Los Angeles Mayor Proposes Solar Energy Plan
Los Angeles’ Major Antonio Villaraigosa announced a plan earlier this week that will make L.A. one of the leading renewable energy cities in the country. His proposal involves getting 10% of the entire city’s energy needs to solar power by the year 2020. The goal of this plan is to get the Department of Water and Power (DWP) to be less dependent on fossil fuels. Also, Los Angeles has a huge abundance of sun that is currently not being utilized. This is an extremely ambitious plan considering they will need to have 1,280 megawatts of solar energy by the target year.
Where will they go?
That’s the biggest question a lot of people have is where are they going to put all of the solar panels and where are they going to put them. 500 megawatts of the total electricity would come from a solar energy generator built in the Mojave Desert that would be funded privately. There would also be programs set up to help low-income families add solar panels on their houses. The last part of the energy would go to adding solar panels to the Department of Water and Power buildings. Voters would be allowed to decide on whether this part of the plan actually comes into fruition.
The Cost
This plan seems picture perfect forgetting one thing, how much will it cost? All the details are not yet worked out, but it looks inevitable that the residence’s electricity cost will go up. There is also a question as to whether they will be getting all the tax credits that currently predict to receive. If some of the tax credits are not realized, the price could go up even further. The cost may not be as bad as it seems. The federal government is going to begin enacting a carbon tax , thus raising the cost of using coal as a source of energy. Currently, the DWP is largely dependent on coal and is their cheapest energy source and that cost would go up regardless.
This plan is definitely a good step in the right direction. There seems to be more politics behind the bill at the moment. Hopefully the city is able to a large portion of its energy needs on solar and other renewable energy sources in the future. Maybe other cities will see the financial/environmental benefits and propose similar legislation.
Should you Pay More For an Organic Thanksgiving?
It’s tough to decide when choosing foods at your grocery store or market whether you should buy organic or not. You hear about all the great benefits of having less pesticides, better quality and sometimes tastes better, but is it worth the cost?
An article from the Smart Money addressed this issue by comparing the total cost as well as the possible health benefits for buying an completely organic verses not. The final verdict on the price difference was that the organic thanksgiving dinner costs a total of $295.36 as compared to $169.01 for a traditional dinner. The extra cost for the dinner could be deceptive as they may have bought organic ingredients, but at a grocery store instead of a local farm. In a previous article I wrote that you could find a local turkey that could be organic as well as free-range for probably a lot cheaper than what they paid. In the end, the organic dinner will cost you more, regardless of how little you can get the turkey for.
Is this extra price worth it? The article says that you should get organic products that usually contain the most pesticides as compared to those that don’t.
Choose organic foods for those products that typically have high pesticide residues, like apples, bell peppers, celery and strawberries. But for commercially-farmed products that have low pesticide levels, like avocados, onions and pineapples, you can save money by buying nonorganic varieties … One recent United States Department of Agriculture survey found pesticides in about 30 percent of conventional milk samples and low levels in only one organic sample.
The biggest question to ask: is it worth it to you? That’s a tough question that is really up to personal preference. Some people want to ensure that all the meats they eat don’t contain hormones and are free-range and the produce they eat contains little or no pesticides. The cost for these is going to be higher because raising animals and growing produce organically and naturally costs more and thus has a premium. Nutritionally, they usually isn’t any difference, but the quality of the products as well as the taste could be dramatically different. Just try to use common cents when it comes to buying organic, especially on this thanksgiving and you can come away with a quality and healthy dinner.
Are you going to buy all organic ingredients for this year’s Thanksgiving or not?
Top 10 Ways To Save and Go Green on Black Friday
If you decide to fight the crowds to save a little money on Black Friday this year, follow these tips to make this years shopping trip a little more green.
1. Shop Online at Home
The popular belief on Black Friday is that you have to sit in line for hours to get the cheapest laptops and high-def TVs. This could not be further from the truth. Many of those hard to find items can be found online prior to being released in stores. Last year, I was able to buy a TV online the night before. It was one of the better deals available and I was able to sit comfortably at home out of the cold. You can either have the items shipped to you or elect to pick up the items in store and going later. You can then go pick up the items at a time when you need to go shopping and save making a separate trip. Online only retailers like Amazon have tons of good deals and don’t require you to make a trip to the stores. The only problem with this is that the specials go fast online and are usually published on weird hours. It’s still better than waiting in the freezing cold for hours and fighting huge crowds of people.
2. Go Prepared
One thing I have seen when I have gone out on Black Friday is people shopping for stuff that is not on sale or is not necessarily a good deal. Make sure to always go prepared by researching on sites like Gotta Deal. Not only will it save you tons of money by not buying unnecessary things you don’t need, but it will also save on gas. You know exactly what stores you need to go and the items you want to buy. This can save you tons of money, gas and time. Also remember that the markdowns retailers have may not always be cheaper than any ordinary day. Just because they have a flashy sign doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a special that day.
3. Dress Warm
In warmer areas you may not have this problem, but here in Maryland it tends to always be one of the coldest nights of the year on Black Friday. Make sure to always wear more as you can always take clothing off and simply carry them in the stores. You don’t want to be stuck out in cold weather with not enough clothes as you may not be able to even make it until the store clothes. Depending on your area, dress as if you are going skiing. Wear thermal underwear and layer clothes on to ensure that you stay warm the entire night and not just for the first hour.
4. Don’t Leave Your Car Idle
This goes back to the Dress Warm item where it tends to be pretty cold on Thanksgiving evening and night. If lucky enough to have friends, most people decide to go back to the car to warm themselves up to get out of the cold. It’s tempting, but this is a complete waste of gas and spits out tons of CO2 emissions. Make sure to dress warm as I describe above. Also, you can try to bring warm beverages or hand warmers.
5. Carpool to Store
If you do decide to drive to retail stores, try to carpool with other people instead of driving by yourself. I found myself doing this regardless of whether I was aware of it or not. When I have gone out in the past, I have gone with friends and would only take one car. This will not only reduce the amount of gas used, but it will also reduce some of the congestion in the parking lots and on the road.
6. Shop Locally
Try to choose stores that are close to your home. This can be hard sometimes as only certain stores have the specials you want. Before making a huge trip to the store that has that discounted item, decide whether it is worth it in the price of gas and time. You may find that you could have purchased the item at a closer store or online for only slightly more. Also, Try to choose you stores that are close to one another to prevent wasting additional gas. Once again, this may not always be possible, but think about the waste of time and gas if you make an extensive trip just to save a few bucks.
7. Bring Reusable Bags
The waste of so many plastic bags is such a huge problem on Black Friday. Most people tend to go to many stores and therefore get a bag for each store they shop at. This year, try putting all your purchased items into reusable bags. Not only will it be saving tons of plastic bags, but it will consolidate all of your items for easier carrying.
8. Recycle Waste
After the initial crowd of people waiting in line to get into the store, I always find that there is tons of garbage all over the place. Usually it is paper cups from coffee that could have been recycled or at the very least thrown out. Be sure to throw away any trash you have left over from the night and if possible, recycle it. It may be hard to find a recycling bin in the store you are shopping, so try holding on to it and taking it home to recycle.
9. Buy Green Products
There are various green products on sale from online or retail stores. I found a good article that gives a huge list of deals for online green stores at Happy Hippie. I never realized how many deals were available from green stores. These deals also allow you to shop online instead of in store. You can also try to find energy efficient products that have the Energy Star Seal, buy products with less packaging or even buy CFL light bulbs.
10. Buy Nothing
There is a campaign that has become fairly popular called Buy Nothing Day. It’s as simple as the title says and could save you tons of money by not buying anything on one of the biggest shopping days of the year. If you really don’t need anything in particular, try it this year and see how it works out. It is hard for most to leave stores without buying something simply because there were just too many “good” of a deal. If you do go out shopping, try not buying those extra things that you don’t need and will end up collecting dust.
Texas Walmarts to Begin Using Wind Energy
Walmart recently purchased a huge amount of wind energy from the Duke energy company to power approximately 360 of their stores in Texas. The energy will come from a wind farm that is currently under construction in Notrees, Texas. It will be completed in April of 2009 and will produce 226 million kWh of energy per year, enough to offset 139,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions every year. This energy purchase will push Walmart into the top 15 of EPA’s list of green power purchasers in America.
The motivation for this plan seems to be economical in both terms of saving money on energy costs as well as better press as Walmart will now be seen as “green” by the media. I’m not really a huge fan of Walmart, but this is the right move in my opinion. With our country is such hard economic times, buying this amount of wind energy can really help boost . Hopefully this will encourage other retailers to buy renewable energy and for Walmart to expand using renewable energy in their stores throughout the country.
British Wind Farm Proposal Brings Controversy
The British Environment Agency is considering building an 80 turbine wind farm development that would be partially built on several major water bodies including the River Thames, the River Medway in the North Downs and parts of the Fens. The wind farm should produce approximately 200 megawatts of energy, enough energy to power 90,000 households. Some of them will be built in lands surrounding the agency’s offices and pumping stations. The remaining will be put riverside of the rivers mentioned above. The plan is to produce enough energy to run all of the agency’s offices along with making an additional $5 million in revenue each year by putting extra electricity back into the grid.
By developing these renewable energy projects we are helping to limit and adapt to the effects of climate change, reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and help develop a low-carbon economy. We are identifying the main contributors to our own carbon footprint – such as major pumping stations – and looking at how we can generate renewable energy to power them.
This does seems like a perfect plan on the surface, but it is not pleasing everybody. Many people living in these areas as well as critics of the plan have said that the construction of this wind farm could do more harm that good. The biggest concern they have is the well being of the landscapes in these area’s, being unattractive sites along with harming the local wildlife. There is also a concern that the amount of renewable energy generated by these turbines will not even come close to removing the country’s dependency on fossil fuels.
Wind turbines can have a serious impact on the appearance of a landscape and certainly should not be located in areas of natural beauty or national parks.
The agency ensured that it will consult with the public and take these factors into consideration before finalizing plans. This is really a tough situation. On the one hand, this agency is trying to make a difference by running all their offices on renewable energy as well as provide more for the entire country. On the other hand, the natural landscape could be affected by them being present. In my opinion, I actually like the look of the wind turbines and don’t feel at all that they detract from the natural landscape. I agree with the agency that this is the correct move and to continue our dependency on fossil fuels based on the principal that it controls too much of the market is not the right way to go.
Updates to the kWh Energy Calculator
I made some major modifications to the energy calculator and just wanted to update you on some of those changes. The calculator can now be found in the right sidebar under the Tools heading.
Fixed Bugs
I fixed various bugs that were causing certain functionality of the calculator to not work. These are now fixed.
Common Appliance Energy Use
I added in a Tree of common energy uses for various appliances throughout your household. Just click on the appliances that are highlighted for the energy use of each item. I will be updated this tree with more values as I come across them.
State Energy Cost
I included a list of all States and their corresponding kWh cost. The calculator will automatically fill the appropriate cost when you select your state.
If you find any errors or bugs in the calculator, please contact me or just leave a comment. Hopefully you enjoy the calculator and I will continue to add more functionality and easier to use. I will also be adding additional calculators and tools to help you live a greener lifestyle as well as save money.
Buy From Local Turkey Farms for Thanksgiving
Before you go to your grocery store and buy a turkey for thanksgiving that you have no idea where it came from, consider buying one from local farm. Not only are the meats going to be much fresher, but they usually are free-range and/or organic. That turkey you buy from the grocery store could have traveled hundreds of miles just to get to the store and you have no idea of its freshness. I’ve had meats from my local farms and I can attest to just how much better they taste as well. The price of the bird may be slightly more expensive or around the same price you would pay in a grocery store. The little extra you spend is well worth the fresher taste.
You can do a search at Local Harvest to find a farm near that carries turkeys. What’s neat about this site is that they also contain reviews and pictures of the various farms and farmer’s markets in your area.
