[Greenbuilding] Heathens and Believers (was multi-splits)

[RT]

Clark quipped:

> Perhaps Kansians are being taxed for not believing in evolution.

in response to Sacie who had mentioned:

>> The cost of electricity on Martha's Vineyard where Marc is located is  
>> 6.8 cents/kWh. here in NE Kansas, our base cost is 13 cents/kWh.


I'd almost be willing to wager a box of sugar-coated, deep-fried pastries  
(ie Tim Horton's doughnuts) that Martha's Vineyard gets most of its cheap  
electricity from Canada or more specifically, Hydro Quebec. (ie generated  
by turbines on dammed rivers in Northen Quebec and then exported to  
Murrican markets).

Here in Ottawa Ontario (right across the river from Quebec) where the  
power utilities are called "Ottawa Hydro" and "Ontario Hydro" and where  
people still call utility poles and high tension cables "hydro poles" and  
"hydro lines" (a carry-over from the days when electricty was generated by  
water/gravity-powered turbines) our "base" electricity rates are not too  
far off of those for MV (ie $0.074 /kWh and currently as low as $0.063/kWh  
during off-peak times.

However, the actual rates that one pays is closer to Sacie's once the  
manadatory charges for "delivery", "regulatory" and "debt retirement" are  
included.

============Copied from  
http://www.hydroottawa.com/residential/index.cfm?lang=e&template_id=118  
=======

Residential Rates brochure PDF
Electricity* - Regulated Price Plan (RPP)

Tiered
Consumption up to 1000 kWh per month 	$0.0740/kWh
Consumption above the 1000 kWh per month threshold 	$0.0870/kWh

Time-of-Use (winter)
Off-Peak 	$0.063/kWh
Mid-Peak 	$0.099/kWh
On-Peak 	$0.118/kWh

Delivery

Transmission	$0.0118/kWh
Hydro Ottawa Delivery	$0.02042/kWh
Rate Rider for Global Adjustment	$0.0026/kWh****
Hydro Ottawa Fixed Charge	$8.65 per month
Low Voltage Services Charge	$0.00006/kWh

Regulatory
	0.0063/kWh**

Debt Retirement
	$0.00694/kWh***

================== End of copied material =============

So why are Ontarioans paying rates that are comparable to Kansasians ?

I'm pretty sure most Ontarioans accept Evolution.

Heck, we even have a Liberal provincial government that implemented a  
renewable energy initiative that is the envy of most Greenies in North  
America. (ie "MicroFIT") where the provincial govt guaranteed 20-year  
contracts for solar PV -generated electricity at a rate of about $ 0.81  
(yes, that's "eighty-one cents") per kWh.

It's because Ontario Hydro went big into nukes in the previous millennium  
to the point that as of 2010, 54.4% of the electricity generated by  
Ontario Hydro came from nuclear reactors ie cheap to run but cripplingly  
expensive to maintain/repair ... and that's before they've figured out  
what to do about disposal of the radioactive wastes. That "54.4% nukes"  
number would be higher if a bunch of  
shut-down-due-to-lack-of-funds-for-expensive-maintenance nuke reactors  
were still on-line).

Me ? I've heated my two-storey homes with "single, point-source units" too  
for decades --the sun, backed-up by a tiny woodstove. And the temperature  
difference between the lower level floor and the upper storey ceiling is  
about the same as that in Marc's mini-split heated home according to  
readings taken (and posted here in the past) with an infrared "ray gun".

which BCJohn opined upon recently:

> IR is so cheap and such a useful tool - but the precision is similar to  
> hammers, drills and cigars

...with which I would have to disagree and say " It probably depends upon  
the IR device".

I bought a bunch a few years ago when Norbert Senf mentioned that his  
Masonry Heater Association was doing a bulk buy.

The precision on the digital display is +/-  0.1 degree (Celsuis or  
Fahrenheit).

As for accuracy, it has a switch that turns a laser on/off so that when  
turned on, one knows where the centre of the IR is aimed and the diameter  
of the IR cone. One gets the same temperature reading at a distance of 20  
feet and 2 inches away from the target when read at the target centre.

I haven't tried comparing to the accuracy and precision of one of the IR  
rayguns that one can get for as little as $20 at places like Canadian Tire  
and Princess Auto but I suspect there is a noticeable difference.


And as Forrest Gump would say "Duh ... And that's all I have to say about  
that".

-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom					AOD257
Kanata, Ontario, Canada

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