[Greenbuilding] Energy Star Clothes Dryers Program Launch

[Bob Waldrop]

I don't think there is a lot of mystery as to what the big deals are 
with energy and climate change.

We need to drive personal automobiles less, travel less by air, live in 
smaller houses that use less energy to heat and cool.  See for example 
the Conundrum by David Owen and Cooler/Smarter by the Union of Concerned 
Scientists.  When we travel, the best way to do it for the sake of the 
planet is to ride the bus.

Bob Waldrop, Okie City
On 7/28/2012 3:20 PM, jfstraube1 at bell.blackberry.net wrote:
> I agree with Paul. Reuben has one view of the future but this is far from certain. We will give up the convenience of clothes driers and AC when we have to. But there are many ways on the supply and demand side there are lots of things we can and are doing. Not as much as we should perhaps.  Fossil fuels are far from running out. They may get more expensive, which I hope for, as this will push along our transition faster for the betterment of the climate. Alas it seems as though we might have enough $100 a barrel oil to keep us damaging the planet for a while longer. But I agree it is likely to get more scarce and hence more expensive in the next decade. How much and when is anybody's guess.
>
> Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
> Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Paul M. Eldridge" <paul.eldridge at ns.sympatico.ca>
> Sender: "greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org"
> 	<greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2012 19:18:00
> To: greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org<greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Reply-To: Green Building <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Subject: [Greenbuilding] Energy Star Clothes Dryers Program Launch
>
>   Hi Reuben,
>
> As noted earlier, my vision of the future is quite different from your
> own.  In 2006, 80 per cent of the electricity that we consumed in this
> province was generated through the burning of coal.  Last year, that had
> fallen to 57 per cent and this year, with the seasonal shut-down of two
> of Nova Scotia Power's largest coal-fired units, it will likely come in
> closer to 45 per cent.  On the flip side, ten years ago, this province
> had no commercial wind generation whatsoever; presently, we have 317 MW
> and several hundred more MW are scheduled to come on-line over the
> coming years (provincial demand and out-of-province transfers as I type
> this total 1,045 MW).
>
> Ontario is another interesting case in point.  When I joined the Ontario
> Ministry of Energy back in 1983, one-third of the province's electricity
> supply was coal-fired; today, coal's contribution is less than three per
> cent and by 2014 it will be eliminated from the mix altogether.  Our two
> provinces are still heavily dependent upon fossil fuels, but we're
> making steady progress with regards to our electrical power systems.
>
> Another sidebar if I may... when we bought our previous home in Toronto
> we inherited a then twenty year old three ton CAC with a SEER that might
> have been, at best, 7.0.  It consumed over 5,000-watts.  Having made
> various upgrades to our home's thermal envelope, I replaced it with a
> two ton dual-stage unit with a SEER rating of 13.5, one of the most
> energy efficient systems available at that time.  That dropped this load
> to approximately 1,800-watts. If faced with that same buying decision
> today, I would opt for a 20 SEER variable speed inverter model that
> might draw as little as 300 watts when operating at its lowest setting.
> Here again, progress. Just as in typing my reply on a tablet that uses
> less than 3-watts
> (i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo69/HereinHalifax/ComputerPowerRequirements.jpg).
>
> So, for those who argue that we must all forego our tumble dryers,
> irons, kettles, ice cubes, and the like, more power to you, but I won't
> be joining in on your parade.
>
> Cheers,
> Paul
>
>> On Fri, Jul 27, 2012 at 5:00 PM, Paul Eldridge <
>> paul.eldridge at ns.sympatico.ca  > wrote:
>>
>>> /  It would seem to earn one's green credentials you have to forego tumble
> />/> drying and toss away your iron.  [...]  What else?  My electric kettle?
> />
>> Paul,
>>
>> you tell me. If fossil fuels are on their way out, and yet the overwhelming
>> majority of electrons generated in this country are generated by burning
>> this very problematic substance, and the only other well-capitalized
>> approach to drying clothes in a clothes dryer is to burn natural gas
>> directly in them, how exactly do you propose to hold onto this entitlement?
>> or any other, really?
>>
>> Given looming constraints on our use of fossil fuels for they myriad
>> purposes we've devised to apply them, burn them, use them up, how is it
>> that your/our convenience trumps these larger issues? Or did I
>> misunderstand you?
>>
>> You've explained here that you buy lots of renewable electrons, even more
>> than you yourself use, but as Corwyn pointed out here not so long ago,
>> we're not really there yet as a society--where we have enough extra
>> renewable electrons to just live like we've grown accustomed, but with a
>> slightly different contract with the electric company.
>>
>> I struggle with this too. In our case it is (primarily) water heating and
>> cooking that use natural gas, and which I'd like to figure out how to
>> accomplish without fossil fuels or grid electricity. Wood + solar makes a
>> lot of sense, but figuring out the details of those systems and
>> implementing them in a 660 square foot house with a spouse who's only
>> medium interested is, well, a challenge. But that doesn't for a moment
>
> Sent from my BlackBerry® PlayBook™
> www.blackberry.com
>
>
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