tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post8550239646439774295..comments2024-03-14T08:21:24.575-04:00Comments on Island Voice: More on KilowattsEveretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05992573194167721951noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-66064500621843805372008-06-02T07:08:00.000-04:002008-06-02T07:08:00.000-04:00For BI, I say a cable to the mainland and the nati...For BI, I say a cable to the mainland and the national grid. Those diesel generators are in a "death spiral" . Fuel costs will make this and other energy sources more viable. This is the only long term solution for BI .Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-66784240309844031742008-05-22T23:14:00.000-04:002008-05-22T23:14:00.000-04:00Sounds illegal as heck, Everett. I worked at a pl...Sounds illegal as heck, Everett. <BR/><BR/>I worked at a place where we tested cars for emissions and they had a "dynamometer" treadmill for the cars to spin their wheels - powered by an electric motor assist. So when you got 4 vehicles going 55 MPH on these here treadmills, the outside electric meter run backwards at really fast RPM's. You could hear the cars idle down and stop ... and the meter would slowly go the other way, consuming power from the grid.<BR/><BR/>It was awesome!<BR/>-samSamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06904821424581969401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-68241524729063207682008-05-22T19:26:00.000-04:002008-05-22T19:26:00.000-04:00In reality, what we generate and actually use here...In reality, what we generate and actually use here in the house runs from about a third to one half of all the juice we use. And of course it varies with the season, more wind or less. There are two "ratcheted" meters on the house. When we are taking power from BIPCO the IN meter runs forward,then as the wind picks up and my machine is generating enough to cover all the present useage in the house, the In meter stops running and the Out meter starts going forward and recording all the kwh's going back into the grid! This is the "ONLY POWER COMPANY IN THE US THAT HAS THIS {DEAL}"!! The PUC in PVD gave Bipco the ability to do this although it goes directly against the PURPA law enacted back in the 70's that was designed to pay back co-generators full value for the energy supplied to the grid. Everywhere else in the US, co-generators have 'net metering". That means there is only one meter on the house and it runs freely in either direction. So when the wind blows like hell all winter, my meter should be running backwards and when it dies out, it goes forward as I begin to take power from the grid. Then at the end of the month, bi-month, semi- annually or annually, if I "OWE" I pay up. If they owe me, I can elect to either take the money, roll over the the banked Kwh's to the next period, or ASSIGN THEM TO ANYONE ELSE I DESIRE TO GIVE THEM TOO! Well, thats the way it is everywhere else but here. Out here I pay them whatever I owe each month, and they pay what they owe me every six months or a year, whatever the COO 'feels' like doing! Great system huh?Everetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05992573194167721951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-40491316233289067212008-05-21T21:43:00.000-04:002008-05-21T21:43:00.000-04:00Does it cover your whole power bill and are you gi...Does it cover your whole power bill and are you given credits for a surplus? How does that all work?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-14681745768423110432008-05-21T19:43:00.000-04:002008-05-21T19:43:00.000-04:00Just a quick update on energy production by the Li...Just a quick update on energy production by the Littlefield Power Distribution Company. Since it was restarted with the new inverter, it has made 2137 Kwh's. At the going rate of about $.45 per kwh, that is getting damned close to $1000 if not slightly over! So I still maintain that these things are viable and worthy investments in the ongoing fight against the oil/coal generation systems. If it paid back $1K every three months, it wouldn't take all that long to gain back your $35-$36K investment. About 8 years. But I wonder where the price of oil is going to top out? The higher it goes, the faster the payoff approaches!Everetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05992573194167721951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-78914324086942885412008-05-20T21:55:00.000-04:002008-05-20T21:55:00.000-04:00Subsea 7, a Norwegian engineering and construction...Subsea 7, a Norwegian engineering and construction group, has recently entered a new market in the Gulf with a brand new facility near Brownsville, TX at the southern coast on the Mexico border. They specialize in high pressure gathering and transmission lines for offshore oil and gas. Word on the street is that Mexico is going to open up a section of the Gulf of Mexico for contractors to help, although most will be under PEMEX oversight. <BR/><BR/>The Subsea 7 facility will cover a gap in between its Brazil facility (which is going to be extremely profitable with the largest oil find in decades) and the entire Gulf. Operations are to start in 2009. -sam<BR/><BR/>source: Valley Morning Star, May 20, 2008.Samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06904821424581969401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-41669641655886345252008-05-19T23:08:00.000-04:002008-05-19T23:08:00.000-04:00Speculation in the futures market is definitly dri...Speculation in the futures market is definitly driving the crude price up. If it stays up here, I need to find the company that can get oil from shale/sand. I'd buy every share I could. Some of our current non OPEC sources are drying up ,like the north sea, permex is in deep trouble. They need a serious amount of cash to stay up with demand, permex has fallen well behind in keeping up its infrastructure. Just increasing the amount of crude pumped will do little to lower our fuel cost. We haven't build a new refinery in 30 years. Those old ones are costly to run. You can thank the left for that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-57207217000405614602008-05-18T21:46:00.000-04:002008-05-18T21:46:00.000-04:00I don't know about a conspiracy but it sure smacks...I don't know about a conspiracy but it sure smacks of one. As and expert and they'll say that supply and demand is fairly balanced, meaning that on fundamentals, crude should be trading around 50 to 75 bucks a barrel. <BR/><BR/>It is becoming evident that the US, Saudi Arabia, OPEC, and other governments really can't control the price of crude oil. So who is bidding it up so high?<BR/><BR/>I suggest it is the global commodity markets, which sometimes appear to be run as syndicates.<BR/><BR/>When the latest recession or downturn in the economy happened, trillions of dollars left the financial markets and went into gold, agricultural products like corn and rice, and of course crude oil. These are considered "safe" investments in bad times. I'm taking many trillions of dollars here.<BR/><BR/>So as crude oil is traded on the international market, bidders started gambling that the prices would rise due to bad media news and a weakening dollar. Hot dang they made some serious money. With a single tanker load, in increase of a few pennies in the price per barrel can make you a million bucks. A spread of several dollars and you can retire forever. <BR/><BR/>Then there are gamblers who work in the futures markets that bet that a load increases or decreases in price. They don't trade in actual oil or whatever, but on the contract as to whether the price difference went up or down. I am not a stock market / commodities expert in the least but they tend to inflate the price of oil as well. <BR/><BR/>A lot of people want to blame the Big Five oil companies that serve the US, and although they're making obscene profits they really cannot control the price of crude oil. In fact, as countries such as Venezuela and Russia have nationalized their crude oil production, the Big Five have less power than ever. <BR/><BR/>Some energy economists call this the Oil Bubble. There is plenty of oil and there's more off Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, and a giant field off Brazil. Predictions of low supplies and high demand just aren't true. <BR/><BR/>It's more like the Housing Bubble when a two-bedroom house bought for $150,000 a decade ago is now worth $750,000. And look what happened to housing! It should continue to crash in some areas for yet another year. <BR/><BR/>So it's a story all about greed, bad decisions, bad economics, and nearly complete unregulation by any governmental authority. One day some new investment fad will come along and trillions of investor money will leave the crude oil business and prices will plummet for want of cash. <BR/><BR/>Computers, houses, what's the next bubble? People just don't learn. I think water ... just simple old drinking water ... might be the next boondoggle to watch. -samSamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06904821424581969401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-54835398542381106432008-05-17T07:11:00.000-04:002008-05-17T07:11:00.000-04:00Any chance that this current oil crunch is steeped...Any chance that this current oil crunch is steeped in conspiracy? I'm thinking that after another month of increasing prices at the pump, the American public will be all to willing to have the Alaskan Reserve opened for pumping oil. Who's going to care about environmentalists and their political plans when gasoline nudges past $5 or $ 6 dollars a gallon and home heating fuel costs continue to climb?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-79445355421856928292008-05-16T19:44:00.000-04:002008-05-16T19:44:00.000-04:00NO comments on the oil import numbers. Doesn't sur...NO comments on the oil import numbers. Doesn't surprise me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-83541053744788968562008-05-14T22:47:00.000-04:002008-05-14T22:47:00.000-04:00Well I'm a jerk too! But the history of the water...Well I'm a jerk too! But the history of the water windmill is really something, as Everett described in his FDR quote about windmills. Lots of companies sold them but one of the last survivors is a company in San Angelo, Texas (I say this from memory, not some Wikipedia thing or some Google). Cattlemen from as far as Brazil, Africa, and Israel buy many of them these days. <BR/><BR/>The principle behind a water windmill hasn't changed in a century. A push-rod basically pumps about a few inches or a foot of water in the standpipe each stroke, depending on the water depth and supply. When in the hole the that push-rod is known as a "sucker rod." To fix the pump at the bottom you had to pull several hundred feet of sucker rod out of the ground.<BR/><BR/>The well casing hole and the windmill only costs a few thousand each, as is today. Going below 800 feet to find better water costs more of course. <BR/><BR/>My point is that it would be cool if we had such cheap technology to make electricity today. That would be awesome. -sammieSamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06904821424581969401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-90735450230783466062008-05-14T22:02:00.000-04:002008-05-14T22:02:00.000-04:00Sure am glad there are no jerks from BI, as all th...Sure am glad there are no jerks from BI, as all the islanders are perfect.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-16767113269770398192008-05-14T18:05:00.000-04:002008-05-14T18:05:00.000-04:00The thing that goes up my ass the MOST about all t...The thing that goes up my ass the MOST about all this "view shed" crap is that it is ALMOST ALWAYS brought up and screamed about by the people who build a great big assed house with a great 'view shed' and then they live in it for about two to four weeks A YEAR!!! The rest of the time they rent it out for some outrageous amount like $7-8K A WEEK!! Then in the winter, when the view is much better, no one lives in it at all! They all go where ever snow birds congregate and bitch about how some other jerk from NJ,NY, MASS, CT built a bigger house RIGHT IN MY VIEW SHED! So they sell it for twice what they built it for and leave us to stumble along paying out of sight electric bills ALL YEAR! Sigh! As FDR once said,I think, "A windmill in every yard"!! Or was he talking about chickens? Was it even him?Everetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05992573194167721951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-25606070276641993682008-05-14T11:33:00.000-04:002008-05-14T11:33:00.000-04:00A view shed? Is that like a small out-building wh...A view shed? Is that like a small out-building where you store your old pictures and junky art? LOL!<BR/><BR/>Let's ratchet it up a notch. There is no Constitutional basis to protect your views of the scenery, aside from the except that National Parks Service is mandated to protect "scenic views" as part of the overall mission statement. <BR/><BR/>That includes whether your view is blocked by another structure or somebody build some big ugly wind turbine right in your ... ugh ... viewshed. <BR/><BR/>Apparently Block islanders haven't caught onto this fact and every spring I heard stories about trees my mysteriously "fall," seemingly natural as if the Big Man was working a chainsaw or something. All to protect their ... forgive me Lord, I just can't say that work without laughing now!<BR/><BR/>A wind turbine on every block, I say!<BR/>-samSamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06904821424581969401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-54190300082442522362008-05-12T19:03:00.000-04:002008-05-12T19:03:00.000-04:00it could be dumb doc willisit could be dumb doc willisAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-7465736004240650462008-05-12T19:00:00.000-04:002008-05-12T19:00:00.000-04:00is the evil one jerry zarella?is the evil one jerry zarella?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-27046019171891617052008-05-12T13:10:00.000-04:002008-05-12T13:10:00.000-04:00Wait till summer when the Power Co. Up's the surch...Wait till summer when the Power Co. Up's the surcharge rate, last summer it was $.45 per kw/hr This summer it will be more like $.55 per kw/hr. The average power bill will be about $350.00.<BR/> But who cares everyone on Block Island is rich any way, and they should not be subjected to the ugliness of a wind mill, let the common folk deal with the problem by getting another job, or moving away and living in a town with other common folk. Then they can put a WIND MILL in every yard, and leave my VIEW SHED ALONE!!!!!!!!!<BR/><BR/>---The Evil One---Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-39580822825804583092008-05-10T12:04:00.000-04:002008-05-10T12:04:00.000-04:0042 cents! That must be one heck of a base rate pl...42 cents! That must be one heck of a base rate plus fuel surcharges and fees. That's almost in the realm of disbelief. <BR/><BR/>According to the US Department of Energy, 2006-2007 average US residential rates are 10 cents per kW-hr and 16 cents in Rhode Island. <BR/><BR/>Surely, you could get some bond or something for a submarine cable to the mainland or use that money for a wind turbine - seems like that might halve the cost of your electricity. Oh well, I know you're looking into all this and am preaching to the choir ... but 42 cents!Samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06904821424581969401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-40639275920635972472008-05-10T07:54:00.000-04:002008-05-10T07:54:00.000-04:00Sam ,just got our bill on BI $281/665 kwh = 42 cen...Sam ,just got our bill on BI $281/665 kwh = 42 cents per.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-66359845982410854872008-05-09T21:18:00.000-04:002008-05-09T21:18:00.000-04:00Maybe if we didn't spend all that money on Iraq, w...Maybe if we didn't spend all that money on Iraq, we'd have some for our own infrastructure. Let's bring our troops home and take care of our own. No more American lives, limbs, or wealth should find its way there.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-13904160258152673282008-05-09T20:52:00.000-04:002008-05-09T20:52:00.000-04:00Aye, it is the worst time to talk about improving ...Aye, it is the worst time to talk about improving infrastructure because of the darn economy. <BR/><BR/>But Block Island citizens shouldn't have to pay a whole bunch because you just need to beat the price down by allowing private companies to help you. The price to beat is what, 22 cents? Or is it higher? I forget but your prices per kilowatt-hour are like some Islands off Alaska and the Bahamas, expensive as heck. <BR/><BR/>Well I can buy wind power down here through a company that is 10 to 14 cents. Wish I did it years ago. <BR/><BR/>And you won't like what I'm smoking: Camel straights with no filter. Tastes like really good sensimilla some days. LOL!!!!Samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06904821424581969401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-70586269452784171822008-05-09T12:36:00.000-04:002008-05-09T12:36:00.000-04:00Having just gone to the town budget meeting, where...Having just gone to the town budget meeting, where is the money going to come from to pay for any experimental energy production, Sam if you haven't heard RI is broke. BI's budget is maxed out due to a cap property tax increases. All you dreamers need wake up and smell the coffee. Wave machines, tidal turbines, I want some of what you are smoking.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-81649648532155796762008-05-09T11:54:00.000-04:002008-05-09T11:54:00.000-04:00I have to agree that sometimes I wonder why public...I have to agree that sometimes I wonder why public buildings have to be lit up like lighthouses at night, as that is very expensive. All they need are security lights - there are even automated security lights such as with motion detectors.<BR/><BR/>Our new municipal building on SPI is an example, with lights so bright they could cause a traffic accident. It's a waste of energy ... those commercial lamps are not low watt fluorescent bulbs, folks. I think the town should lead the way in conservation, not be lit up like a lighthouse at night.<BR/><BR/>One interesting thing I learned was about electric water heaters. I know many of you islanders use propane or something, but electric ones can be programmed with a timer (about $59 with an electrician service call of maybe another $80). You'll save a ton of money for such a cheap investment. For example, you could program the timer to turn off between 8 at night and 5 in the morning - and turn it off if you're away from the house and don't need any hot water. Nice.<BR/><BR/>Double nice if you have a WECS or wave machine.<BR/><BR/>-samSamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06904821424581969401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-89313095867847275922008-05-09T08:44:00.000-04:002008-05-09T08:44:00.000-04:00Sam,BTW, all petroleum products start out as crude...Sam,BTW, all petroleum products start out as crude.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9924834.post-9546186904016444172008-05-09T07:00:00.000-04:002008-05-09T07:00:00.000-04:00I think the emphasis on conservation and alternati...I think the emphasis on conservation and alternative means of energy generation pursued by this "More on Kilowatts" posting is an important topic to pursue.<BR/>Regardless of who supplies oil to the USA, it's always a good policy to conserve and find alternate means of energy production.<BR/><BR/>Block Island has much to gain from proper implementation of WECS and Wave generation. Why not continue to pursue these and have them supplement the energy produced by BIPCO. And as much as I'd hate to see the town pick up yet another responsibility and budget line item, I'm almost in favor of the town acquiring the power company with the hope that new management would seek implementation of alternative energy production----and---- give those private parties whose WECS feed into the power grid, better remuneration for the kilowatts supplied to the grid.<BR/><BR/>Meanwhile, I sometimes wonder about the public buildings that must remain lit at night. I'm sure this is matter of safety for first responders, but at the same time isn't there some way to reduce this lighting of empty buildings?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com