ice

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

Even with tax it should still be cheaper, not to mention more convenient, than going to a store.

Amen. Ithe takes 4 mins top to find what I am looking for and have it on the way.

[Rob L 3,811]

Amen. Ithe takes 4 mins top to find what I am looking for and have it on the way.

We live in a Prime Now area which gives us 1-2 hour delivery. Cold beer, groceries,electonics. Its all there.

Edited August 28, 2016 by Rob L

[Rob L 3,811]

The VW travesty is so discouraging.

I am optimistic that we are close to the tipping point on battery technology and economy of scale. There are definite downsides to the battery impact on the environment. Thing about lithium is that the material is valuable enough to make recovery economically viable. I see that Tesla has dropped their home charging system idea from their offering. I don't know if that is a retreat or reset, but if we all drive electric cars, wouldn't we all want our own power plant?

But the market is catching on/up Ford says the Model E ( focus) will go 200 miles on a charge in 2019. The next Tesla model 3 is 35K and is supposed to start rolling out end of 2017. The concerns over the waste of older cars and equipment is valid..but every day the value of that gear is depreciating, and you will need to repair or replace. There are worse places to waste our money.

Wind and Solar are kicking butt, even with the drop in oil prices and weaning off of subsidies. But what is exciting to me is EGS. I had a semicrazy uncle who was always BSing about this popular science stuff. Geothermal was top of his list that was the 70s..he was just few years ahead of his time. This is not something you put in your home but still.

If there is anything I can geek out about ...it would be alternative energy first. I am looking at replacing my furnace with a real geothermal package, around 17 k for home which is hard to justify, but still free heat and cooling for the life of the house is tempting.

I think we are at the point synonymous to the early Apples and PCs coming out for personal computing where the early adopters are starting to get excited about the possibilities.

On the meat ( which I love ) the equation is basically how much energy is needed to created a calorie of food. Corn apparently returns 4 calories to 1 used. Cheese 1 calories for 14 spent and beef the worst with 1 calorie with 450 spent. Chicken it turns out is not the worst, Milk is not so bad. When you compound the water and land use, beef appears to be one of our worst investments. I prefer to cut back and not cut out. The same with the air travel.

Good stuff, Rob. I too have nearly made a complete switch to LEDs; though the initial cost is high, it remains to be seen if the long term makes it money well spent. In the meantime, I know I am using less energy.

Alaska wants to run a natural gas pipeline down from the north slope, saving millions of dollars and many many metric tonnes of pollution in Alaska alone. But... Politicians.

Tesla... I love the concept, but it's still far too expensive. And while it seems great up front, what of the resources necessary to produce batteries to run electric appliances and vehicles? And what of the waste residue left behind when said batteries go dead?

I tried to do better by buying a VW TDI. Saved lots on MPG. And look where THAT got me!

Amazon Prime. Sounds silly at first, but I do a large portion of my shopping over the Internet. Even if I can run downtown and buy it, unless I need it NOW, I tend to order and have it shipped. Not sure if it actually reduces pollution, but I know I am spending less on fuel and saving miles on the car!

Reducing air travel... Probably nearly impossible to do, unless fuel prices skyrocket again. Supply and demand.

Why reduce meat? Other than personal health, I mean?

Keep up the good work. Every little bit DOES help. If only we could get more to do a little, soon we would have a lot.

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

We live in a Prime Now area which gives us 1-2 hour delivery. Cold beer, groceries,electonics. Its all there.

That rocks

[Rob L 3,811]

That rocks

I am waiting for an Amazon service that sends a drone robot that serves the cold beer, cooks dinner and washes dishes. I bet they are working on it.

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

Didn't want to quote your long post above Rob, but thanks for sharing about expense of calories/dollars. I have never thought of it that way. I eat a pretty fair amount of veggies, but I DO loves me some chicken, fish, pork and beef. I would assume fish would also be a low-cost/calorie food, if it's caught and not bought?

On the geothermal idea... It works great. Know of two places in Alaska where it's being used, one in an engineer's home. He has free heating all year 'round. Think he may also use some of the energy to generate electricity at home, but don't hold me to that. I DO know that in a state where winter heating bills easily reach $1300-2000 per month for about 4-6 months a year, geothermal has HUGE payback potential.

Not sure if we are on the same sheet of music re: VW. I think they got a raw deal over the pollution issue. Yes, they lied, yes, they got caught. Reckon Ford, Chevy, Honda, et. Al. are doing similar? I'd wager they are. OTOH, I happen to know how much daily pollution is being put out by the trucking, aviation, and oil industry, and VW's mess is a mere drop in a lake. Believe me. Just to give an idea, there are over 3,000 diesel generators, from 8 to 24 cylinders, that run 24/7 every day of every year out in the Gulf of Mexico. They are belching their toxins into the air, but because no one sees them, no one cares. They are unregulated, they don't use DEF, they just run and run and run. And have for YEARS. What VW is having to pay is ridiculous. If I were them, I'd buy back all the diesels in America, then refuse to sell any more cars here again. They got screwed.

[Rob L 3,811]

Didn't want to quote your long post above Rob, but thanks for sharing about expense of calories/dollars. I have never thought of it that way. I eat a pretty fair amount of veggies, but I DO loves me some chicken, fish, pork and beef. I would assume fish would also be a low-cost/calorie food, if it's caught and not bought?

On the geothermal idea... It works great. Know of two places in Alaska where it's being used, one in an engineer's home. He has free heating all year 'round. Think he may also use some of the energy to generate electricity at home, but don't hold me to that. I DO know that in a state where winter heating bills easily reach $1300-2000 per month for about 4-6 months a year, geothermal has HUGE payback potential.

Not sure if we are on the same sheet of music re: VW. I think they got a raw deal over the pollution issue. Yes, they lied, yes, they got caught. Reckon Ford, Chevy, Honda, et. Al. are doing similar? I'd wager they are. OTOH, I happen to know how much daily pollution is being put out by the trucking, aviation, and oil industry, and VW's mess is a mere drop in a lake. Believe me. Just to give an idea, there are over 3,000 diesel generators, from 8 to 24 cylinders, that run 24/7 every day of every year out in the Gulf of Mexico. They are belching their toxins into the air, but because no one sees them, no one cares. They are unregulated, they don't use DEF, they just run and run and run. And have for YEARS. What VW is having to pay is ridiculous. If I were them, I'd buy back all the diesels in America, then refuse to sell any more cars here again. They got screwed.

but the vw management did lie didnt it? did i miss part of the narrative?

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

Oh, no doubt, they lied. But do you think for one minute that other vehicle companies only tell the truth? What about MPG ratings that are quite often inaccurate? Just saying making up numbers IOT sell cars is more likely the norm rather than 100% honesty among auto makers.

And lest we forget about the EPA itself... http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/10/us/colorado-epa-mine-river-spill/

Think anyone is covering up facts here? Where are all the fines against the EPA? Heck, the VW scandal may be a way for the EPA to pay for a small part of the damage caused in Colorado.

My point was... Hypocrisy.

but the vw management did lie didnt it? did i miss part of the narrative?

Edited August 29, 2016 by ROYGBP

[Dashinka 24,662]

Here is an interesting article related to the environmental impact of wind and battery systems. I am all for alternative energy systems, but we shouldn't forget that all forms of manufacturing can be dirty.

From the air it looks like a huge lake, fed by many tributaries, but on the ground it turns out to be a murky expanse of water, in which no fish or algae can survive. The shore is coated with a black crust, so thick you can walk on it. Into this huge, 10 sq km tailings pond nearby factories discharge water loaded with chemicals used to process the 17 most sought after minerals in the world, collectively known as rare earths.

The town of Baotou, in Inner Mongolia, is the largest Chinese source of these strategic elements, essential to advanced technology, from smartphones to GPS receivers, but also to wind farms and, above all, electric cars. The minerals are mined at Bayan Obo, 120km farther north, then brought to Baotou for processing.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/aug/07/china-rare-earth-village-pollution

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

That's some horrible shite, Rob. Truly sad. If you want to see something similar, research the Fort Knox gold mine in Alaska. I flew over it, and all around it. The cesspool results of the gold mining are aggregious, to be sure.